How TV networks managed between securing upfront commitments and saving inventory for scatter advertisers

The latest cycle of TV advertising’s upfront deal-making is likely to put even more pressure on an already tight linear TV and streaming ad market. TV networks managed their inventory to maximize the amount of money they received in the upfront as well as the money they stand to reap outside of the annual commitments. “Definitely there is a law of reserving some of our inventory to make sure that we’ve got a scatter marketplace to sell into,” said one TV network executive. Read more below.

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