Scripps Closes Upfront With Huge Demand for Women’s Sports

The E.W. Scripps Company has crossed the TV upfront finish line, and women’s sports scored big.

Brian Norris, the company’s chief revenue officer, told ADWEEK that Scripps saw low single-digit growth in volume, which was largely “due in part to our commitment to women’s sports.”

Norris said it was “no secret” that Scripps was all in on women’s sports, offering Friday night WNBA games, Saturday night NWSL doubleheaders, and even showcasing its Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever games in its upfront pitch deck. And though this year’s marketplace was expected to be down for publishers of Scripps’ size, sports helped differentiate the brand and buoy its upfront sales.

“We got to the point where there was almost more demand than we had supply,” Norris said. “I think we did a really good job of accommodating every advertiser that wanted to be part of it. However, the demand was a bit overwhelming, which was a good thing.”

Like other publishers this upfront season, Scripps didn’t share specific numbers around total volume or overall CPMs (cost per thousand viewers reached); however, Norris said the company’s CPMs for sports were up in the low-to-mid single digits.

In addition to the company’s women’s sports portfolio, Norris added that Scripps’ ability to put advertisers within the programming itself strengthened its upfront.

“Whether that is including in-game features within both WNBA and the National Women’s Soccer League, but also the ability to sponsor the clock in soccer, giving them the ability to sponsor virtual signage within soccer, all of those things,” Norris said. “It served as a differentiating point between us and many others.”

Norris added that the company brought more than two dozen new advertisers to the Scripps platform, with 25% representing direct-to-consumer brands.

Categories included automotive, alcohol, insurance, travel, and telco. The company also started to build its small and medium-sized business team.

Overall, CTV revenue grew by more than 70% in the upfront year over year.

The demand for women’s sports is showing up in the ratings, with viewership growing faster than Caitlin Clark’s WNBA Rookie of the Year odds.

For instance, Scripps recently announced its broadcast of the Indiana Fever’s 100-81 victory over the Chicago Sky reaching an average of 1.6 million viewers, the fifth time in 2024 that ION eclipsed more than a million average viewers. It was also the network’s most-watched WNBA telecast in the two years since acquiring rights.

Pages: 1 2