NBCUniversal 'Pretty Much Done' With Upfront Talks

Less than a month after upfront week began, networks can already see the upfront market finish line. That includes NBCUniversal, which is "pretty much done" with its upfront negotiations, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said today at a Credit Suisse investors conference. "Just a smattering of things still finishing up." The news makes NBCU the first company to publicly confirm it is wrapping up talks, though Fox Corp. and Paramount execs also said Tuesday that their respective companies are close to crossing the finish line. Shell said that CPMs (cost per thousand viewers reached) were in the high single digits for pricing increases, a figure he was thrilled with. According to the CEO, the company expected only mid-single digits for this year's upfront. Linda Yaccarino on Pulling Off a ‘Giant Reunion’ in NBCU’s Upfront Week Return "Our volume is comparable to last year. We're kind of right in the same range of dollars as we did last year. If you want to go all the way to the top level, what basically happened is the declines in [linear] viewership and distribution due to cord-cutting and everything else was offset by pricing and Peacock at our company," Shell said. "So I think a pretty good result given everything, so we're thrilled with how the upfront finished up." Last year, Shell said NBCUniversal had the "strongest upfront" in company history, with pricing "far beyond what we thought we'd see." During the conference, Shell also revealed that NBCU makes more per subscriber on Peacock's ad-supported tier than on subscription fees. "In two short years, we've ramped [Peacock] up to a level that, next to Hulu, is probably second to anybody in the industry. We are getting CPMs at the broadcast level, which I don't think we expected to do. We had hoped to do that. And we are getting CPMs at that premium level," Shell said. Following NBCU's extravaganza of an in-person upfront presentation in May, Linda Yaccarino, NBCU chairman of global advertising and partnerships, told Adweek that the company's upfront offering was unprecedented this year "from content to the growth story of Peacock," which now reaches 60 million monthly active users. "What’s so exciting is that that business case is rock solid and has taken off like a rocket ship. And there’s no other better demonstration of full industry convergence than there is with Peacock," Yaccarino said. Paramount Global closing in Other networks are also closing in on the end of upfront talks, though fears of rising inflation and possible recession seem to affect this year's negotiations somewhat. During Paramount's portion of the Credit Suisse conference, Bob Bakish, Paramount Global's president and CEO, noted that advertising has "exposure" to times of inflation, and the market is "a little choppy at the moment." Still, the Paramount CEO said the company has had "real engagement" on the agency side for its upfront and is 80-90% done with negotiations. According to Bakish, CPMs are in the high single digits for both broadcast and cable. "Historically, cable has lagged broadcast and tucked in under it. We're delivering high singles on both, and that's a reflection of the quality of our product, but also the way we're bringing it to market," Bakish said. Paramount+ and PlutoTV were a focus of Paramount's in-person upfront presentation, and the Paramount CEO also shared that digital is a "volume play" for the company, and that volume may be aided by competitors acting "too aggressively" for linear pricing. Bakish added that agencies have added "major volume" as the upfront has gone on. "The market is a little tough, sure, but the upfront is progressing very well. We're pleased with the outcome. And I think you will see us do very well on share coming out of this," Bakish said. Fox Corp. achieves its goals During Fox's portion of the Credit Suisse conference, Steve Tomsic, Fox Corp.'s chief financial officer, confirmed to moderator Doug Mitchelson was correct when he assumed CPMs were somewhere in single to low double digits for the company. Tomsic added that he saw a "flight to quality" in advertising spend, and the company felt strong about its portfolio in terms of sports and news. However, he added there was an "element of softness" in linear entertainment and, more broadly, in programmatic. Still, according to the CFO, the company has "achieved all the goals" it set out for itself. "Really, really strong levels of commitment, which are north of where we were this time last year. And just as importantly in all of that, apart from doing it for all of our traditional linear nets, we've been able to get really, really strong increases in commitments for Tubi. As we come to the end of the upfronts, we've been super successful. Maybe it's an element of the whole macro world trying to talk ourselves into a recession, but we're really not seeing it from the perspective of what we've seen from the upfronts," Tomsic said. Last year, all three networks saw sky-high revenues from negotiations. Fox pushed for increases of high teens and low 20s for CPMs; Paramount, then ViacomCBS, claimed to have historic pricing; and NBCU said it was the "strongest" upfront ever.

TV Upfronts

NBCUniversal 'Pretty Much Done' With Upfront Talks as Rivals Near Finish Line

Paramount and Fox are also close to wrapping negotiations

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