Discovery Finally Finishes Its Most Successful Upfront Ever

Discovery, the last upfronts week presenter that was still negotiating business in July, has finally crossed the upfront finish line. In what is likely its final upfront prior to next year’s merger with WarnerMedia, the company completed negotiations for its most successful upfront ever, according to a source familiar with negotiations. Discovery did not share any specifics about CPM (cost per thousand viewers reached), volume or pricing in this upfront. The company more than doubled its upfront sales of Discovery Premiere, which allows advertisers to buy a mix of the 30 most-watched shows from across the Discovery portfolio and was a top upfront priority for Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer of Discovery Inc. More than 200 clients are now buying Discovery Premiere. Demand was strong for the company’s advanced advertising offerings, as well as its digital properties, including new streamer Discovery+ and its Go apps. Discovery was the last upfronts week presenter to finish its negotiations this year. NBCUniversal, Disney, Fox and Univision each wrapped talks in mid-June, with ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia completing upfront business three weeks ago. Even connected TV platform Roku crossed the finish line ahead of Discovery, finishing its upfront a full quarter earlier than usual. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav said at last month’s Credit Suisse conference that while some rivals had already wrapped their upfront talks, his company was waiting to get the “pricing” it was seeking. “I expect we’ll do very well,” Zaslav said. “I think we’ll outperform.” The CEO also told investors in April that “we hit this upfront at a very good moment,” given that the scatter pricing for CPMs was as much as 50% above last year’s upfront rates. “I don’t know that I’ve seen 50% increases in CPMs of a prior year upfront before,” he said. “The CPMs are very high.” Zaslav predicted at the time that Discovery’s CPMs would be “meaningfully better” in the upfront: “The broadcasters have been getting $60-plus, and we’ve been getting less than half that. And now all of a sudden … we’re really making significant progress in booking significant dollars in the 40s, high 40s—even 50.” Discovery's upfront haul was in line with Zaslav's public proclamations, according to the source. Upfront deals will be honored post-merger During Discovery’s first-ever upfronts week presentation in May, Steinlauf told marketers that the company can stand “shoulder to shoulder” with its broadcast peers. However, the event was overshadowed by the previous day’s stunning news that Discovery and WarnerMedia would be merging, with Zaslav leading the combined company, which will be called Warner Bros. Discovery. Steinlauf told Adweek in May that any upfront deals would be honored if the merger closes before the end of the upfront calendar. The companies conducted their business separately in this year’s upfront, but are expected to enter next year’s talks as a combined unit if the merger is approved by mid-year. The ad sales chief predicted that this year’s upfront would be “earlier and more expensive” than last year’s negotiations. In addition to Discovery Premiere, Steinlauf told Adweek that one of his top upfront priorities was the “plus demos”—his effort to move away from transacting on cable’s traditional adults 25-54 demo. “I’m a big believer that the industry needs to make that shift [away from transacting on 18-49 and 25-54 demos] to 18-plus and 25-plus. I think if we don’t, they’re going to be paying triple-digit CPMs before too long,” he said. Discovery’s Jon Steinlauf on Catching Up to Broadcast and Dropping Legacy Demos

TV Upfronts

Discovery Finally Finishes Its Most Successful Upfront Ever

Broadcaster merging with WarnerMedia was the last presenter to wrap this year’s negotiations

Jason Lynch

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Jason Lynch