• by Wayne Friedman , June 16, 2021

Following other TV network groups' completed upfront ad negotiations earlier this week, Fox Corp. has finished its upfront deals at “unprecedented” business revenue levels, according to one media executive.

Fox witnessed 20% gains in cost-per-thousand viewer (CPM) pricing for its linear TV business, as well as higher overall revenues -- similar to other network groups -- according to executives.

For the last comparable upfront selling period -- summer 2019 for the 2019-2020 TV season -- Fox Television Network pulled in between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion, per media analyst estimates.

Typically, a broadcast TV network sells around 70% of its yearly national TV advertising inventory in the upfront advertising-selling period.

In its fiscal-year period ending June 2020, Fox's cable TV advertising revenue -- from which a large part goes to Fox News Media’s Fox News Channel -- totaled $1.16 billion, according to the company’s annual report.

Total advertising revenue for all Fox broadcast business TV network/TV stations totaled $4.2 billion that year -- up 8% versus 2019.

Media executives say Fox’s free, streaming VOD platform Tubi "tripled" upfront ad revenue volume versus a year ago, as well as doubling the number of advertisers.

Tubi brought in about $150 million in advertising revenue in 2020, according to an earlier MoffettNathanson Research estimate. It predicted growth to $380 million in 2021.

In reference to other TV networks that have seen a shift of linear upfront dollars to their premium streaming platforms, one media executive said “streaming didn’t come at the expense of linear TV” at Fox.

Before the upfront process began, media executives said TV network sales executives were asking, or demanding, that they shift a large percentage -- 20% to 30% -- of their linear TV advertising upfront budgets to their growing premium digital platforms.

In response to inquiries concerning upfront activities from Television News Daily, a Fox representative declined comment.