TV advertising prices dropped sharply in April due to the COVID-19 crisis at the big three broadcast networks, compared to first-quarter rates, according to ad data company SQAD.

Rates for ads in the scatter market dropped 39% to an average unit price of $101,927 for 30 seconds in primetime on ABC, according to SQAD. At CBS, pricing was down 34% to $130,858. NBC’s prices fell just 13% to $94,070.

SQAD noted that the prices are getting closer to upfront levels than they’ve been in years.

NBC’s upfront unit prices were $92,716 for primetime 30-second ads according to SQAD.

Most networks indicated that the sharpest drops in ad revenues are likely during the second quarter. Most were optimistic that ad demand would start to pick up in the third quarter.

SQAD bases its data on transactions made by advertiser clients.

Spending on national TV advertising dropped 2% in the fourth quarter, according to new figures from research company Standard Media Index.

Broadcast ad spending was down 2% to $4.8 billion, while cable networks saw a 1.6% fall to $6.8 billion in the quarter, which started slowly but showed improvement in December.

The decline reflects a big drop in upfront commitments made by advertisers. SMI says the value of commercials bought in the upfront fell 7%. Broadcast was down 8% and cable was down 7%.

The networks were able to make up some of that shortfall in scatter. SMI says fourth quarter scatter was up 34% for the broadcasters and 23% for cable networks.

Among the broadcast networks, NBC had the largest share and grew its sales by 3% in the quarter. CBS' sales were up 2%. Telemudo sales were up 5%. Fox ad sale were down 12% in the quarter, Univision was off 6% and ABC dipped 2%, according to SMI.

ESPN, the ad sales leader in cable,  was up 3%. AMC Networks registered a 28% gain, while Viacom's collection of channels was up 2%.

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