CBS Concludes Upfront Ad Sales

CBS finished its upfront advertising sales almost a month after upfronts began in mid-May, and strong ratings led to an ad price increase of about ten percent.

Reuters (via Yahoo! News) estimated that CBS made about $2.4 billion in advertising sales at the upfronts, up from the $2.2 billion they pulled in last year. Due to the strength of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, network television's top-rated show, CSI: Miami, and several strong sitcoms, CBS was the only network to post a significant gain over the previous year.

CBS attributes this in part to the wide appeal of their programming. "Because of the broad appeal of our schedule, there weren't any shows that people said 'No I can't buy that,"' CBS's President of Ad Sales, JoAnn Ross said. "There's usually the buy list and the no buy list [for edgier shows]." About twelve new advertisers bought airtime from CBS this year.

The upfronts lasted longer this year than last, and the networks sold slightly under last year's mark, selling an estimated $9 billion in advertising time, as opposed to last year's $9.3 billion. However, analyst Jack Myers saw the upfronts as a success for both the networks and advertisers. "Everything came off in almost a best case scenario," he said. "The marketplace didn't get out of hand and the networks really held to their guns in terms of pricing."

To read the original story, please visit Yahoo! News.

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