Tuesday, June 14, 2005
The Latest Upfront News Is, Well, News
Source: Media Post The cable news part of the upfront ad marketplace has started to slowly creak to life--but that creaking could continue, as it is mired in an overall cable ad marketplace that is growing weaker.
"It's softer than a couple of weeks ago," said one senior media buying executive, who predicted flat to small increases in the 1% to 2% range for CNN, Fox News, CNBC, and MSNBC.
A CNN spokesman said: "We will not discuss specifics, but we have closed initial deals. Discussions are ongoing, and we are progressing along nicely." Neither Fox News or NBC executives returned phone calls by press time.
Fox News is expected to close the gap between it and CNN, grabbing the top end of the expected range. Many of Fox's long-time deals are still set at discount to CNN, as these agreements were inked long before Fox News became the dominant ratings player among cable news networks.
In 2003, according to TNS Media Intelligence, CNN led the way in advertising sales at $424 million; MSNBC was next at $162 million. Fox News was in third place at $112 million. Analysts say Fox has closed in significantly to CNN since then--but has a ways to go to be the top advertising news network.
# posted by ATN @ 8:14 AM 
