The recent upfront sales period for the 2018-2019 TV season saw both ad revenues and CPMs rise, MediaPost reports.

“Combined broadcast and cable networks deal-making saw upfront TV advertising grow 5.2% to just over $20.7 billion, according to Media Dynamics, a media consulting/publishing company,” the story reports. MediaPost notes that the revenue increase was similar to the rise a year ago.

“Five English-language broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and CW — gained 5.8% to $9.6 billion, while cable networks were 4.7% higher to $11.1 billion,” MediaPost reports. “A year ago, total 2017-2018 TV upfront advertising amounted to $19.7 billion — a 5.9% improvement versus the previous season.”

One factor in this year’s growth was the CW’s expansion of its schedule to include Sunday nights, according to Ed Papazian, president of Media Dynamics. Papazian also cited greater use of the C7 metric, which credited sellers with 1% to 3% more viewers than C3.

“At the same time, Papazian notes there was an 8% to 9% falloff of key audience demographics,” the report adds. “This resulted in the cost-per-thousand adult viewers pricing (CPMs) rising 10.2% for the broadcast networks to $31.97, and 9.7% for cable networks to $17.49. These estimates are for 30-second commercials.”