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Fox is looking to buck the trends as it closes upfront talks.
The company has officially wrapped negotiations, growing volume on both digital and linear, according to a statement from Jeff Collins, Fox’s president of ad sales, marketing and brand partnerships.
“Our focused portfolio of market-leading properties in sports, news, entertainment and streaming delivered year-over-year growth in both linear and digital advertising commitments as well as growth in overall portfolio pricing in this year’s upfront,” Collins said.
Like NBCUniversal, the first major publisher to cross the upfront finish line this year, Fox is not releasing specifics of total volume or CPMs (cost per thousand viewers reached). However, the company did not see double-digit streaming declines, as other publishers might be finding with an influx of inventory in this year’s market.
According to a source familiar with the matter, Tubi was a focus for the company upfront, with the AVOD seeing double-digit growth, with more than 25 new clients added to the property.
The company saw volume growth across news and sports, with sports seeing double-digit growth across football properties. Additionally, Fox News had volume growth overall, going against the trends for linear cable news networks.
For entertainment, Fox increased sellout vs. the prior year, with prime entertainment showing resiliency. The company also saw healthy demand for its post-Super Bowl programming, including Rescue: HI-Surf.
Additionally, the company’s OneFox platform, which allows advertisers to buy across the Fox portfolio, grew three times in volume year over year.
Regarding categories, Fox saw overall growth in insurance and retail. Meanwhile, Tubi had significant growth in CPG, financial and auto.
In 2022, the last year that sources familiar with Fox’s deals revealed CPMs, the company had CPM increases of around 9% to 12%. However, buyers have told ADWEEK that they expected rollbacks across the board outside of sports for this year’s talks.
At its upfront presentation in May from New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, Fox showcased the diversity of the company’s 2024 offerings, including presidential election coverage, Major League Baseball’s upcoming Negro League tribute game, Big Noon college football coverage, Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans and the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Speaking with ADWEEK following the presentation, ad sales chief Jeff Collins noted that the company was “very happy” with its early Super Bowl demand but was seeing strong performance across all sports properties, especially with the addition of Tom Brady to its broadcast booth.