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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2017.The Daily News of TV Sales Friday, July 28, 2017

ANALYST SAYS ADVERTISING ‘IS FINE’AUTO INDUSTRY SPENDING COULD INCREASE Some early year bumps in the revenue road, especially a weak sales month in April, raised doubts about how 2017 would be for advertising. But those fears may’ve been overblown according to Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Marci Ryvicker. “Advertising is fine,” she said. “In fact, we heard July (may end as) one of the best months of the year.” In a note to clients Ryvicker said some TV groups could even post “flattish” revenue when the industry begins releasing its quarterly earnings. Worst case is some groups will be down mid-single digits. That may not seem like good news, but after last year’s political ad dollars plus an influx of Olympic and World Cup buys, it seems local TV is holding its own. Ryvicker forecasts U.S. automotive advertising will remain “relatively stable” at $13 billion as long as new car sales remain at or above 16 million units. She thinks that’s “more than likely” for the next several years with the average car now 11.5 years old. “As incentive spending comes down, advertising should go up—maybe not one-for-one—but there should still be an incremental benefit,” Ryvicker told clients. She thinks the auto industry is in the best shape it’s ever been in as companies operate more efficiently and are able to build to match consumer demand. “In fact, as they introduce new cars with more technology and innovation, ad spend could actually increase,” she predicted. Ryvicker’s research revealed regional dealer associations still spend a mere 5% of their ad dollars on digital. The remaining 95% mostly goes into broadcast TV and radio buys. While paid search and mobile ads will continue to gain ground, Ryvicker thinks TV is relatively safe. “It is more likely to come from other traditional media—like print, outdoor and radio,” Ryvicker said. Beyond the automotive category, Ryvicker says core ad categories continue to improve—albeit slowly. Interpublic Group CEO Michael Roth said this week there’s a “broader caution” that is impacting clients’ willingness to release budgets. Spending in the consumer packaged goods category has been especially hard hit according to the conglomerate that’s the parent of media shops including Hill Holliday, Initiative, Magna, and McCann. But Roth remains optimistic about the remainder of 2017. “The macro climate in the U.S. and the overall tone from clients is supportive of a stronger second half, despite challenges caused by the political uncertainty,” he said on a conference call. Ethan Allen CEO Farooq Kathwari epitomizes what many TV advertisers are going through—and how last minute decision-making has become. “It is summer, so not the best time to be on national television,” he said told analysts last week, adding, “We are considering utilizing television in August on somewhat more on a local basis.”

ADVERTISER NEWS July new vehicle sales are expected to fall almost 6% on a year-to-year basis according to projections coming from Kelley Blue Book. Including fleet sales, total industry sales are estimated to be 1,430,000 units, 5.7% off from July, 2016 and 2.6% below June. Retail sales by local dealerships will account for 84.1% of all sales, up slightly from 83.8% a year ago……Penske Automotive mostly combines its substantial foreign operations in its quarterly

reports; however it does report that its U.S. retail revenue was down 1.5% on a same-store basis in the second quarter……Group 1 again referred to tough conditions in energy-price-impacted markets, noting combined new and used vehicle sales in Texas and Oklahoma were down 7%. On a national basis, the Group 1 chain saw same store retail sales down 5.7% for new vehicles and off by 4.9% for used vehicles……Coca-Cola is dropping Coke Zero in favor of Coca-Cola Zero

Sugar, which has been a strong seller in other parts of the world. While both drinks are sweetened with aspartame, it’s felt the new name better communicates that it does not contain sugar……Despite losing more market share in the U.S., Anheuser-Busch InBev saw a profit surge after taking over SABMiller operations, having saved an estimated $355 million from the merger during the quarter. But the Bud Light brand is said to have lost almost one full market share point while Budweiser itself lost over a third of a share point. As craft beers and imports continue to gain, the brewer also notes “additional pressure in the premium sector”……Whole Foods comps were down again in the quarter that ended on 7/2, but the publicity that came from the announcement that Amazon was buying the chain may have helped subsequent business, as the chain’s CEO noted comps improved in the last three weeks of July……McDonald’s says McDelivery is now available in 3,500 restaurants in the U.S., and nearing 8,000 locations worldwide……While many restaurants have seen benefits from lower food costs, not so for Buffalo Wild Wings, which says it has seen “historically high wing costs.” And with same-store sales at company-owned stores down 1.2% for the quarter that ended on 6/25, those costs were a big factor in a 62.9% drop in profit. The company is expecting additional inflation of 8-10% over the rest of the year for its wings……After a soft first quarter in which weather was blamed, Tractor Supply Company reported a 2.2% same-store sales increase in the second quarter which pulls the year-to-date up to a 0.2% increase. TSC opened 14 new stores during the quarter to reach 1,630 and 160 Petsense stores.

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NETWORK NEWS Deadline is reporting that Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland, The Postcard Killings, The Secret Circle, Life Unexpected) has been picked for a lead role in the upcoming ABC drama series For the People. Robertson will replace Britne Oxford, who had the role of Sandra, a sensible, fiercely intelligent and independent new public defender in the pilot. For the People is a project from Shondaland and ABC Studios set in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, aka The Mother Court and follows brand-new lawyers working for both the defense and prosecution on some of the most high-stakes cases in the country. For the People is written by Paul William Davies, who will serve as executive producer along with Don Todd, Shondaland’s Shonda Rhimes, and Betsy Beers……Jaina Lee Ortiz (Rosewood, Misfire, Laid Out) has been tapped to a starring role in the new Grey’s Anatomy spinoff series. The drama is slated for a midseason release and will consist of 10 episodes. It will be set in a Seattle firehouse and will be written by Stacy McKee, former executive producer, and co-showrunner of Grey’s Anatomy. The lead characters of the spinoff are expected to be introduced in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy this fall ahead of a midseason premiere. Ortiz has been in demand since Fox canceled Rosewood after two seasons. She has a major recurring role in USA Network’s Shooter opposite star Ryan Philippe……In other news from Grey’s Anatomy, Krista Vernoff, who was head writer and executive producer for the hit ABC series for the first seven seasons, will be returning to the show for season 14. She’ll be part of the showrunner team of Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers. Her return is part of her new overall deal with ABC Studios……Variety is reporting that Emmy nominated composer Tree Adams has been hired by NCIS: New Orleans. Adams has worked as a television, film and games composer for 20 years, after transitioning from a career as a touring musician. Adam’s compositions have been featured in shows like Californication, Lethal Weapon, Legends, In Plain Sight, and Frankie and Bash. NCIS: New Orleans is a spinoff of another CBS prime hit series, NCIS……A new series set in Baltimore that follows a recently elected African-American female mayor is in development at NBC. The project stars Penny Johnson and will be executive produced by Jerald and Allison Abner. Johnson’s character will work with her female chief of police and district attorney as they seek justice in one of America’s most dangerous cities.

DONE DEALS Univision Communications Inc. has announced the appointment of Steve Mandala to President of Advertising Sales and Marketing. Mandala, who was most recently Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales, will continue to be based in New York and will report to Tonia O’Connor, Chief Revenue Officer. Mandala will oversee advertising sales and marketing for Univision’s suite of media offerings, including the Univision Network, UniMàs, UCI’s cable networks, and Univision Deportes Network.

AVAILS WROC-TV8, a CBS Affiliate in Rochester NY seeks a Director of Sales to be responsible for leading the operations of the Sales Department. The DOS works with the sales team, and within established department guidelines, to increase sales volume. The successful Director of Sales will be active in the community, building business and strong relationship and knowledge of the local economic landscape. Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing,

Advertising, Communications, or related field preferred. Minimum five year experience in sales, preferably in the media field. CLICK HERE to apply. EOE. WIS, the NBC affiliate, and dominant multi-platform media outlet in Columbia, SC, has an opening for an experienced Multi-Platform Consultant with 3-5 years sales experience. You must have a proven track record of negotiating and developing business in broadcast sales

and digital sales. Experience with MSOffice, comScore, Matrix, Kantar, Wide Orbit Media Sales and Wide Orbit Traffic preferred. Qualified applicants, please APPLY ONLINE and attach cover letter and resume. Sorry, no phone calls or emails will be returned. EOE-M/F/D/V Bloom Ads seeks an Associate Media Director, Digital & Programmatic Strategy, Los Angeles, CA. This person will be responsible for establishing strong relationships with clients and partners which includes being the primary point of contact for day-to-day management of client business. The ideal candidate will have senior level client negotiation, cross platform digital planning and buying, extensive programmatic strategy and management experience with the ability to write clearly and to make lively, imaginative but substantive presentations. Send your resume, cover letter and salary requirements to admin@bloomads.com and use “AMD, Digital & Programmatic Strategy” in the subject line. Entravision, Boston MA, is looking for an extraordinary ad sales professional who wants to join a dynamic team

as the Digital Sales Manager. This person will maximize advertising revenue by selling to digital focused advertising agencies and direct clients. Must aggressively manage new business development opportunities with key accounts and additional accounts.

Digital advertising sales experience is required; prefer 2+ years of digital sales experience, with key agency contacts. To apply, send cover letter/resume to: Carlos Sporleder, Digital Regional Manager, csporleder@entravision.com GOT AN EMPTY DESK?Almost 15,000 TV professionals download Spots n Dots each day.

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7/28/2017

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

ACCOUNT ACTIONS McCann’s New York office has picked up the creative and strategic duties on the HomeGoods account after a review in which 8-year incumbent KBS did not participate. A sibling to Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx under the TJX umbrella, HomeGoods spent about $77 million in media for each of the past two years according to Kantar Media estimates. BUSINESS BYTES Men are doing more food shopping than ever before according to a new study from Men’s Health magazine. The study was conducted by Rodale Inc and the Harris Poll and found men are not only taking more control of food shopping, but two-thirds of them are also deciding what to buy before they arrive at the store. Two-thirds of men who are married or living with a partner say they use grocery lists often or all the time, up about 15 percentage points in the last seven years. The study also found more men are buying large groups of items at once, with 70% saying they’re the primary shopper for large food trips and 43% making those trips alone. Men are also cooking more—93% say they prepare meals for themselves and 77% say they prepare meals for other people. COMPETITIVE INFO Home Depot is the top radio advertiser so far this year according to Media Monitors, which tracks national advertising in 85 radio markets. The home improvement retail channel has been very hot this year and the chain responded with 1,400,235 spots in those 85 markets—that’s an average of better than 16,000 spots per market and if the weight was spread out evenly over the year’s first 26 weeks, an average of 633 spots per market per week. But while the numbers are staggering, they’re not that much above last year’s first half, when Home Depot bought 1,146,146 ads in those markets January-June. Surprisingly perhaps, no automotive advertisers rank within the top twenty—Lincoln Mercury is number 22 and Honda is number 44 to lead carmakers. The rest of radio’s top ten cash cows are GEICO, number 2 (over 1.1 million radio spots), McDonald’s, Lowe’s, J.C. Penney, AutoZone, Mattress Firm, Staples, Walgreens, and USDOT.

VIACOM NO LONGER IN THE ‘DISCOVERY’ RUN No sooner did Viacom get mentioned as a possible buyer for Scripps Networks, now it’s gone. The Wall Street Journal says Scripps has decided it would like to negotiate exclusively with Discovery Network about a possible deal for its networks, valued at about $11 billion. The Journal notes Viacom already has about $12 billion in debt and has a very low credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service already. Negotiations between Discovery and Scripps are likely to take place over “several days,” with no guarantee a deal will be reached.

P&G SAYS DIGITAL ADS NOT EFFECTIVE Procter & Gamble says its move to cut more than $100 million in digital marketing spend in the June quarter had little impact on its business, proving that those digital ads were largely ineffective. Almost all of the consumer product giant’s advertising cuts in the period came from digital, finance chief Jon Moeller said on its earnings call Thursday. The company targeted ads that could wind up on sites with fake traffic from software known as “bots,” or those with objectionable content.

“What it reflected was a choice to cut spending from a digital standpoint where it was ineffective,according to a story at WSJ.com Chief Executive David Taylor said in an interview that the digital spending cuts are part of a bigger push by the company to more quickly halt spending on items that aren’t working. “We got some data that said either it was in a bad place or it was not effective,” Mr. Taylor said of the digital

cuts. “And we shut it down and said, ‘We’re not going to follow a formula of how much you spend or share of voice. We want every dollar to add value for the consumer or add value for our stakeholders.” After cutting back on certain digital ads, “we didn’t see a reduction in the growth rate,” said Moeller during the call. “What that tells me is that the spending we cut was largely ineffective.”

MEREDITH UP IN Q4 Meredith’s fourth quarter station group revenue grew 8% to $152 million. The group, which includes 17 stations, saw operating profit grow 9% to $46 million and EBITDA grew 6% to $55 million, compared to the prior-year period.

7/28/2017

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