← All playbooks·Buying and negotiation

What you need first

• Last season's delivered GRPs and settled CPP by channel, from the prior upfront settlement report
• Sales house's opening upfront offer and discount grid for the new season, from the sales house
• Client's total annual TV budget and target reach/frequency by demo, from the media plan brief
• Next season's audience share forecast, from the currency measurement provider
• Last year's cancellation option terms (deadline and percentage), from last year's signed contract

The procedure

1. Pull last season's settled CPP and delivered GRPs by channel to set the baseline price and volume.
2. Convert the client's budget and reach/frequency targets into the minimum required GRP volume at this season's list CPP.
3. Log the sales house's opening CPP and discount grid against the baseline to isolate the CPI-driven price move from the volume-driven discount.
4. Model total cost and effective CPP at three volume tiers (baseline, +12%, +25%) to find where the marginal discount rate stops improving.
5. Negotiate CPP and cancellation option against the tier with the best marginal discount, pushing volume up to the client's budget ceiling.
6. Document the closed commitment (GRP volume, list CPP, discount %, effective CPP, cash value, cancellation %, deadline) in the commitment letter.
7. Route the commitment letter to the client for budget sign-off.

Worked through with numbers

Baseline: last season 4,000 GRPs at settled CPP €850 = €3,400,000. This season's list CPP opens at €900 (+5.9%, CPI-driven). Client's approved TV budget is €3,800,000, giving a minimum required volume of 3,800,000 / 900 = 4,222 GRPs. Three tiers off the €900 list: Tier A 4,000 GRPs at 8% discount (CPP €828) = €3,312,000; Tier B 4,500 GRPs at 11% discount (CPP €801) = €3,604,500; Tier C 5,000 GRPs at 14% discount (CPP €774) = €3,870,000, which breaches budget by €70,000. Negotiate the sales house up from Tier B's 11% to 13% at 4,800 GRPs: 4,800 × €900 = €4,320,000 list, less 13% (€561,600) = €3,758,400, effective CPP €783. That lands €41,600 under budget, 578 GRPs (13.7%) above the required minimum, and the effective CPP of €783 is 7.9% below last year's €850 despite the 5.9% list-price rise, meaning the added volume commitment more than absorbed the CPI increase. Read it as: commit at 4,800 GRPs, not the sales house's first 4,500-GRP offer.

Where it goes wrong

• Compare offers on effective cash CPP, not on the headline discount percentage, since the grid resets off a new list price every season and the same discount number can mean a price rise.
• Negotiate a cancellation option alongside volume, not volume alone, so a 10-20% downward flex is available if the client's budget moves mid-season.
• Derive the required GRP volume from this season's list CPP and the reach/frequency target, not from last year's cash budget, since audience share and CPI move independently of what the client approved to spend.
• Model at least three volume tiers before signing, since the marginal discount typically peaks 20-30% above baseline and flattens or reverses past that, so the sales house's first offer is rarely the best tier.

How to know it is right

Terms used

• Upfront Market
• Upfront Commitment
• CPP

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