www.spotsndots.comSubscriptions: $350 per year.

This publication cannot bedistributed beyond the office

of the actual subscriber. Need us? 888-884-2630 or

sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2018.The Daily News of TV Sales Friday, October 25, 2019

OUTLOOK: TOTAL SALES COULD REACH $730B Several reports on holiday spending indicate healthy consumer demand despite a cautious sentiment about the economy, news website Talk Business & Politics reports. The National Retail Federation reported yesterday consumers will spend an average of $1,047.83 this holiday season, up 4 percent from a year ago. Shoppers 35-44 will spend an average of $1,159. The recent overall forecast estimated that holiday retail sales in November and December will be up 3.8 to 4.2 percent over 2018 for a total of $727.9 billion to $730.7 billion. “Consumers are in good financial shape and willing to spend a little more on gifts for the special people in their lives this holiday season,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Retailers are fully prepared to meet the needs of holiday shoppers looking for that perfect mix of sales, quality and selection.” Shay said retailers are expected to import near-record volumes of merchandise ahead of tariffs scheduled to take effect on a wide range of consumer goods from China on Dec. 15. Shay said the consumer survey found shoppers will spend in the following three main categories during the holidays: gifts for family, friends and co-workers, at an average $658.55; non-gift holiday items such as candy and food, decorations, greeting cards and flowers at $227.26; and non-gift purchases that take advantage of the deals and promotions throughout the season at $162.02. “Younger consumers are helping drive the spending increase this year,” Prosper Insights Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “They’re not just spending on their immediate family members, they’re also treating their larger circle of co-workers and friends to gifts.” More than half of shoppers 25-34 (52%) plan to purchase gifts for co-workers, and 82 percent of those 18-24 plan to purchase gifts for their friends. Deloitte predicts holiday retail sales per household will be $1,496. The survey found the bulk of spending ($596) will go for experiences and celebrations, including entertainment and socializing away from home. Gifts and gift cards make up the second-largest spending items at $511. The remaining $389 will toward non-gift clothing and home/holiday decor. Deloitte’s survey also found consumers will seek promotions to make their dollars go further. Consumers (81%) expect promotions will influence them this holiday season, with price discounts (74%) and free shipping (72%) at the top of their wish

(Continued on Page 3)

NRF: CONSUMER SPENDING FOR HOLIDAYS TO RISE 4%ADVERTISER NEWS Amazon.com yesterday forecast revenue and profit for the holiday quarter below expectations, as it faces fierce competition and rising costs from its plan to speed up delivery times globally. Shares fell as revenue growth for the company’s lucrative cloud computing business also slowed down in Q3, missing analysts’ estimates. Amazon beat expectations on overall third-quarter revenue, posting sales up 24 percent to $70 billion. The news underscores

the costly investment Amazon is making to cut delivery times to one day for its Prime loyalty members, a way to outmaneuver rivals such as Walmart that have marketed two-day shipping without subscription fees... Walmart, CVS Health and Rite Aid are pulling all containers

of Johnson & Johnson’s 22-ounce baby powder after the FDA found sub-trace amounts of asbestos, the companies confirmed yesterday. CVS says customers who purchased the product at one of its locations should discontinue use and return the item for a refund. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, said it removed and blocked all of the recalled baby powder, as did Rite Aid. Last week, J&J voluntarily recalled an estimated 33,000 bottles of its 22-ounce baby powder... Tesla shares soared 17 percent yesterday after the electric carmaker surprised Wall Street by delivering on CEO Elon Musk’s promise of a profit in the third quarter, even as doubts remained about its long-term prospects. Trading at $298, Tesla’s market capitalization was $53 billion, surpassing GM’s $51 billion stock market value and making it the most valuable U.S. car company. It has been the No. 1 U.S. car company by market cap before, but recently GM has had a substantial lead... For the third consecutive year, a regional grocer came out on top in a ranking of the nation’s highest-rated retail workplaces, Chain Store Age reports. H-E-B, based in Austin, Texas, nabbed the No. 1 spot on the annual Top-Rated Workplaces: Retailers list by global job site Indeed. For the ranking, Indeed reviewed more than 150 million employer ratings and reviews of the companies on the Fortune 500 list. Rounding out the top 10 were Vans, Costco Wholesale, Nike, Wegmans, QuikTrip, Best Buy, T-Mobile, Publix Super Markets and Nordstrom.

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

AVAILS Research Director, Phoenix: Want a chance to use your skills beyond cranking out one sheets? Do you need to get creative to get out of the research rut? How about the added bonus of sunshine year-round, lush golf courses and amazing gardens? We need the best and brightest for these Meredith stations to find strengths and opportunities – a fresh set of eyes to take the sales research from routine to extraordinary and to find the hidden stories in news research data. Want to become part of the Meredith team? Qualified candidates should apply online at Meredith.com.

Nexstar Broadcasting Group is looking for an exceptional General Manager to lead WSPA (CBS) and WYCW (CW) and digital operations in Spartanburg, S.C.; DMA #38. For the right individual, this is an opportunity to join the largest station group in the industry and oversee a television station duopoly with a tremendous competitive position in the market. The individual also will oversee development of the stations’ digital and mobile platforms, including WSPA.com,

the top-visited broadcast website in the market. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply now. EOEM/F/D/V. WJCL ABC 22 / Hearst Television in Savannah-Hilton Head is looking for a Salesperson to join our team. The ideal candidate will have 1-3 years of TV Sales experience. If you are competitive and driven to succeed in the area of business development, your hard work will be rewarded with generous commission rates. This is a great opportunity to join an industry-leading company and to live in one of the most historic and charming cities in the country. Please CLICK HERE to apply. Director of Sales: ABC6 Providence seeks a dynamic leader responsible for developing and executing creative plans to generate new business and grow revenue from existing accounts on all platforms, including spot TV, digital and mobile. The ideal leader will thrive in an Innovative Sales environment and build a team that will deliver results in a vibrant market. 5+ years’ television sales management, local and national, and experience managing digital media required. Resume to cantonio@abc6.com. No calls, please. EOE. *Please let us know where you saw this ad!

See your ad here Monday! CLICK HERE for details.

‘KELLY CLARKSON SHOW’ TAKES OFF IN DAYTIME Since debuting last month, The Kelly Clarkson Show is averaging roughly 1.9 million viewers per episode. That’s good enough for fourth place among syndicated daytime talk shows, according to Nielsen data. That puts the show, syndicated by NBCUniversal Television, behind shows that have been on for years, CNN Business reports. That includes Ellen, Live with Kelly and Ryan and Dr. Phil, which has led daytime talk with an average of about 3.1 million viewers per episode so far this season. Clarkson also outranks other established shows in daytime, including Maury, Dr. Oz and Rachael Ray. The Kelly Clarkson Show is bringing in bigger ratings than another daytime newcomer, Tamron Hall.

FOX UNVEILS MIDSEASON PREMIERE DATES Fox has unveiled midseason premiere dates for its new and returning series. Season 8 of the Tim Allen comedy Last Man Standing, displaced from its longtime Friday home by WWE SmackDown!, bows with back-to-back episodes starting at 8 PM. Jan. 2, followed by the series premiere of the cop drama Deputy at 9 PM. A week later, the new Jason Biggs-Maggie Lawson family comedy Outmatched joins the Thursday lineup at 8:30 PM. Duncanville, an animated comedy, premieres at 8:30 PM Sunday, Feb. 16. It follows another animated comedy, Bless the Harts, which was recently renewed for a second season. The new Jenna Dewan-hosted reality series Flirty Dancing hits the floor Sunday, Dec. 29, for a preview before taking over The Masked Singer’s Wednesday 8 PM anchor slot during that show’s hiatus. Season 3 of hit reality competition The Masked Singer will premiere Feb. 2 in the plum post-Super Bowl slot. The premiere of competition series Lego Masters is set for 9 PM Wednesday, Feb. 5. The new unscripted series will replace freshman drama Almost Family, whose future is uncertain. Season 3 of Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back gets cookin’ at 9 PM Tuesday, Jan. 7, subbing for Empire while the drama’s final season takes a winter break. The Austin-set new spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star, fronted by Rob Lowe and Liv Tyler, reports for duty after the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, Jan. 19. Its two-night bow continues Jan. 20 in its regular 8 PM Monday slot. The network also is bringing back Fox’s New Year’s Eve with Steve Harvey: Live from Times Square.

NETWORK NEWS Fox’s broadcast of Wednesday’s Game 2 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals drew a 2.9 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, even with Tuesday’s Game 1 in the early Nielsen numbers. A total of 11.78 million viewers tuned in for the game, which Washington won going away 12-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Tuesday’s opening game grew to a 3.1 in the final numbers. Game 3, meanwhile, is tonight in Washington... The long-rumored prequel to post-apocalyptic drama The 100 is getting closer to reality, Deadline reports. The CW has given a backdoor pilot production order to the project. Written by Jason Rothenberg, the potential prequel is being developed as a planted spinoff and will be introduced in an episode from the upcoming seventh and final season of The 100. The Untitled 100 Prequel is set 97 years before the events of the original series... Kristen Stewart and Harry Styles will host the Nov. 2 and Nov. 16 episodes, respectively, of Saturday Night Live, the venerable NBC comedy series announced yesterday... Jerry Fogel, a longtime screen actor best remembered as the beleaguered bridegroom Jerry Buell on NBC’s 1967-68 sitcom The Mothers-in-Law, has died. Fogel, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2008, died Monday in Kansas City, Mo., his family announced. He was 83 years old.

10/25/2019

Conan O’Brien

Today I had an Improbable Impossible Burger,

which tastes just like an Impossible Burger, but it’s

100 percent beef.

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

GM CONTRACT VOTE BY UAW IN FINAL HOURS Striking workers at General Motors factories in the U.S. finish voting today on a proposed four-year contract that could end a 39-day strike that’s cost the No. 1 U.S. automaker more than $2 billion, according to Wall Street. With about one-third of the United Auto Workers union votes counted as of yesterday morning, an estimated 55 percent of the remaining members would have to vote “no” for the proposed deal to fail, said Kristin Dziczek, VP of industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research in Michigan.

The union is scheduled to announce the final results after 4 PM (ET) today. The UAW recommended that the 48,000 members at GM, who have remained on the picket lines, ratify the deal reached on Oct. 16. The GM strike began Sept. 16, with UAW negotiators seeking higher pay for workers, greater job security, a bigger share of profit and protection of healthcare benefits. Other issues included the fate of plants GM targeted to close, as well as

the use of lower-paid temporary workers.

WARC: HIGH TIDE FOR GLOBAL AD SPEND IN 2020 Total global ad spend has been less than expected so far in 2019 but a number of events next year should help industry growth pick up the pace. That’s according to the World Advertising and Research Center (WARC), which suggests there will be an overall rise of 2.5 percent in marketing spend by the end of this year to a total of $618.7 billion. This marks a downgrade from WARC’s February projection of 4.3 percent. The downgrade is driven by a slowdown in consumer spend and GDP, WARC said. It’s a brighter picture for 2020 however, where ad spend is set to grow 6 percent to $656 billion, driven in part by the U.S. Presidential Election and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Advertisers are set to spend 29.9 percent of their dollars on TV, with 23.1 percent going to Alphabet’s Google and YouTube, while Facebook has 12.9 percent. Amazon is projected to take 2.5 percent of all ad dollars in 2020.

10/25/2019

FunnyTweeter.com

Don’t hate me because I have an entire drawer in my fridge dedicated to

cheese. Hate me because it’s organized according to

expiration date.

WEDNESDAY NIELSEN RATINGS - LIVE + SAME DAY

WALMART STARTING HOLIDAY DEALS EARLY Walmart is responding to the shortened holiday shopping season by encouraging shoppers to start checking items off their lists this week. It’s advertising holiday deals “earlier than ever,” starting tonight at midnight (ET). On its website, the retailer says shoppers will find deals on electronics, toys, home goods and sporting accessories. It says new deals will be dropped throughout the season. This also marks the first holiday season that Walmart is offering free next-day delivery, something it started to roll out earlier this year, taking a blow at Amazon’s Prime membership perks. It says it now reaches roughly 75 percent of American consumers with this option, beating its goal to reach that many people by the end of 2019. Walmart says it will try to make it easier for shoppers to find gifts this year by adding a new Gift Finder tool to Walmart.com. It also is launching a new digital toy catalog on Nov. 1. And it says it will have express checkout available in stores for shoppers to hopefully avoid lines and pay with an employee on his or her tablet. Similar to past holiday seasons, Walmart says it will be holding events, starting Nov. 2, themed around characters from Pokemon, Star Wars and Frozen.

NRF: CONSUMER HOLIDAY SPENDING TO RISE 4%(Continued from Page 1)list, far ahead of other incentives like buy-one, get-one (39%) and cashback (29%), the report states. The survey also revealed consumers prefer free shipping to fast shipping. A whopping 85 percent put free shipping as the most important factor when ordering online. Just 15 percent said speedy receipt of online orders is the most important factor in shopping. Deloitte found 68 percent expect no more than two days. If shipping is free consumers are willing to wait up to seven days in some cases. Deloitte also found 69 percent plan to research and make purchases online this holiday season and purchase in stores, while 57 percent plan to use stores to see the items and then plan to order them online. Nearly half of consumers said they will also buy online and pick up in stores. This survey also found promotions, discounts and other offers are the No. 1 thing people want in return for sharing personal information among 61 percent of respondents – with offers for preferential treatment like faster customer service (34%) and faster checkout (31%) a distant second and third.

THIS AND THAT The Broadcasters Foundation of America has announced Dave Lougee, president and CEO of TEGNA, as recipient of its 2020 Golden Mike Award. The award will be presented during a black-tie gala on Wednesday, March 4 in New York City. The annual event is a major fundraiser in support of the mission to provide aid to broadcasters in acute need... Projections by Morgan Stanley that Apple TV+ annual revenue will hit $9 billion within the next five years sent Apple stock to a record high of $243.18 yesterday. This growth is forecast despite offers of a year of free service for buyers of Apple devices.