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 2020.The Daily News of TV Sales Tuesday, March 24, 2020

FOR NOW, ECOMMERCE WILL CARRY THE DAY Excluding grocery stores and drugstores — which remain open — practically all other brick-and-mortar retailers have seen a seismic drop in foot traffic before temporarily closing for the foreseeable future as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread in the U.S., eMarketer reports. “It is going to be a difficult period for retailers that generate a lot of their revenue from physical locations,” said Stacey Thomson, vice president of eBusiness and ecommerce at agile agency Scrum50. “Those that have a strong ecommerce presence will do their best to shift as much foot traffic as possible to their website. It seems unrealistic to expect retailers to make up for all of their in-store revenue through ecommerce sales, so a lot of retailers will take a hit,” she said. “How big of a hit will depend on how long the crisis lasts.” According to James Thomson, partner at Buy Box Experts, who previously served as business head of Amazon Services, it depends on how long this situation continues. “If foot traffic to brick-and-mortar retailers remains nonexistent for more than four to six weeks, retailers will have a hard time remaining financially viable, and consumer shopping preferences may well have changed enough that there is a ‘new norm’ by which more consumers do more shopping online going forward,” he said. From an overall payments volume perspective, it’s too early for any retailer or technology company to discuss the impact of quarantines and social distancing measures, according to Jennifer Sherman, senior vice president of product at NMI. “That said, we find that March is often a strong month for retail transactions as we transition into spring and see upticks in entertainment and fashion transactions,” she said. “So, given the strong performance this year has had so far, we hope that there can be some momentum as we head into an uncertain future.” According to eMarketer’s estimates, which were published before the outbreak and subsequent store closures, U.S. retail sales are expected to climb 2.8 percent this year to $5.621 trillion. The research firm says we won’t start to see the effects on retail sales until the U.S. Census releases its March data later next month, and we also don’t know how long the pandemic will last. “Right now, it’s still hard to say how big of an impact this will have on U.S. retail sales,” said eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Cindy Liu. “With millions of people forced to stay home and many retailers temporarily closing shops, it’s safe to assume that

(Continued on Page 3)

WILL RETAILERS BOUNCE BACK FROM CORONAVIRUS?ADVERTISER NEWS Suggesting that retailers and brands should not curtail promotional activity, a study done by the Path to Purchase Institute says that people are still shopping and looking for deals as they stock up. Walmart was seen as the most trusted retailer, with Amazon and Target tied for runners-up and Kroger and Costco also prominently named. Lysol, Clorox and Purell were the most trusted

brands… Some auto dealers are trying to make sales without buyers needing to come into a showroom, including making deliveries direct to the buyer. AutoNation started such an initiative called “Store

to Door” last week, and other local dealers are trying to offer similar programs… Rite Aid is expanding home delivery services and waiving fees on delivery of eligible prescriptions. About half of its 2,400 locations also offer drive-thru service… Land’s End, once owned by Sears, has now fulfilled its contractual obligations to Sears and plans to offer its entire assortment at Kohl’s starting in the fall… McDonald’s has closed about 50 locations that were within buildings that had been impacted by the coronavirus such as Navy Pier in Chicago… Subway has stopped in-store dining at units that had offered areas for seating…Nation’s Restaurant News says chains such as Subway, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, KFC, Del Taco and Chipotle are now offering “recession-like deals” on orders through take-out or delivery… Although it had seen high volume at cafes open last week, Starbucks is joining the trend to drive-thru and delivery only at its company-owned stores, except for those located near hospitals and healthcare centers. Licensed café owners in units like supermarkets and stores will make their own decisions about staying open… Nation’s Restaurant News sees a trend brewing in restaurants offering food kits for pickup and delivery. The most recent news from the industry is poor. NPD Group data shows that after a 4 percent increase (compared with last year) in visits to quick-serve restaurants in the week that ended March 8, year-to-year transactions were down 8 percent in the week that followed.

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

4As: CONSUMERS SEEK REASSURANCE ON VIRUS With billions of TV and other media advertising dollars on the line as a result of issues around COVID-19, marketers are sending out reassuring messages — and that, in large part, pleases consumers, Television News Daily reports. Forty-three percent of respondents surveyed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (The 4As) say they want messages that are “reassuring from the brands I know and trust,” while 56 percent are “pleased to hear brands taking action like making donations of goods and services.”

Overall, 40 percent of respondents want to know what brands are doing in response to the pandemic. On the flip side, 15 percent said they “do not want to hear from brands at this time.” Results come from a March 18 online survey of 1,000 people 18 years and older via Suzy, a real-time market research platform. Brands that advertise messages related to cleaning in their ads are of great importance to consumers, with

those 25-34 years old at 45 percent, followed by 35- to-49-year-olds (44%); 50- to 64-year-olds (48%) and those 65 and older (52%). Consumers also want to hear from brands that are offering paid time off to employees who are unable to work — with 18- to 24-year-olds at 63 percent, followed by 25- to 34-year-olds (61%), 35- to 49-year-olds (56%), 50- to 64-year-olds (49%), and those 65 and older (41%). The survey also found that 49 percent of respondents said they’re not going out to eat, while 27 percent say they’re ordering food delivery and/or takeout; 44 percent aren’t comfortable going outside for non-essential items; and 37 percent are buying items online and are not going to stores.

SCRIPPS LAUNCHES ADS FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES The E.W. Scripps Co. said its TV stations have launched a public service campaign to support local businesses and their employees, Broadcasting & Cable reports. The “We’re Open” multimedia campaign is designed to encourage viewers to help small businesses stay afloat through the coronavirus crisis. Ads are running in the 42 markets where Scripps own stations via broadcast, OTT, digital and social media channels. As part of the campaign, the stations are promoting #TakeoutTuesday to urge viewers to order take out food and deliveries on what’s normally a slow day for the restaurant business. “As journalists, our role is first and foremost about public service — and that’s more true than ever right now as we cover how the COVID-19 pandemic affects local communities,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Local Media at Scripps. “As Americans turn to local television for reliable local news and information, we will do our part to support our local economies by covering these businesses and supporting them through this public awareness campaign. Our employees live and work in the communities they cover, so it’s important to us that our local businesses have a fighting chance of weathering this unprecedented storm.”

AUTO AD SPEND PROVES RESILIENT FOR NOW There may be hope on the horizon for television and other media that receive advertising dollars from automobile manufacturers and local dealerships. According to a report by Digiday, automotive ad spending was largely resilient last week — even as the flow of dollars from other industries slowed considerably due to the economic chaos rooted in the spread of the coronavirus. “Less competition for inventory means lower CPMs — and right now TV audiences are on the up as people are forced to stay at home,” the report explains. “While many consumers may not be in the right frame of mind to purchase a car right now, cars tend to have longer sales cycles. That means this period could be an opportune moment for longer-term brand-building campaigns designed to build awareness and preference for a time when things in the outside world become less chaotic.” Some automakers are now emphasizing financing options as consumers consider the financial impact of the pandemic. According to Digiday’s report, which cites data from iSpotTV, automakers spent an estimated $184 million on 54,000 airings from March 1-18. That’s down from the same period a year ago, but mostly because of the cancellations of major live sports events like the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Those moves have led networks to shift existing campaigns to lower-cost inventory. But the activity level is nonetheless consistent: In 2019, according to iSpotTV data, auto advertisers spent an estimated $215 million on 54,000 airings, reaching 18.2 billion TV screens.

NETWORK NEWS The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is airing what home network NBC calls “hybrid episodes,” extending “until further notice.” The episodes feature new guests as part of Fallon’s At Home Edition segments, combined with what NBC terms “best-of-moments” from past episodes. John Legend is on tonight. Irish singer Niall Horan is on tomorrow, Alec Baldwin on Thursday and Tina Fey on Friday. With Fallon doing some social distancing amid the coronavirus, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: At Home Edition premiered March 17 on the show’s official YouTube channel... NBCUniversal is widening the distribution of its national news programming during the coronavirus crisis, making MSNBC and CNBC available, in partnership with its distribution partners, to all their video customers, regardless of the packages to which they subscribe. Subscribers can view this content through their video provider or through MSNBC’s and CNBC’s online platforms on an authenticated basis. Additionally, NBC News Now, a 24/7 online streaming service from NBC News, will feature free programming drawing upon all the news resources of NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC... The 55th Academy of Country Music Awards has set a new live air date of Sept. 16 at 8 PM (ET). The ceremony, which will be hosted by Keith Urban, will air on CBS, stream live and will be available on-demand on CBS All Access. The ACM Awards honors the biggest names and emerging talent in the country music industry.

3/24/2020

Conan O’Brien

I asked my doctor if I need to cancel my

birthday party, but she said that's only for

events over 10 people.

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

DELTA SAYS IT’S LOSING $50 MILLION PER DAY Delta is losing $50 million in cash each day due to fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, and it projects year-over-year revenue to fall by $10 billion for the June quarter — an 80 percent reduction, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Last week in its latest quarterly report, Delta announced a year-over-year increase of more than $11 billion in revenue. For the 2019 fiscal year, revenue increased by $47 billion. With the global COVID-19 outbreak cratering the aviation industry, Delta has entered into a $2.6 billion secured

credit facility and is drawing down $3 billion under existing revolving credit facilities. To maintain liquidity, the airline is suspending its stock repurchase program and the board of directors’ future dividend payments. With flights between the U.S. and Europe restricted, Delta on March 13 announced it would reduce capacity by 40 percent in the next few months, the largest cut in company history. Five days later, Delta upped that capacity reduction

to 70 percent.

WILL RETAIL BOUNCE BACK FROM CORONAVIRUS?(Continued from Page 1)sales will likely take a hit starting in March and last however long these social distancing measures remain in place.” This may be an opportunity for the retailers that have lagged in the ecommerce space. This could accelerate digital transformation and get retailers to omnichannel faster. Out of necessity, they may even explore showrooming and downsizing retail footprints as shoppers develop new habits. “Everyone is navigating new territory,” Scrum 50’s Thomson said. “Retailers can test and learn new ways to sell inventory and quickly meet new demands. It’s a forgiving time to take some risks.”

3/24/2020

FunnyTweeter.com

Your quarantine name is:

The color of your underwear followed by

the last thing you ordered on Amazon.

SUNDAY NIELSEN RATINGS - LIVE + SAME DAY

SPORTS FANS TURN TO BINGE-WATCHING, NEWS Live sports programming came to a screeching halt once leagues including the NBA, NHL and MLB suspended their seasons in response to the growing spread of COVID-19. In the absence of their favorite TV programming, sports fans are flocking to streaming shows — and in some cases keeping their TVs off entirely, Adweek reports. Last weekend, regular sports fans spent 47 percent more time streaming compared with the previous weekend, according to data from Inscape, which pulls automatic content recognition (ACR) information from more than 14 million Vizio television sets. (“Regular sports fans” were defined as viewers who normally spent at least one continuous hour watching sports programming.) About 10 percent of those viewers didn’t watch linear TV at all when sports weren’t available, according to the data. Instead, they switched over to a variety of different programming, including comedies, dramas, documentaries and news. C-SPAN saw the biggest viewership bump among sports fans, with 40 percent of normal sports viewers tuning in, followed by CNN, which saw a 35 percent increase. That spike in news consumption tracks with an overall increase in news viewership amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Among non-news cable networks, Discovery Family, Travel Channel and the Spanish-language Universo saw the biggest boost in viewership from normal sports viewers. Among all viewing Inscape measured, last weekend was a big one for binge-watching. Law & Order: SVU was the most-watched show last weekend either through video on demand or DVR viewing, followed by Westworld and NCIS: Los Angeles. The Office and The Big Bang Theory were the fourth- and fifth-most watched shows over the weekend.

COMCAST PREVAILS OVER ALLEN AT SCOTUS The Supreme Court sided with Comcast over Byron Allen in his racial discrimination case against the cable giant, ruling that in order for his lawsuit to survive, he bears the burden of showing racial discrimination was the “but for” cause in the cable giant’s refusal to carry his entertainment channels. The justices, in a unanimous decision, ruled that to prevail, “a plaintiff must initially plead and ultimately prove that, but for race, it would not have suffered the loss of a legally protected right,” according to the opinion. The decision means that Allen’s lawsuit will go back to the lower court, where he can again try to prove his case, but he will have a much greater threshold to meet for his case to survive. At issue was whether Allen’s $20 billion lawsuit should have survived beyond the pleading stage by merely proving that, in Comcast’s decision to deny carriage of his Entertainment Studios’ channels, his race was a “motivating factor” or whether it was the sole cause, also known as “but for” in legalese. The ruling was viewed as having a potentially significant impact on future racial discrimination cases. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Allen last year, but in oral arguments some of the justices found fault with the lower court’s reasoning.