Prices up low double digits

The CW, which is expanding its primetime programming to six nights, wrapped up its upfront advertising sales.

With the addition of shows on Sunday night, the CW’s upfront sales rose about 15% to $550 million, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Prices were up in the low-double-digit range on a cost-per-thousand basis.

Related: CW’s Sunday Expansion Means ‘More Premium Quality Content’

The network, a joint-venture of CBS and Time Warner, was the first to close the books on its upfront activity. 

After a bit of a slow start, the bigger broadcast networks all appeared to have written a significant amount of business and were expected to be done some time next week.

Overall, volume appeared to be little changed from last year, with prices for ads in primetime nudging close to double digits, depending on who was doing the accounting. 

Sports was also selling well for the networks, as was an increasing amount of digital inventory.

With a relatively young audience, the CW sells a significant amount of its advertising on a converged basis, selling its TV and online eyeballs packaged together.

Those cross-platform sales were strong for the CW with returning shows such as Black Lightning and Riverdale. New series All-American and the reboot of Charmed were also attractive to advertisers.