CBS is leading the charge to close its upfronts books, and the network is "virtually done" with a lucrative ad sales period, a person close to the broadcaster told TheWrap.
This time around, volume rose 3-5 percent versus the prior year, we're informed. The so-called Tiffany Network hauled in more total dollars, and non-sports primetime increased by low double-digits.
CBS will share "Thursday Night Football" with NBC this fall, so Les Moonves & Co. have fewer games to make big bucks off of, 30-seconds at a time. The company also doesn't have the Super Bowl this coming winter, a luxury it could look forward to this time last year. Still, our source called the company's sports ad sales "very strong."
Some of the top industry categories for CBS were retail, telecom and financial. That latter umbrella includes banking, credit cards, insurance and brokerage firms, among other kinds of companies.
CBS -- like the entire industry should expect -- saw more conversion from C3 to C7 in 2016 and stuffed more video-on-demand into the mix. "C3" refers to average commercial rating with the inclusion of three days of delayed viewing, "C7" counts a week of later viewing.
Finally, we're told that late-night pricing was "high," but the demand reflected CBS' less-than-stellar piece of the supply pie.
7 Fierce New Fall TV Match-Ups: 'Supergirl' vs. 'Big Bang,' 'Empire' vs. 'Frequency' (Photos)
Click through the following slides to find TheWrap's seven new fall broadcast TV match-ups worth keeping an eye on ...
Good news, bad news, "Supergirl": You have a new home on the lesser-viewed CW, but at least you get to stay on Monday nights! (And on TV.)
There's just one problem, however -- CBS still needs to program that hour, and as such, the Melissa Benoist vehicle must now start against TV's top comedy, the powerhouse "Big Bang Theory."
"Rosewood" Sans "Empire" vs. "Thursday Night Football":
"Rosewood" has proven to be a much-weaker performer without "Empire" behind it, so a move to Thursday and a "Bones" pairing could be quite problematic.
Plus, the Morris Chestnut procedural will also now have to contend with some "Thursday Night Football," which will be split between CBS and NBC. Good luck with that, Dr. Rosewood.
"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" vs. The reality of Friday viewing:
"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" performed pretty terribly in Nielsen TV ratings for its first year, which explains why the CW banished it to Fridays. The only problem is, that lowly viewed evening is likely to tank demo and overall eyeball numbers even further.
There's only so much the critics can do to keep a darling on the airwaves.
More bad news for the CW. New drama "Frequency" has been slotted for Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. Sound familiar, drama fans? That's because broadcast's top show in the 18-49 demographic, "Empire," owns that spot.
"Empire" skews young, which is exactly the type of viewers courted by the CW. Good luck to you, "Frequency" -- hope you like delayed viewing!
Neither "Conviction" nor "Timeless" feel like they have heads of steam following their trailers being unveiled at their networks' respective upfront presentations.
"Scorpion," however, is a proven commodity. With Fox and CW not scheduling national programming at 10 p.m., it'll be the battle of those dramas -- one that "Scorpion," even in a new time slot, should have no problem winning.
"Son of Zorn" is actually programmed in the right slot -- Sunday nights on Fox between "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy." Unfortunately, it -- like every other show that evening -- must contend with TV's top broadcast, "Sunday Night Football."
At least young males -- "Zorn's" target" -- don't like football. Oh, wait ...
CBS
