Football is not the only televised sport selling well for fall. CBS told TheWrap it has sold about 85 percent of its U.S. Open Tennis ad inventory for its 35-plus hours of coverage during the first two weekends in September.
Meanwhile, advertising for the fall NFL and college football telecasts continues to be a hot seller. CBS told TheWrap this is the earliest that the network has sold this much NFL and college football ad inventory, with sellout levels of more than 80 percent and 90 percent, respectively.
"The market for sports has been very active and healthy," John Bogusz, CBS' executive VP of sports and marketing, told TheWrap.
Bogusz said he is surprised by the early sellout levels of the network's Southeastern Conference college football telecasts. One of those games will be in primetime, but most of them are in late Saturday afternoon time periods.
However, the SEC does have the returning national champion in Alabama, along with perennial contender Florida.
Bogusz said the TV schedule of games is still being worked out.
Bogusz said college football inventory is getting the same 9 percent price hikes as the NFL, with the most active category being fast food restaurants, where big spenders have included Sonic, Chick-Fil-A, Taco Bell and Subway.
In NFL telecasts, he said the auto ad category has come back in a big way, with Toyota back after sitting out a year and General Motors increasing its spending much more, he said. The financial category also is up significantly, he said.
