The overall market is down, but Fox is up.
Despite Madison Avenue pressures on TV’s annual “upfront” ad-sales market and a projection that advertisers’ budgets will be tighter than in years past, Fox Corp. has scored more commitments for its sports, news and entertainment properties than last year, according to a person familiar with recent negotiations.
This person says Fox was able to nab a double-digit percentage increase in the volume of advertising tied to both Tubi and Fox News Channel, and “record” volume for sports and news, even as commercial buys tied to scripted entertainment on the Fox broadcast network were flat with last year’s totals. Overall, ad commitments to the broader Fox portfolio grew in the high-single-digit percentage range, this person says.
“Fox delivered another strong Upfront performance, reflecting the value of our portfolio across Sports, News, Entertainment and Tubi,” said Jeff Collins, president of advertising sales, marketing and brand partnership, at Fox Corp., in a statement. During the “upfront,” U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory ahead of their next cycle of programming.
Key to Fox’s success? Unlike its rivals, it has more of what advertisers want and less of what they don’t. Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery have sports to sell as well — but they also have copious amounts of ad inventory tied to cable networks like TNT, E!, MTV and Freeform in which marketers have decreasing interest. Advertisers are in a rush to get money down on big-tent (and even smaller-tent) sports telecasts, which draw broad crowds all watching simultaneously. And advertisers also see value in streaming, where more consumers can be found watching video favorites at times of their own choosing.
