CBS Upfront News Is Good...And Not So Good

To the casual media industry watcher, Monday's news from CBS about their upfront ad sales numbers might seem a bit confusing. Depending on which industry outlet you read, CBS was either "leading the pack" with its Upfront sales numbers or is facing a lower sales volume of sales for the upcoming year. The truth is that both headlines are somewhat accurate.

CBS released a statement touting their Upfront sales numbers and a sad number of outlets dutifully served as stenographers for the news. But a bit of context is important. First, the CBS Upfront sales haven't wrapped and in fact the network is confident that at the end of the sales process "it secured more total dollars – and the highest pricing – of all the broadcast networks."

The problem is that while the network may indeed be correct, it isn't over yet. But thanks to the CBS statement, there's a flood of stories touting their success in a process that hasn't yet wrapped up.

The other issue is that while CBS might end up getting the biggest percentage increase and/or largest volume of any of the broadcast networks, it still might end up with a lower overall year-to-year volume. In fact, last year's $2.4 billion in upfront sales was down about 7.4% from 2013.

The other question is how much of its ad inventory it was able to sell during the upfront sales period. In an interview last year, CBS head Les Moonves revealed CBS had only sold 75% of its advertising inventory, compared to previous years when the number was closer to 80 percent. CBS seems likely to end up getting a single digit increase for the advertising it sells, while simultaneously selling a smaller number of available ads.

Given all of that, then even a CBS "win" in this context is a flaccid one. It would be just as accurate to write a headline reading "CBS Upfront Sales Are Down, But Not As Much As Rivals." Which is the upfront sales equivalent of kissing your sister, then arguing of all of your sisters, she's the best option.