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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2018.The Daily News of TV Sales Tuesday, June 12, 2018

SUBSCRIBERS SEE MOST VALUE FROM OTTADVERTISER NEWS Amazon is expanding its discounts for Prime members at Whole Foods stores to 10 new states this week. They include Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington. Benefits are also expanding to parts of California and Nevada. CNBC says the expansions mean Amazon’s Whole Foods discounts are now available to nearly half the U.S. To receive the discounts, Prime members

simply open the Whole Foods mobile app, sign in with an Amazon account and scan the bar code at checkout… Yahoo Finance reports that Domino’s Pizza is undertaking an infrastructure initiative: It’s filling potholes in towns across the U.S. The pizza chain announced Paving for Pizza, which aims to help “smooth the ride home” for deliveries by making pothole repairs in towns nominated by customers. Domino’s has already

been working to help repair potholes on roads in Bartonville, Texas; Milford, Delaware; Athens, Georgia; and Burbank, California… Turns out International House of Pancakes—popularly known as IHOP—isn’t changing its name after all. CNBC says it’s simply promoting a new line of burgers. The company has rebranded itself as IHOb—but only for the time being—to promote its new line of Ultimate Steakburgers. Burgers aren’t exactly new for IHOP, however: It’s been serving them since 1958. But it’s historically been associated with pancakes and breakfast food. Last week IHOP created a buzz when it said on Twitter that it would be changing the last letter of its acronym from “P” to “b,” teasing big changes ahead… Tesla says its Autopilot driver assistance system will get full self-driving features following a software upgrade in August. As per a report by Reuters, Autopilot is a form of advanced cruise control. It handles some driving tasks but warns drivers they’re always responsible for safe operation of the vehicle. However, recent crashes, including one involving a fatality on March 23rd, have brought the system under regulatory scrutiny.

GROWING INTEREST IN vMVPDs The majority of U.S. viewers still subscribe to a traditional MVPD—cable, satellite or telco—but the percentage is declining. A new report from Horowitz Research, State of Pay TV, OTT and SVOD, finds that 76% subscribe to a traditional MVPD, down from 86% in 2014. By demo, though, just 71% of 18-34 year-olds subscribe to a traditional pay TV service, compared to 75% of 35-49 year-olds and 81% of TV viewers 50+. Although TV viewers are watching more TV content than ever before—the study reveals that TV content viewers report watching an average of 6.5 hours of TV a day—the fact that there are many lower cost services competing for consumers’ video budgets is impacting the perceived cost-benefit ratio of traditional pay TV. According to Horowitz, 74% of cable TV subscribers, 78% of satellite TV subscribers, and 80% of fiber TV subscribers say that they are satisfied with their TV service overall. However, when asked how “worth it” the TV services they subscribe to are, cable, satellite, and fiber TV subscribers are less likely to say that their TV service is worth it compared to most over-the-top services. 70% of satellite and fiber subscribers and 62% of cable subscribers say that their service is worth it; between 8-13% say their pay TV is not worth it. On the other hand, 91% of Netflix subscribers say that Netflix is worth the money, and 83% say that Hulu is worth it. Virtual MVPD providers Sling TV and Hulu with Live TV also fare better than traditional pay TV, with 79% of Sling TV subscribers and 77% of Hulu with Live TV subscribers saying their service is worth it. Will traditional MVPDs be able to hold their subscribers? Nearly half (48%) of pay TV subscribers express interest in a vMVPD; this rises to 58% among 18-34 year-olds. While the Horowitz researchers caution that these data are based on a broad, general description of vMVPDs and may not translate into actual cord-cutting, they do indicate a willingness among consumers to explore these services, and cost plays a major role. Nearly all (93%) of those interested in vMVPDs cite the lower cost as a key factor why they are interested in an OTT pay TV option. Beyond cost, the viewing and technology experience that consumers have come to expect from over-the-top services is highly valued and, in many cases, more user-friendly than many traditional MVPDs’ set-top box guides. (Continued on page 3)

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

NETWORK NEWS Did you watch the Belmont Stakes last weekend? Broadcast & Cable partnered with Inscape, the TV measurement company with data from a panel of more than 8 million smart TVs and devices, to get some insight into the people who watched the even (on NBC). Overall, 3% of the country tuned in to watch the race, including 6% of households in Kentucky and Maine, and 5% in Florida. 26% of the Belmont Stakes audience had watched the Preakness Stakes, while 36% had viewed the Kentucky Derby.....NBC is thinking about reshuffling its morning lineup to limit the damage done by struggling Megyn Kelly Today. The New York Post says that network execs are considering moving the show to an hour later, and bringing Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb’s popular hour of the Today show forward by an hour to replace it...Jake Wood, the co-founder and CEO of Team Rubicon, will receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service sponsored by Bonobos when The 2018 ESPYS Presented by Capital One air live on ABC Wednesday, July 18th. When the Twin Towers fell on September 11th 2001, Wood was a defensive lineman on the Wisconsin Badgers football team. He was inspired by the first responders who risked their lives trying to help others, and by former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman’s selfless sacrifice. He joined the Marine Corp. where he was eventually promoted to sergeant and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. When he returned to civilian life, Wood and fellow Marine William McNulty brought together a group of veterans, first responders and medical workers to form Team Rubicon, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transitioning veterans from military service to disaster response and relief. The organization leverages veterans’ existing skill sets to rapidly deploy emergency response teams to places in need and provides veterans with a sense of purpose and identity. The Pat Tillman Award for Service was established in 2014 to commemorate the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger’s legacy and to honor an individual with a strong connection to sports who has served others……Since Jeff Glor took over the anchor chair at CBS Evening News last year, viewership is up 1% compared to the year prior and up 10% over predecessor Scott Pelley’s final month in mid-2017. However, the CBS program remains well behind its director competitors, ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News. For the five-day week ending on May 25th, CBS averaged 1.18 million total viewers in the news demo of adults 25-54, compared with an average of 1.64 million for ABC and 1.62 million for NBC. Overall, total viewership is down 5% for CBS Evening News compared to a year ago…Actor Rome Flynn has been promoted to a series regular on the fifth season of ABC’s drama thriller How To Get Away with Murder. Flynn’s character Gabriel Maddox was introduced to the fans of the series in the season four finale. ...Beth Behrs has joined the upcoming CBS comedy series The Neighborhood, Variety has confirmed. Behrs will play Gemma, the wife to Max Greenfield’s Dave. Greenfield himself joined the series in a recasting, bumping Josh Lawson. Behrs will take over the role originally played by Dreama Walker.

AVAILS Looking for a great place to live and to work for an industry leader? WJCL 22, the Hearst owned ABC affiliate in the Savannah-Hilton Head market is looking for a Research Director. The ideal candidate will be will be analytical, creative and proactive and should also be proficient in Nielsen software, Kantar and Wide Orbit Media Sales. This position is actively engaged in providing relevant research and strategic guidance to the stations’ news, programming and creative services departments. Click HERE to apply. EOE.

WNEM-TV 5 in Saginaw, Michigan seeks a Local Sales Manager. The LSM oversees, leads and motivates AEs to generate new advertisers and expand the revenue share of existing clients. This position utilizes all sales platforms to develop new business including broadcast television, digital and mobile media and strategically leads the team in growing transactional accounts. Six to eight years local television sales or related experience

preferred. Previous management experience required with a proven track record of successfully managing a sales team. CLICK HERE to apply – look for job requisition JR04839. EOE.

THIS AND THAT A survey by Merrill Edge (which combines Merrill Lynch brokerage with parent Bank of America banking) finds that one in three Americans says their financial stability is dependent on receiving an inheritance. This is even true for 20% of baby boomers, many of whom are facing retirement, 36% of Gen Xers and 32% of Millennials……A survey by CITE Research for RingCentral finds that women in knowledge industries are much better at multitasking than men. Also, apps which are supposed to increase productivity often have the opposite impact. According to the report, seven in 10 workers waste up to an hour each day navigating these apps—the equivalent of up to 32 wasted days per year……Rent-A-Center says its board did not receive any acquisition bids that were acceptable and the company will continue to pursue its own strategic plan.... A quarterly report by CoreLogic finds that U.S. homeowners saw their equity increase 13.3% year-over-year in Q1 of this year—a boost of $1.01 trillion. The report analyzes homes with mortgages, which accounts for roughly 63% of all properties. The average homeowner gained $16,300 in home equity between the first quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018.

ACCOUNT ACTIONS Hyatt Hotels named Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners (KBS) as AOR for the chain’s World of Hyatt Loyalty Program following a formal review. KBS will lead all creative concepts, content and communication assets for the program……Video game giant Activision is in the process of reviewing its $70 million creative advertising account, reports Adweek. Incumbent 72andSunny is defending.

6/12/2018

Conan O’Brien

A man in Florida was arrested after he was caught

with several stolen zoo animals. He would have gotten away with it if the

parrot hadn’t talked.

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

RAPID GROWTH IN OTT ADVERTISING Marketers plan to dramatically increase their budget commitments to streaming television. In fact, 78% of marketers surveyed plan to buy ad inventory on streaming TV within the next 12 months, according to the latest SteelHouse survey of both brand-side and agency marketing professionals, conducted by independent consulting firm Advertiser Perceptions. The survey shows an average of 30% of total advertising budgets are allocated to video across multiple channels, with 28% of that going to social platforms, 26% to in-stream, 20% to traditional local or national TV, and 13% to in-unit ads. But it was the newest category, streaming TV, that made the strongest impression, garnering 12% of planned video spend. SteelHouse CMO David Simon says the appeal of streaming TV is that it is “a fully addressable, all digital channel that combines the storytelling power of traditional television with the targeting and accountability of digital media.” The survey also found digital video measurement is still evolving. The top three key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluating video inventory were completion rates (49%), impressions/reach (46%), and quality scores including viewability & fraud (44%). However, there were differences between marketers and agencies. Marketers identified impression/reach (48%), completion (47%), and click-through (44%) as the most valued metrics, while agencies chose completion (53%), quality scores (45%), and in-target delivery/GRPs (comScore, Nielsen, etc.). Sales attribution was low for both (28%).

PODCASTS ARE MAKING NOISE - AND MONEY U.S podcast ad revenue hit $314 million in 2017 for a striking 86% increase over the $169 million booked in 2016, according to Inside Radio. A growing and diverse assortment of advertisers are warming up to the in-vogue ad channel, with podcast revenue forecast to surge to $659 million by 2020, a triple-digit 110% hike from 2017. Looking at podcast advertisers by category, the study found financial services spent the most on podcasts in 2017, with an 18% share, followed by direct-to-consumer retailers (16%) and arts and entertainment (13%).

WOULD FEWER ADS INCREASE VIEWERSHIP? Lower advertising loads on TV yields only small hikes in watching individual TV commercials, according to a story eported by Mediapost.com When programmers reduced commercial loads, by cutting the number of ads by 50% or more, viewer engagement saw single-digit growth — just 7%, according to research from Comcast’s Freewheel, its video management platform. It also found a 30% reduction in show’s commercials would only improve viewing by 5%. “The marginal increases in engagement almost never compensated for the massive reduction in inventory,” the authors report. NBC and 21st Century Fox are among the networks that recently announced plans to reduce commercial inventory on their networks. Turner and Viacom have already been experimenting with reduced ad loads.

AMAZON SERIOUS ABOUT STREAMING SPORTS Amazon’s plan for live sports broadcasts is becoming clearer following its deal with the U.K. Premier League. Digiday says Amazon is the first platform to strike a deal to stream football matches in the U.K., with 10 matches to be shown on Amazon Prime on two separate days for three seasons starting next year. It’s not a wide-ranging deal, but it’s a statement of intent from a business that already has the rights to stream tennis in the U.K. An opportunity to broadcast major events will help Amazon prove to rights holders that it has the reach and

the monetization credentials to contend with traditional broadcasters. This is key, given that many existing broadcasting agreements for various other leagues are up for renewal in the next decade. And deciding how to monitize those events will get easier. Amazon sold two minutes of ads for each hour of its NFL coverage last year. “Amazon got positive feedback from the brands it worked with around the NFL livestreams,” said one ad exec. “What

really stood out for us and them was the measurement aspect of advertising around that content, rather than the targeting. We were able to see the impact of someone who sees an ad for a shaving brand, for example. You could see how many people visited a product page or how many people (made a purchase). That’s something you don’t get in a television environment.”

..VALUE FROM OTT (Continued from page 1) While Horowitz SVP Adriana Waterston describes Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime as “VOD on steroids” and usually a supplement to pay TV, the new vMVPDs are different. She says they “compete directly with traditional providers by offering linear television, including sports and local channels in many markets, DVR service, and other elements of traditional multichannel, but for a lower price and with the app-driven, consumer-friendly OTT experience that has transformed consumers’ expectations about how and where they can access their content.”

6/12/2018

FunnyTweeter.com

We could all chip in, buy Rolling Stone magazine,

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