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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2020.The Daily News of TV Sales Monday, January 25, 2021

ANALYSTS SAY IT’LL BE A HARD HABIT TO BREAK The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped habits and behaviors of even the most resolute shoppers as social distancing became a key line of defense against infection. But one of the most significant and unexpected shifts, experts say, was the almost immediate embrace of online shopping by people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, The Washington Post reports. As baby boomers move online, retailers and consumer goods brands are scrambling to meet them there with round-the-clock customer service, detailed nutrition information and interactive videos aimed at simplifying e-commerce for the uninitiated. Instacart, the nation’s largest online grocery provider, has created a service that helps older consumers set up accounts, fill their carts and place their first orders. The program has been popular, helping onboard hundreds of thousands of new shoppers. “There has been a significant increase in consumers over 50 who had never shopped online and are now saying, ‘Oh wow, this is so much easier than I thought,’” said Deborah Weinswig, chief executive of retail consulting firm Coresight Research. “There’s going to be a lot more mixing and matching: ‘Maybe I want to go to the store to squeeze my own vegetables, but I’ll get non-perishables and dry goods delivered.’” Consumers 65 and older, on average, spent a total of $1,615 online from January through October, a 49% increase from a year earlier, making them the fastest-growing cohort of online shoppers, according to NPD Group’s Checkout Tracking, which captures data from consumer receipts both online and in stores. Frequency of purchases, meanwhile, climbed more than 40%. And though the trend is born primarily from necessity — older adults are at higher risk if they contract COVID-19 — analysts say they expect the behavior to stick even after the pandemic is over. Baby boomers are a coveted demographic: They tend to be loyal customers and have more disposable income than their younger counterparts. In 2018, consumers 50 and older spent $7.6 trillion, accounting for 56% of overall U.S. spending, according to AARP. Though grocery delivery — popularized by services such as Peapod, Instacart and Fresh Direct — had been picking up in large cities even before the pandemic, it had been slow to catch on in many parts of the U.S., making up just 2% of annual grocery sales in 2019, Weinswig said. Baby boomers were an often-overlooked demographic among e-commerce companies, analysts said, because they tended to prefer shopping in physical stores. The pandemic, though, has shifted consumer behavior in a way that retailers did not anticipate. Major chains like Walmart and Target have invested heavily to meet surging demand for delivery and curbside pickup, which has grown by as much as eightfold since last year.

PANDEMIC SURPRISE: BOOMERS BIG ONLINE SHOPPERSADVERTISER NEWS DoorDash is set to make its Super Bowl commercial de-but on the biggest day for advertising — which also happens to be a major day for food delivery. The campaign, called “The Neighborhood,” features actor Daveed Diggs, paired with Sesame Street’s Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover and Rosita, in a fresh take on the children’s TV show’s “People in your Neighborhood” song, directed by Michel Gondry for The Martin Agency. It also marks the non-profit Sesame Workshop’s first time in the Super Bowl. DoorDash is us-ing the spot to show, for the first time in its marketing, that it is more than a company for restaurant orders, but rather a broader delivery option for items such as milk, cookies, shampoo, birdseed and paper towels... American Eagle plans to close 200 to 250 stores, primarily located in malls, over the next two to three years. The retailer also said it

would focus on building its Aerie business into a $2 billion brand… Francesca’s plans to keep about half its 551 stores open af-ter a bankruptcy court approved the sale of the women’s clothing retailer to an affiliate of TerraMar Capital and the Tiger Capital group liquidation firm… Instacart has in-formed employees that it plans to cut nearly 2,000 jobs, including 10 held by workers who

recently voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union. The delivery service said it’s taking the ac-tion after some of its retailer customers made the decision to use their own workers to pick grocery orders in stores… Add Chobani to the list of companies paying workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The yogurt brand said it will pay workers in its plant, storage and delivery operations up to six hours to get vaccinated… Whole Foods Market has revealed plans to acquire Jackson Whole Grocer in Jack-son, Wyo., marking its first location in the state, in a deal that should close early this year. The grocer also said it will soon open its first Montana store in Bozeman, although a date has not yet been announced... COVID-19 has been far from sweet for Godiva, which has decided to sell or close its stores across North America. The luxury chocolatier says 128 brick-and-mortar locations, including 11 in Canada, will shut by the end of March. The company didn’t say how many jobs will be affected... McDonald’s new Throwback Deal will offer select menu items including cheeseburgers, fries and shakes for 35 cents every Thursday through Feb. 18. The prices recall the chain’s founding in 1955, and the deals will be available only to those who order using the McDonald’s app... Saks Fifth Avenue’s brick-and-mortar operation may end up being a separate company from its online business. Hudson’s Bay has begun meeting with investors to spin off Saks.com into a public company, WWD reports. The two companies would have an exclusive agreement between them in line with today’s omnichannel world, the report says. Industry sources said the separation of the Saks website as its own company would likely be a first in the retail industry.

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COMSCORE: IN-HOME DATA USAGE UP 18% IN ’20 As millions of Americans sheltered in place and shifted to working from home, ongoing research from Comscore found that overall in-home data usage levels throughout 2020 remained significantly higher than in 2019. Overall, Comscore said total in-home data consumption in 2020 increased 18% from the previous year. Throughout the first several of months of COVID-related lockdowns, data consumption from Comscore Connected Home custom reporting showed increased usage across all connected devices. Analysts indicated smart TVs, laptops,

gaming consoles, phones, smart speakers, streaming boxes and sticks and tablets all saw strong growth in data usage versus 2019. By the summer, Comscore determined year-over-year growth rates across all devices seemed to level off to around 15% on average, but smart TVs and home computers continued to see growth rates upwards of 30% vs. 2019. Despite some schools reopening for in-person learning and some adults

returning to their offices, at least part-time, Comscore indicated home computer data usage continued to accelerate through the end of the year.

HEALTHCARE SET FOR ‘GIANT LEAP’ IN AD SPEND As the U.S. works to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control, healthcare will continue to grow as an advertising category in 2021, Inside Radio reports. A record 5,500 healthcare companies received a total of $80 billion in investments in 2020, with telemedicine a top focus. Some $48 million was spent on telemedicine ads last year, according to Media Radar, a 22% increase over 2019. “Telehealth is even bigger than we thought,” MediaRadar CEO Todd Krizelman said last week during a webinar devoted to his advertising predictions for 2021. “We should see a giant leap in healthcare and telemedicine advertising in the next 1-3 years.” As they leverage the COVID vaccine to encourage people to come into stores, pharmacies are expected to ramp up advertising this year. Promoting flu shots made up 26% of pharmacy advertising in 2020 and that’s expected to grow in 2021. Krizelman predicts vaccination ad spend will lift total pharmacy advertising in late spring and early summer. Total pharmacy ad spend will be up at least 33% this year, he said.

NBCU TO SHUT DOWN SPORTS NETWORK NBCSN NBCUniversal is stopping NBCSN, its longtime veteran sports TV network, Television News Daily reports. NBCSN’s big TV sports franchises — the National Hockey League and NASCAR auto racing — will transition to USA Network, including one of its biggest events, the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff games. Other NBCU sports properties will remain, including Golf Channel; The Olympic Channel; the regional sports networks; SportsEngine, a youth sports platform; and GolfNow, an online booking service for golf courses. NBCSN has been behind some of its cable network sports competitors, in particular Walt Disney’s ESPN, when it comes to inking high-profile sports franchises.

SMI: AD ECONOMY EXPANDING, BUT NOT FOR TV The U.S. advertising economy had its fifth consecutive month of expansion in December, rising 7.2% over December 2019, according to the final 2020 data generated by the U.S. Ad Market Tracker, a collaboration of MediaPost and Standard Media Index. The data, based on actual media buys generated by the major agency holding companies, demonstrates U.S. ad demand has firmly rebounded from the effects of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered a five-month advertising recession between March and July. Not all media are benefitting evenly, however, as the national TV advertising marketplace actually saw a 9.7% decline in December 2020 vs. the same month in 2019. Digital media, by comparison, saw demand soar 30.7% year-over-year in December, supporting the notion that many brand marketers have shifted more of their budgets toward digital — especially e-commerce and performance media buys — during the pandemic. The expansion also continues to be driven mainly by the biggest advertisers, as the top 10 ad categories surged 9.5% year-over-year in December vs. a relatively tepid 1.5% expansion for categories 11-plus.

NETWORK NEWS A signature Fox program, America’s Most Wanted, is coming back to the network with a new season, set to launch in March. Elizabeth Vargas will succeed John Walsh as host of the revamped America’s Most Wanted, which is being produced in-house by Fox Alternative Entertainment. While AMW’s goal remains the same — enlisting the public’s help to track down some of the country’s most dangerous fugitives — the program will now employ a number of technologically advanced tools to assist in the search, including harvesting the power of social media... The CW’s series premiere of Walker drew a 0.4 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic and 2.43 million viewers Thursday, sparking the network’s most watched Thursday primetime since 2018. The series, which stars Supernatural alum Jared Padalecki in a revival of the Chuck Norris-starring CBS action drama that ran from 1993-2001, debuted with the most watched telecast in the 8 PM Thursday time slot for CW since December 2016... Tom Brokaw will retire from NBC News after 55 years with the network. Brokaw, 80, was the anchor of NBC Nightly News from 1982-2004. Since then, he has been a part of NBC News’ special event coverage, serving as a special correspondent and often providing commentary and analysis from a historical perspective. His 2001 book The Greatest Generation put the spotlight on the sacrifice of a generation of Americans through the Great Depression and World War II... And Gregory Sierra, who was a key part of two major 1970s sitcoms as Julio Fuentes on Sanford and Son and Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amenguale on Barney Miller, has died. Sierra died Jan. 4 in Laguna Woods, Calif., from cancer, with his death made public last week. Born in New York’s Spanish Harlem, Sierra had guest appearances on such shows as It Takes a Thief, Medical Center, The High Chaparral, Mod Squad, The Flying Nun and Kung Fu. Gregory Sierra was 83 years old.

1/25/2021

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

EDMUNDS: 15.5M NEW AUTOS TO BE SOLD IN ’21 The car-shopping experts at Edmunds say the auto industry is on track for greater stability and healthier sales this year, forecasting that 15.5 million new cars will be sold in 2021. Edmunds analysts note that this would represent a 6.5% lift compared to last year. Edmunds says the new vehicle market will continue to grow more pricey and exclusive as the pandemic drives an income divide among Americans. In December the average transaction price for a new vehicle hit an all-time record high of $40,573. Edmunds analysts expect this number to go up

as affluent consumers continue to buy more expensive new trucks and SUVs. COVID-19 vaccines are expected to help keep auto sales steady but won’t boost them dramatically, Edmunds says. Unlike other industries like airlines or entertainment, auto sales aren’t expected to see a dramatic retail lift post widespread vaccination distribution — in 2020, retail sales were down only 8.6%. However, Edmunds says a return to an in-person work environment should

help maintain sales, and the firm anticipates a boost in daily rentals in 2021, which generally make up 12% of new vehicle sales but sank to 7.4% in 2020.

SURVEY: 61% NOT RETURNING TO THE MOVIES A new survey finds that 61% of respondents plan on watching new movies via streaming services, rather than going back to the cineplex once the COVID-19 pandemic ends. The Adtaxi survey was conducted Jan. 4 online using Survey Monkey among a national sample of 867 adults, spanning across U.S. geographic regions, income levels, gender and age. “With mass vaccination on the horizon, it’s important to track which pandemic habits will become the new norm,” Chris Loretto, EVP of Adtaxi, said in a statement. “The meteoric rise of streaming appears to be one clear case, with huge implications for the future of movie theaters, content production and digital marketing.” Streaming services were the No. 1 source for default TV viewing with 47% of respondents. Second place went to cable TV (24%), followed by traditional TV (11%). This year, 19% of respondents plan to add additional streaming services on top of their current subscriptions.

1/25/2021

Edmunds

The auto industry will sell 15.5 million new

automobiles in 2021, a 6.5% increase over 2020.

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THESE CONSUMERS LOVE EXERCISING (AND TV) Potential Health Club Switchers aren’t immune to watching more TV during the pandemic. In fact, 61% of these consumers watch a minimum of three hours of TV every day. These consumers are huge fans of pro basketball, football and baseball programming. Despite watching a lot of TV, Potential Health Club Switchers find time to exercise. Sixty percent have a personal goal to exercise more within the next year. These consumers will make purchases aside from gym memberships to help them achieve their goal. For example, they’re far more likely than other consumers to pay for a personal trainer. They also plan to buy home exercise equipment (21%) and fitness tracking wearables (14%). Gyms can target them by promoting their favorite sports activities, which include weightlifting (29%), yoga (20%) and bicycling/spinning (19%). Potential Health Club Switchers don’t spend all their workout time indoors. Within the next year, 43% hope to travel to the beach, and they are also more likely than others to take a trip to a ski resort. Last year, TV commercials swayed 71% of Potential Health Club Switchers to take action, such as making a purchase or visiting a website. These consumers can become influencers for advertisers, as they’re far more likely than average to post comments about TV ads on social media. Source: AudienceSCAN from AdMall at SalesFuel.

U.S. HOUSEHOLD CPG SPEND JUMPED 19% IN 2020 Driven by the COVID-19 crisis, U.S. household spending on consumer packaged goods swelled 19% in 2020 and remained elevated heading into 2021, according to new research from advertising efficacy specialist NCSolutions. Americans also have shown a greater predilection for new CPG items as they’ve hunkered down at home, with nearly half of those surveyed reporting that they’ve tried a new brand or product category. New York-based NCSolutions identified three phases of pandemic-related grocery spending in 2020. U.S. household CPG spending rose 2% from pre-pandemic levels for the “preparedness buying” period of Feb. 24 to March 11 as reported cases of COVID-19 popped up around the U.S. Next came the “extreme buying” phase of consumer stockpiling as coronavirus was declared a national emergency, which saw CPG expenditures jump 35% versus pre-COVID buying. The “home-confined buying” period then began March 22 and continued to the year-end, with CPG expenditures up 22% as most consumers locked down at home. Although grocery spending growth fluctuated on a month-to-month basis during 2020, year-over-year CPG spending gained by double-digits in every month except January, NCSolutions’ purchase data showed. Five months saw year-over-year increases of 20%+: March (36%), April (29%), May (21%), July (20%) and October (27%). The largest month-to-month growth in CPG spend came in March (29%), December (20%) and October (9%). In the final quarter of 2020, U.S. household grocery spending grew 9.3% month to month on average.