Fox Networks Group (FNG) has pretty much concluded its upfront ad sales negotiations, seeing sales volume flat with 2016.
At both its broadcast primetime and cable sectors, pricing increases were between 6 and 8 percent, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
FX was particularly attractive to advertisers and media buyers, pricing towards the top of cable’s marketplace. Fox broadcast benefitted the most from “The Mick,” “Empire” and the upcoming “The Gifted.”
Digitally, FNG saw sales growth greater than 40 percent from advanced products and formats, such as engagement ads and sponsored video-on-demand streams. FX’s digital commitments more than doubled versus the prior summer.
Fox Sports fared particularly well due to the 2018 World Cup, which is seeing sales pacing ahead of plans. The sector’s new Big Ten college football package participated in the optimistic performance there as well.
ABC beat Fox to finishing its own upfront ad sales period by six days; read how the Disney packages did here.