Fox has registered about 5 percent more revenue in the advertising upfront than last year, when it took in a best-ever $1.8 billion.
The network, number one in the ratings this season in adults 18-49, is about 95 percent done with its deal making, sources familiar with its progress said.
Fox also sold slightly less inventory than last year.
For most clients, Fox secured price increases of 7.5 percent to 9 percent on a cost-per-thousand viewers basis. Comparisons are tricky because this year’s deals were done using live commercial ratings plus three days of digital video recorder playback, while last year’s were done on live program ratings.
Nevertheless, the price increase appears to be closer to what network executives were hoping for than the smaller increases buyers sought.
Fourth place, NBC which opened this year’s upfront with a $1 billion deal with ad buyer GroupM is also nearly done with it upfront deals.