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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2017.The Daily News of TV Sales Wednesday, March 15, 2017

REPORT: GENERATION X UNDERVALUEDOVERLOOKED DEMO MAY BE EASIEST TO BUY Are advertisers missing out on a lucrative market by overlooking Generation X? The answer is yes according to the results of a study by eMarketer. The results of the study were reported in MediaLife Magazine this week. Generation X includes those people born between 1965 and 1980. For the most part, they were written off as slackers early on and were pushed out of the media spotlight as they got older. Advertisers and marketers started to chase the younger, quirkier Millennial generation, those born after 1980 sometimes referred to a Generation Y. Millennial’s were attractive to advertisers partly because of the size of the group. The Pew Research Center puts the number of Millennials at 83 million. That information fueled the wrong assumption that the Gen X group was much smaller in size. In fact, Generation X is 65 million per the same estimate. A smaller number for sure, but still a sizeable portion of the population that could be overlooked, largely because of the size of the generation above (Baby Boomers) and the generation below (Millennials). The report said “Forget the notion that Gen X is a small market: It isn’t.” The eMarketer report argues that the Gen X group may be the easiest generation of all to reach with advertising. The report examines the media habits and relative lack of advertiser attention given to the group, and concludes that from an advertising perspective, Gen X can bridge the media generation gap between Boomers and Millennials. “Gen Xers’ digital use, along with their TV viewing, makes the eminently reachable” the report notes. The group is less likely to jump on trendy things, such as the latest social media site. They tend to wait until a technology is more established to invest their time. Once they do start using it, there’s a good chance they will continue. Almost 78% of the group use digital video, for instance. Of the Gen Xers using the Internet, 72% subscribe to a video-on-demand service, and three quarters are YouTube users. Despite the high penetration of digital services, Gen Xers’ remain devoted to traditional media. The same level of cord-cutting by Millennials is not happening at the same rate with Gen X. Most of the group still consumes lots of TV, giving media buyers and planners more choices, something they don’t enjoy with younger and older generations. And Gen Xers typically don’t engage with a second screen as much as Millennials when they watch TV. When trying to figure out the younger generation, Gen X might be a less-frustrating target.

ADVERTISER NEWS Mattress Firm, which recently severed its relationship with Tempur Sealy in an acrimonious breakup, has entered into a new five-year deal with Serta Simmons Bedding which the parties say will launch new exclusive products and be supported by an incremental $100 million in marketing funds behind the Serta and Beautyrest brands. The parties say SSB products including memory foam and hybrid mattresses have been the fasting growing lines in the past year for the retailer……There could be another casualty coming in the ongoing “restaurant recession.”

Ruby Tuesday announced it has hired a financial advisor to explore its strategic alternatives including a possible sale. The company, which had announced the closing of almost 100 locations last year, also pre-announced a same-store decline of 4% for the quarter that ended on 2/28……Del Taco, the second-largest Mexican-American QSR chain by number of units, beat the restaurant industry blues with a 5.5% systemwide

same-store sales gain in the fourth quarter, completing a fiscal year with a 4.7% gain, the fourth consecutive year of positives. During the year the chain added 13 new units (5 owned by franchisees) and plans to open 23-26 more locations during the current fiscal year……McDonald’s is testing expanded McCafe drinks at about 170 stores in Northern California including the Sacramento market. Nation’s Restaurant News says the units in the test have added new equipment to enhance all beverages including mochas, lattes and hot chocolate……DSW fourth quarter comps were down 7%, but with total sales up a bit and a significant reduction in markdowns, profit rose slightly. Now with 502 stores in 43 states, the chain will add 12-15 net new locations this year and continue to add more DSW Kids shops to existing stores…..Stoli Vodka is coming back to television advertising after an absence of seven years. The brand director said, “As part of our largest multimedia campaign to date, we are excited to launch this television campaign to drive awareness and connect with millions of millennial customers.”.... (Continued on page 3)

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

NETWORK NEWS The Vampire Diaries ended its eight-season run on the CW last week, but that doesn’t mean that the story is over. Julie Plec, the co-creator of the show told The Hollywood Reporter that she already has an idea for another spinoff of the series. The series finale alluded to “another story” for Candice King’s character Caroline Forbes. The fourth season of the first TVD spinoff, The Originals debuts on the CW Friday, March 17th……The Fox comedy pilot Amy’s Brother has added Sloane Morgan Siegel to the cast. Siegel will play Zach in the series, the entitled, popular son to Amy, played by Annie Mumulo and brother to Abby played by Ursula Parker. Melissa McCarthy and her husband and producing partner Ben Falcone are executive producers of the project, along with Saturday Night Live’s Beth McCarthy-Miller, who is directing the pilot……Ricardo Coeto has been named EVP of production for Telemundo Studios. Coeto will have oversight of the scripted productions of the studios, as well as weekend prime entertainment properties. Coeto will be based in Miami and will report to Luis Silberwasser, president of Telemundo Network, Studios and Universo Channel……Izabella Alvarez has been cast to a regular role in the new ABC comedy pilot Raised by Wolves. Alvarez will join previously announced cast members Georgia King, Cooper Friedman, Lulu Wilson and Craig T. Nelson. Alvarez most recently appeared in HBO’s Westworld……NBC will air a primetime version of Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update. The half-hour telecast will feature Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che, additional SNL cast members will also make appearances. The network is counting on the current ratings success of the late-night version to drive viewers to the four-week summer primetime run. Saturday Night Live is up 21% in 18-49 ratings year-to-year. The show is averaging a 3.57 rating compared to last year’s 2.94. The ‘Update’ show will debut on Thursday, August 10th at 9 PM (ET)……The Nielsen audience numbers are in for the network morning shows for the week of March 6th. Once again, NBC’s Today Show was number one in the news demo (25-54) with 1.636 million viewers. ABC’s Good Morning America came in second with 1.481 million and CBS This Morning delivered 1.069 million viewers in the demo. GMA was again the leader in total viewers with 4.638 million. POWER OUTAGE CAUSES RATINGS DELAY Nielsen said on Tuesday that a power outage has caused a delay in the release of the several data sets including fast national ratings for Saturday, Sunday and Monday (March 11-13). The company said “Nielsen continues to work with the local electric company and our technology teams to resolve issues caused by the Saturday, March 11th power outage. At this time, we do not have any additional details to share regarding application availability or data delivery schedules for the services impacted.” One VP Of Sales told Spots n Dots, “Stations scrutinize the overnights daily to see what’s going on, and what news stories are resonating with viewers. Not having them (ratings) is a big deal.”

AVAILS FOX Richmond seeks a dynamic Marketing Consultant who is an enthusiastic, accountable individual with drive to join our growing team. The successful candidate will need to possess the ability to thrive in a fast paced, competitive, multi-media environment. We’re looking for a creative person to generate revenue by prospecting and selling television and a variety of digital opportunities. Responsible for attracting new clients, proposal

preparation and presentations, as well as, maximizing revenue on existing account list. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply. EOE.WSVN-7 FOX/Miami-Ft. Lauderdale is currently looking for a dynamic individual for an Account Executive position. Need to have the ability to thrive in a fast paced, competitive, multi-media environment. We are looking for a creative person to generate revenue by prospecting and

selling for television and a variety of digital opportunities. Responsible for attracting new clients, proposal preparation and presentations as well as maximizing revenue on existing account list. Please send resume to Kim Witker at kwitker@wsvn.com. EOE. You arrived at work today not realizing that the best FOX affiliate in the country is looking to hire a Local Sales Manager. KVVU FOX5 in Las Vegas (where the sun always shines and entertainment never ends) is searching for a leader who brings a desire to train individuals, generate creative ideas to develop new business and grow key accounts. Las Vegas is a bright city and KVVU FOX5 employs only the brightest stars. If you want to shine, please apply online by going to http://www.meredith.com/viewjobopenings. Meredith Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer ABC6 in Providence, Rhode Island is looking for a sales professional with sales experience to join this growing ABC affiliate as an Account Executive. We need an enthusiastic, accountable individual to work with local and regional clients– at the agency and local levels. This position is a great opportunity for someone looking for a move into a top 60 market. Please send resume to cantonio@abc6.com. No calls please. WLNE-TV/ABC6 is and equal opportunity employer. WLBT, the Raycom-owned NBC and Bounce affiliate in Jackson, MS has a rare opportunity for a dynamic General Sales Manager. Candidates should have experience coaching, training and leading team members to consistently grow market share and new revenue streams. Three years television sales management experience preferred; college degree preferred. This is an excellent opportunity to work for a great station and company. Please apply online by CLICKING HERE and send a cover letter, resume and references. No phone calls please. EOE-M/F/D/V

3/15/2017

Conan O’Brien

Everyone’s OK, but over the weekend off the coast

of Florida, a Carnival Cruise ship almost hit two jet skiers. Today, the captain of the ship apologized and said, “I’ll get

them next time.”

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

ACCOUNT ACTIONS After a review that started with 26 agencies responding to the initial Request For Proposal, Grey Advertising is the new creative shop for Applebee’s, making Grey the third agency to have the account in less than two years. Kansas City’s Barkley had been the most recent incumbent; it had replaced Crispin Porter + Bogusky in 2015. Kantar Media estimates the client spent about $150 million in paid media last year……Carmichael Lynch is the new agency for Phillips 66, replacing Venables Bell & Partners. The assignment includes brand strategy, creative, media planning and buying, and cause marketing. Kantar says the brand spent just $5.4 million last year. BUSINESS BYTES Powertrain data from the National Automobile Dealers Association for the first two months of the year shows 94.1% of vehicles sold are powered by gasoline, with only 2.8% diesels. Hybrids were 2.1%, electric-powered just 0.6% and plug-in hybrids 0.5%. By segment, the NADA says crossovers accounted for 34.2% of sales in the year’s first two months. Small cars (15.8%) were the runner-up segment followed by pickups (15.5%). Midsized cars were 13.1% of the deals, with no other segment as much as 10%. SUVs were 8.3%, luxury cars 5.7%, vans 5.6% and large cars just 1.8%. As you may know, a crossover is built on a car platform, while an SUV is built on the chassis of a truck……In today’s issue, we’re reporting that Ruby Tuesday is starting a strategic review with a sale a possibility and that Applebee’s (which changed top management earlier this month) has just picked Grey to be its third creative advertising agency in less than two years. Part of the reason for this and other changes may be that, as Nation’s Restaurant News analyses the landscape of restaurant formats, the “bar and grill” chains are doing even worse than other segments in the industry. NRN computes the bar and grill chains have produced a 3.5% same-store sales drop in the last three months, compared to smaller losses of 1.5% for all casual dining and 0.7% for all publicly-traded restaurants. Meanwhile, take-out and delivery are growing. NRN notes their business model is based on “people staying, eating, and having drinks.” Growing competition, especially from fast-casual “better burger” chains has taken away from the segment. And perhaps a bigger problem is with segments of the population concerned about discretionary income; middle-class diners who frequent chains like Applebee’s and Chili’s may be the people most likely to look for less-expensive alternatives. GOOGLE CONTINUES TO DOMINATE U.S. digital ad spending will reach $83 billion in 2017, an increase of 15.9%, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast. 40.7% of U.S. digital ad revenues in 2017 will go to Google. That’s more than double Facebook’s share. Google’s share of the search market will grow 16.1% to $28.55 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, Google’s display business will rise to $5.24 billion, but its share of the display market will drop to 12.5%.

THIS AND THAT New York City wants its FiOS! City government filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming Verizon has failed to honor an agreement made in 2008 to deploy its fiber-optic network past all homes in the city by 2014. Only about 57% of New Yorkers currently have access to the service, but Verizon responds that all dwellings in the city are within reach of FiOS, however some landlords have made it difficult for their tenants to get access, leaving those people with just a traditional cable provider for television service.....Hearst and

Dish apparently remain far away from resolving the contract dispute that has left satellite customers in 26 markets unable to watch the broadcaster’s stations since March 3rd. A letter was released Tuesday from Hearst President Jordan Wertlieb. He said in the letter that Dish’s “lack of engagement and unwillingness to present a fair proposal suggest that Dish intends to employ their age-old strategy of long-term impasse.” The letter follows the circulation of a video last week from Dish EVP Programming Warren Schlichting.

In the video, he said that Hearst “won’t budge” and “won’t respond to our latest offer.” Wertlieb called the charge “simply untrue” and went on to say that “As we have said to Dish all along, we remain ready and willing to conclude a deal promptly.” Hearst operates 15 ABC stations, 12 NBC affiliates and a handful of CBS and CW outlets.

NETWORK AFFILATES TO MEET AT NAB The National Association of Broadcasters announced on Tuesday that both Fox and CW will host meetings with their affiliated television station representatives during the NAB show in Las Vegas. The affiliate boards of directors of ABC, CBS, Fox Television and NBC will once again hold meeting at the NAB Show which will be held April 22nd – 27th.

ADVERTISER NEWS (Continued from page 1).....Here’s an update on the Gander Mountain bankruptcy: The company says it’s in active discussions with a number of potential buyers and expects to get bids for an auction to be held in April. If there is no buyer by late April, Gander will conduct a Going-Out-of-Business sale and close all stores……Despite what it called “significant weather issues” in its heritage markets of California, Arizona and Nevada, clothing retailer Tillys managed a small positive in same-store sales that beat expectations. But with a later Easter this year it’s projecting a low to mid-single digit decline for the current quarter……Neiman Marcus will “explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives, which may include the sale of the company.” Reports say the company may be sold to Canadian department store owner Hudson’s Bay, also known as “The Bay”. The company owns Saks and Lord & Taylor, among others. The news follows reports Tuesday that merger talks between Hudson’s Bay and Macy’s have broken down. Retaildive.com says Neiman Marcus reported that revenue fell 6.1% for the second quarter of fiscal 2017 to $1.40 billion, and it reported a net loss of $117.1 million compared to net earnings of $7.9 million during the same period last year.

3/15/2017

FunnyTweeter.com

All I’m saying is Sesame Street would be a lot more

entertaining if Big Bird were a velociraptor.