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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2020.The Daily News of TV Sales Monday, September 21, 2020

PANDEMIC TO HIT PARTIES, TRICK-OR-TREATING The COVID-19 pandemic is putting a crimp in Americans’ Halloween plans. More than three-quarters of Americans say the virus is impacting their celebration plans, with overall participation down to 58%, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Consumer spending is expected to reach $8.05 billion, down from $8.78 billion in 2019, due to the drop in participation. Plans for parties, trick-or-treating, handing out candy and visiting haunted houses have all dropped, due largely to the fact that some activities do not easily adhere to social distancing. Still, more than 148 million U.S. adults plan to participate in Halloween-related activities. Among those celebrants, safe at-home activities ranked highest: 53% plan to decorate their homes, 46% plan to carve a pumpkin and 18% will dress up their pet. With extra time on consumers’ hands, Halloween shopping is starting earlier, with four in 10 planning to begin their shopping in September or earlier. The top shopping destinations remain the same as in past years: discount stores, specialty Halloween stores, grocery stores and online retailers. Thirty-percent plan to make their Halloween purchases online, compared with 25% last year. “Some of the most interesting data concerns younger generations, consumers ages 18-24,” Prosper Insights executive VP of strategy Phil Rist said. “Although fewer are celebrating this year, the ones who are aren’t shying away from Halloween-related purchases, spending $11 more on average, primarily on decorations and candy.”

SURVEY: CYBER MONDAY SET TO REIGN IN 2020 More shoppers plan to shop on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday this year. That’s one of the findings of a survey from BlackFriday.com in which 30% of respondents said they will shop on Cyber Monday versus 24% on Black Friday. “These results suggest a shift in shoppers’ preference to a more digital experience in a pandemic year,” the study stated. “While most Black Friday deals have been available online for years now, consumers may have a more ‘online’ perception of Cyber Monday and a more “in-store” perception of Black Friday, hence the shift.” As to which retailer’s holiday deals they were most looking forward to, Amazon came out on top, followed by Target and Walmart. Rounding out the top five were Best Buy and Kohl’s. BlackFriday.com noted that the timing of Amazon’s Prime Day, whose date has not yet been officially confirmed, could “completely reshape” the holiday season.

NRF: HALLOWEEN SPENDING POISED TO FALL THIS YEARADVERTISER NEWS Walmart is instituting a new pay structure that will raise the minimum wage of hourly associates working in team leadership positions from $18 to $21. Team leaders in its Supercenters can go up to $30 an hour. The pay raises will go into effect in October. “We’re investing in new roles and skills training to give us the flexibility to serve customers any-time and anywhere. In turn, associates will have more room for career and pay growth,” COO Dacona Smith wrote on a company blog... Cadillac has told its 880 U.S. dealers that

they will need to invest at least $200,000 each on electric vehicle chargers, tooling and train-ing to continue selling the brand’s vehicles be-yond 2022. The brand plans to launch its first EV, the Lyriq crossover, in late 2022, and have a fully electric lineup by the end of the

decade. Charging stations are among the biggest portions of the $200,000. High-volume retailers might need to spend even more, and expenses could increase as the brand in-troduces more EVs, necessitating more chargers and tool-ing... FullBeauty Brands Operations has won an auction to acquire Catherine’s, a plus-size women’s clothing retailer, from Ascena Retail Group for $41 million. FullBeauty is a direct-to-consumer retailer with online and mail order op-erations including several plus-size businesses — Woman Within, Roaman’s, Jessica London, ellos, Swimsuits For All, KingSize and fullbeauty.com... Tractor Supply Com-pany isn’t slowing down its growth amid the pandemic. The rural lifestyle retailer announced the opening of its 1,900th store located in Oakhurst, Calif. It’s also Tractor Supply’s 72nd location in the Golden State. The company, which opened 80 new stores in 2019, is continuing its expansion. It will open 75 to 80 new stores in 2020... Hobby Lobby Stores is poised to become one of the highest-paying U.S. retailers when it comes to starting wages for full-time work-ers. The arts and crafts retailer, which operates 932 stores nationwide and has more than 43,000 employees, is raising its minimum wage for full-time employees to $17 per hour,

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PAGE 2 The Daily News of TV Sales @ www.spotsndots.com

ROKU, NBCU REACH CARRIAGE AGREEMENT After some saber rattling at the deadline Friday, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Roku have reached a deal that will allow NBCU’s apps to continue to be streamed by Roku users. The deal includes NBCU’s new streaming platform, Peacock. NBCU’s old deal with Roku expired. It covered NBCU’s TV Everywhere apps, but not Peacock. Roku sent an email to its subscribers Friday warning that a blackout of NBCU’s TV Everywhere apps was imminent. Sources said NBCU was prepared to block Roku users

starting Saturday, ahead of football, hockey and golf action, Next TV reports. The two sides clashed over ad inventory on Peacock and how the ad tech systems of the two companies would work together. Usually, when it carries a free-to-consumer, ad-support app, Roku gets about 30% of the ad inventory. Peacock rolled out nationally July 15 in free, ad-supported and premium subscription iterations. But like HBO

Max, the streaming app that debuted about a month and a half previous, Peacock lacked distribution on the two biggest connected TV device platforms, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Expanding Peacock’s support to Roku opens the app up to an additional 43 million active users.

ACCOUNT ACTION Horizon Next is putting Horizon Media back in the weight-loss category by picking up a key part of the Jenny Craig account, only a few months after the agency lost WW International’s North American media business, Ad Age reports. The performance marketing arm of Horizon Media was awarded TV media agency of record duties for the weight loss, weight management and nutrition company following a recent review. The account will be led out of Horizon Next’s New York office. The agency takes the business from Generator Media + Analytics. According to COMvergence estimates, Jenny Craig spent $32 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, and $17 million between July 2019 and June of this year. The win follows CBS moving its media planning and buying business to Horizon Media from OMD, Ad Age learned in June.

DONE DEALS Nexstar Broadcasting says it has closed on the purchase of the assets of WDKY-TV, the FOX-affiliated station in Lexington, Ky. (DMA #64), from a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Additionally, Nexstar has appointed Monte Costes as vice president and GM of the newly acquired broadcast and digital operations in Lexington, overseeing WDKY-TV FOX 56 (FOX), foxlexington.com and their related social media channels. WDKY-TV is Nexstar’s first television station licensed in Kentucky. Costes will assume his new responsibilities immediately. Since mid-2018, he’s served as the director of sales for WLEX-TV (NBC) in Lexington, overseeing the long-term strategy and day-to-day operations of the sales department and supervising a team of 23.

NFL, NBA GAMES ARE BACK, BUT NOT RATINGS Post- and end-of-the-season action for TV sports franchises has seen sharply lower overall viewership as a result of sports competition caused by disruptions in scheduling due to COVID-19, as well as lower Persons Using Television (PUT) data. MoffettNathanson Research says the returning NBA and NHL have been impacted by lower PUT data in August and September versus the April and May periods — the former period being one that traditionally sees lower PUT data. Nielsen primetime PUT levels for persons two years and older a year ago were at 26.1 in August (down 9% versus April’s numbers) and 27.1 for September (down 3% versus May). The NBA playoff action for all 66 telecasts — starting in August — is down 33% to an average 2.4 million viewers per game, according to Nielsen’s live program-plus-same day viewing. Twenty-four prime time telecasts are down 5% to 3.3 million. A total of 69 NHL playoff games have seen a 28% drop to an average 749,000 Nielsen-measured viewers per game. Adding in the return of virtually all TV sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all this might be having an effect on the first week of the NFL, with the average Nielsen-measured ratings for all Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN NFL telecasts down 8% to an average 15.8 million viewers. Specifically, ESPN’s Monday Night Football and NBC’s NFL Kickoff game were hit with lower numbers. MoffettNathanson notes that the NFL’s opening day last Thursday marked the first time in history that the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL and MLS all played on the same day. On that day, the big NFL Kickoff game was down 7% to 20.6 million viewers compared to the same game a year ago.

NETWORK NEWS CBS has announced the return of the Sunday Night Movie, a series of encore broadcasts, for six additional weeks. The titles include three “back to school”-themed comedies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Old School and Clueless; plus Scream and Coming to America. The first five movies will air on consecutive Sundays through Nov. 1; Coming to America will be broadcast Nov. 29. The CBS Sunday Night Movie franchise returned earlier this year with six classic Paramount Pictures Films, airing from May 3 through June 7. This was the first time the network aired a Sunday movie showcase in 14 years... NBC has handed a script commitment plus penalty to Lewisburg, a drama inspired by the life of actor Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire, The Deuce). Written by Akinnagbe, Lewisburg follows a young man whose only way out of East Baltimore is his wrestling talent. When he accepts an offer to join the nationally ranked team at a university in central Pennsylvania, however, he winds up grappling with much more than he ever imagined, including issues of race, class and the personal costs of confronting our most entrenched systems. The project draws parallels to the life of Akinnagbe, who attended Bucknell University on a wrestling scholarship.

9/21/2020

Conan O’Brien

A baby scorpion doesn’t look so scary from this

ceiling fan I’m clinging to.

The Daily News of TV Sales @ www.spotsndots.com PAGE 3

RETAIL STUDY: 20% ‘DEPENDENT’ ON HOLIDAYS One in five retailers say their future is “dependent” on how well they do over the holidays, but 57% had not started preparations for the season by August, according to a PayPal-commissioned survey of 1,000 small and mid-sized businesses reported by Retail Dive. Respondents did indicate they had plans for what measures to take, though. The majority of retailers (81%) said they are implementing safety measures to protect customers ahead of the holidays, almost half (46%) are rolling out curbside pickup, and about

the same portion will require shoppers to wear masks and follow social distancing mandates. Digital initiatives figure in plans this year, with 34% of respondents with physical stores saying they’re introducing cashless payment options. Among fashion retailers, 39% are introducing virtual fitting room alternatives such as online fit and sizing tools, online showrooms and virtual stylists, per the survey, which was conducted by

Netfluential in August. It’s not clear how much consumers will spend this holiday season, but PayPal suggests in its survey that retailers are offering products through multiple channels online to potentially offset the loss of in-store shoppers. Beyond their own websites, 39% of respondents to the survey said they plan to sell their products on digital marketplaces, and 31% will offer their goods through social media platforms.

ADVERTISER NEWS(Continued from Page 1)effective Oct. 1, 2020. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour… The UPS Store has unveiled a new, contemporary look designed to offer a more seamless in-store experience. The first set of fully redesigned stores, which include the first major change to UPS stores’ layout in two decades, have opened in several markets around the U.S. The stores offer brighter color and lighting and have more digital elements when compared to the previous UPS design. They also have a more open layout… Rent the Runway has informed customers that it is discontinuing its unlimited membership program. The option allowed subscribers to rent any four pieces of clothing or accessories at one time for $159 a month. Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman said other changes her company is making will mean that most subscribers will be “paying less for their memberships while receiving the same or more items per month.”

9/21/2020

FunnyTweeter.com

Hadn’t tried on a pair of jeans since April. They

weren’t distressed before, but five minutes of wearing them and they were firing

flares off into the sky.

SATURDAY NIELSEN RATINGS - LIVE + SAME DAY

FIND A THEME TO ENERGIZE YOUR SALES REPS Are you looking for a way to get your team members excited about achieving their year-end goals? To energize your reps, work with them to develop a unique theme. Then tie each team member’s goal to the theme to help them regain the momentum they may have lost during this very challenging time. Theme ideas don’t always have to feed from managers to employees. You can solicit input from your team members. To tap into real creativity, give your employees a break from the routine. Set up a video ideation session with a gaming atmosphere. Encourage reps to think on a different level. The smallest idea, mulled over in a group session, can germinate into a new sales strategy. Once you commit to the theme, hold a special video meeting to explain the details. Show your enthusiasm through your words and actions. Stand up when you make your announcement. Walk around your office if you’re working from home. Speak with every individual in the group. Explain how your plan connects to the large company goal. If you’re all working in remote locations, send each person a gift that reflects the theme. Glenn Rudin, founder of Always Be Creative, reminds us that “people who you’re speaking to might not remember what you say word for word, but if you’re excited and enthusiastic about it, they will be as well.” Source: SalesFuel — Manage Smarter.

COWEN: ‘ROCKY’ FALL RETAIL SEASON AHEAD Cowen analysts say the retail industry is in for a “rocky” fall this year given opposing forces that could affect consumer spending, Retail Dive reports. Retail could be weighed down by slow back-to-school sales, shipping costs, continued weakness in the apparel sector and lack of continued economic stimulus, according to a report released last week. At the same time, some retailers, especially Target and Walmart, could benefit from shopping trip consolidation, customer acquisition, low prices and accelerated sales in home goods and grocery, according to the analysts. They also see a holiday season that starts earlier and lasts longer. Retailers are headed into a season unlike any other they’ve ever operated in, with forces at play that are capable of both accelerating and slowing spending. Cowen analysts follow Deloitte in splitting the difference in their predictions. Like Cowen’s “bifurcated” fall, Deloitte last week released its annual holiday sales estimates and described in them a “K-shaped” recovery with multiple possible scenarios. The pandemic is also likely to shape what consumers buy during the fall and holiday season. Cowen analysts said they expect home goods, electronics, toys, cooking, loungewear and office products to sell well compared to apparel items like suits and dresses made for the office and going out. Well positioned, in Cowen’s view, are Target, which has been adding to its customer base during the pandemic, and Walmart, which has launched a membership that includes free shipping in time for the holidays.