“As the annual TV upfront ad-selling process gets

underway, the tone of the US TV advertising market

remains relatively resilient and healthy,” say Barclays

analysts Anthony DiClemente and Bo Tang.  They said

in a note to clients that this could be another solid upfront,

although perhaps not as robust as last year.

The analysts are predicting that broadcast TV network

upfront revenue will increase 0.5% year-over-year. Cable

is expected to fare slightly better, with a gain 2%.

Looking at the changing media landscape and multi-

platform viewing, the analysts see good news for broadcast

and cable. “While viewership on linear platforms has been

slowly eroding over the last few years, we

believe that better measurement on other

platforms (tablets, smartphones, VOD) will

improve monetization,” they wrote.

For the Big Four networks, look for CPM

increases of 6.5% for CBS, 6% for ABC,

5.5% for FOX and 5% for NBC. The Barclays analysts say

the ad market remains resilient, so they are maintaining

their U.S. total advertising estimate of 1.9% growth in 2013

– “which represents an acceleration from last year when

adjusted for political and the Olympics.”

Cable’s share of the Upfront has been growing from

only 18% in 1992 to 52% last year. The analysts expect

that 52% share to repeat this year, which translates to

$9.99 billion for cable and $9.20 billion for the Big Four TV

networks. Recent trends have been similar to a year ago,

with scatter prices up in the mid-single-digits from scatter of

a year ago for the netwNetworks Interactive.