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Reference library · Buying and negotiation
Upfront Commitment
Upfront commitment is the dollar volume an advertiser pledges to a specific seller before the broadcast season starts, in exchange for locked-in rates and priority inventory access. Everything bought later, in-season, outside that pledge is scatter spend, which floats at market rates and is not guaranteed. Planners track committed dollars against total budget to see how much remains flexible.
Formula
Worked example
A planner has a €4,000,000 TV budget for the season and commits €2,800,000 to one broadcaster during the upfront window. Commitment ratio = 2,800,000 / 4,000,000 x 100 = 70%. Scatter budget = 4,000,000 − 2,800,000 = €1,200,000. Seventy percent of the plan is locked at pre-negotiated CPT, leaving €1,200,000 to place opportunistically or shift toward channels that outperform once the season is underway.
How it is used
Commitments are negotiated ahead of the season (typically spring for the coming broadcast year) to secure rate protection against scatter inflation and to guarantee inventory priority when demand spikes. Planners set the ratio based on how confident they are in the plan mix months out. The mistake practitioners make is over-committing to lock in a good rate, then having no room left to react when a format underperforms or a competitor's scatter pricing drops.
The common mistake
An upfront commitment guarantees a dollar pledge and rate, not delivered GRPs or impressions, so audience delivery still has to be tracked separately against the seller's guarantees.