Fox Wraps Upfront Negotiations With CPM Increases of 9-12%

That's a wrap for Fox's upfront. The media company has concluded its upfront negotiations, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to Adweek. Fox becomes the third upfront week presenter to wrap talks this year, following The CW and Paramount last week. According to the source, CPM (cost per thousand viewers reached) increases were around 9-12%, and there was strong demand and pricing across the portfolio for live sports, news, big events, primetime entertainment content and digital properties. In addition, Tubi, the company's fast-growing AVOD service, also received significant commitments in only its second year as part of the greater Fox upfront offering. The streamer reached 51 million monthly active users last quarter and recorded 3.6 billion hours watched in 2021. That accounts for a 40% year-over-year increase in total viewing time. The source said volume is also up year-over-year and largely reiterated previous comments from Steve Tomsic, Fox Corp.'s chief financial officer. Fox Sets Fall Schedule and Premiere Dates After Not Doing So During Upfront Week The Fox CFO gave an update on upfront talks at last week's Credit Suisse conference, where he said that CPM increases were in the single to low double digits, there was strong demand across the portfolio and the company had "achieved all the goals" it set for itself. Tomsic aded there were "strong levels of commitment, which are north of where we were this time last year" and “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." The CPM increases are in line with the numbers confirmed at other media companies. For example, both Paramount and The CW had CPM increases in the high single-digits. And NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said the company was expecting similar increases while talking at the Credit Suisse investors conference. Last year, the major media companies saw sky-high revenues from negotiations, with Fox pushing for increases of high teens and low 20s for CPMs. In May, after the company's in-person presentation, Marianne Gambelli, Fox Corp.’s president of ad sales, marketing and brand partnerships, explained to Adweek that Fox's upfront priorities were to show how everything the company does is for advertisers and viewers. "Other media companies have chased subscribers for their expensive SVOD platforms, and advertisers are an afterthought. At Fox, we have remained focused on advertisers. During our event, I said clients are looking for a custom fit and not something off the rack. We will continue to bring tailor-made and client-focused solutions that solve the needs of our partners, attached to incredible content across our portfolio," Gambelli said. A different upfront week approach This year, Fox did things differently from the other major networks during the upfront season. Besides combining its assets into one big presentation at the Skylight on Vesey in New York on May 16, the company showed mainly a pre-recorded presentation for marketers. Though other networks hosted in-person events, Gambelli told Adweek that the company wasn't sure upfront week would have in-person events to the extent it did, with the other major presenters throwing lavish presentations. But Fox accomplished what it wanted and felt strongly about doing a hybrid event. "We wanted the virtual experience to mirror what people would feel in the arena. So that’s why we didn’t do as many live elements, because we wanted to have this kind of immersive, virtual world," Gambelli said. Fox also was the only broadcaster that didn't announce its fall schedule during in-person upfront week, which Gambelli said was due to the changing times. "When you look at it, you don’t really program anymore for one hour, right? Three-quarters or half of your viewing is happening within a 35-day window. It’s happening on other platforms. So we’re trying to look at things across that spectrum, as opposed to what should be on Monday at 8 o’clock," Gambelli said. Despite the upfront week changes, Fox eventually announced its fall schedule on June 6 and was the first network to set its programming premiere dates.

TV Upfronts

Fox Wraps Upfront Negotiations With CPM Increases of 9-12%

The company saw strong demand and pricing across its portfolio

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