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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2019.The Daily News of TV Sales Monday, December 2, 2019

CONSUMERS SPENDING, BUT SHOPPING ONLINE The strength of the American consumer as a driving force behind the economy was on display during Black Friday, as shoppers headed to malls and visited websites looking for deals, The Wall Street Journal reports. Buoying spending is a strong U.S. job market, where wages are growing, even for lower income workers, and a booming stock market, which is making the wealthy feel better off. Online sales on Thanksgiving Day were up 15 percent from a year ago at $4.2 billion, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks activity on thousands on websites. Black Friday was on track to hit $7.4 billion in online sales, up 19 percent, based on Adobe’s early data. Customers have frequented the indoor mall less as outdoor shopping centers with elegant restaurants have popped up nearby. “The mad rush isn’t here anymore,” said Reila Prose, a 40-year-old San Antonio-area resident who goes out each year during Black Friday. “The mall has dwindled. You can get everything online.” The latest read from most retailers is that consumers continue to spend. Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods were among the chains reporting strong demand heading into the holidays. Even retailers that have stumbled, such as Urban Outfitters, said the consumer remains healthy. The American consumer “is willing to spend when offered compelling products and the value is right,” Richard Hayne, Urban Outfitter’s chief executive, said on a conference call earlier this month. “We expect her to spend more this holiday than in years past.” On Black Friday in 2018, more than 80 percent of online shopping carts were abandoned, according to research firm Barilliance. But retailers are hoping new pay buttons will help, and investors are paying close attention. Comparison shopping and spending are moving online, especially during the holidays, but the majority of retail purchases are still made in stores. Retailers have responded by pushing deals earlier in the season. Most stores open their doors on Thanksgiving Day, pulling sales from Black Friday itself. And retailers will roll out new online promotions today for Cyber Monday. “With so many shoppers comparing prices online, we have to be competitive,” Michelle Gass, CEO of Kohl’s, said in an interview. She said the department-store chain is offering deeper discounts this year in some categories, such as items for the home, to stand out in a “very promotional environment.” Black Friday has lost some of its grip on shoppers, but retailers and researchers disagree just how much of the spending has shifted. Adobe estimates that online sales for Cyber Monday will reach $9.4 billion.

BLACK FRIDAY 2019 ARRIVES WITHOUT THE MAD RUSHADVERTISER NEWS As online shopping becomes more popular over the Thanksgiving weekend, some retailers experienced outages amid the surge in traffic. Costco’s website went down entirely for a brief period of time early on Thanksgiving Day. Costco.com was experiencing “intermittent slow load and transaction times” starting late Wednesday, according to website performance monitor Catchpoint. Apparel retailer H&M’s website was also down for a short period, less

than 5 minutes, on Thanksgiving morning, Catchpoint said. Nordstrom Rack customers reported some technical issues on social media on Black Friday. Catchpoint also said Home Depot’s website had “slow load times” during the middle of the day on Thanksgiving... Traditional return options just aren’t doing it for shoppers anymore, CNBC reports. Consumers

want more convenient and flexible choices, including more in-store returns for online purchases and designated locations to pick up and drop off packages, according to a global online survey. Narvar, a software company that tracks orders and returns for retailers, found that 13 percent of the shoppers surveyed in the U.S. dropped off a package at a designated location, and 52 percent of those shoppers did so because it was convenient. Some retailers are already experimenting with these options — Target and Walmart allow customers to return online purchases in their stores, and Kohl’s accepts returns for “eligible” items purchased on Amazon at all of its stores... The FDA still isn’t cutting cannabidiol, or CBD, much slack, Gizmodo says. Last week the agency updated its stance on the cannabis-derived ingredient, warning the public that most products made with CBD on the market are untested, unregulated and have the “potential to harm” users. It also issued more than a dozen warning letters to companies they claim are illegally selling CBD products... After a 20-year absence, the three-cylinder engine is returning to General Motors’ North American vehicles, Automotive News reports. The Buick Encore GX and the Chevrolet Trailblazer will be offered with 1.2- and 1.3-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engines, starting next year. The last time GM sold a vehicle in the U.S. with a three-cylinder was in 2000: The Chevrolet Metro was equipped with a 1.0-liter nonturbo engine rated at 55 hp. In comparison, the automaker’s modern-day 1.3-liter is rated at 155 hp. GM has not disclosed the 1.2-liter’s U.S. power specs, but in vehicles sold overseas, it is rated at 137 hp. The Encore GX arrives in the first quarter of 2020, while the Trailblazer is scheduled to go on sale in spring as a 2021 model... Bankrupt retailer Destination Maternity will shut down its remaining 235 retail stores under a deal that would see a licensing firm buy the company’s brand name and other assets for $50 million, The Wall Street Journal reports. A licensing platform backed by Neuberger Berman Group has agreed to acquire the bankrupt retailer’s e-commerce business, brand name and intellectual property, according to a court filing.

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

AVAILS KMSB FOX11/KTTU My18 in Tucson, Ariz., is looking for a strong and strategic Director of Local Sales. This position is responsible for creating and executing the KMSB FOX11/KTTU My18 sales strategy to meet revenue goals across all station platforms. Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business or related field, and a minimum of 7+ years of local television sales management experience required. Please see OUR ONLINE AD to see if you qualify for this job. If so, please CLICK HERE to apply. EOE.

KMBC-TV, Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate in Kansas City, has an opening for an experienced Account Executive. We are looking for an AE who is highly motivated, can grow revenue on existing accounts and secure new advertisers to the station. Ideal candidate will have strong business development experience as well as the ability to effectively negotiate. If you have a proven track record of producing revenue on multiple

platforms, CLICK HERE to apply. EOE. WAFF-TV, the NBC affiliate in Huntsville, Ala., has an immediate opening for a Digital Sales Manager. The Digital Sales Manager is responsible for achieving the station’s advertising revenue goals and works closely with the entire WAFF sales team to train, prospect, develop, close and maintain accounts. The DSM works in partnership with the sales team to identify clients’ needs and to recommend effective multi-platform marketing solutions, integrating traditional television advertising with non-traditional digital tools and new media platforms. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply now. No calls, please. EOE-M/F/D/V.

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UAW, FIAT CHRYSLER REACH TENTATIVE DEAL The United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have reached a tentative labor contract agreement. The Detroit News says the company has committed to an extra $4.5 billion in investments over the next four years on top of $4.5 billion announced earlier this year, which the UAW says in total would add 7,900 jobs. Fiat Chrysler’s national council will meet Wednesday to vote to send the deal for hourly production and skilled trades employees to the 37,200 UAW-FCA members. If it does, ratification votes will begin Friday. The agreement is expected to include at least a $9,000 ratification bonus — the same as what Ford Motor Co. employees received, two sources previously told the newspaper. No assembly plants will close and no additional components plant closures are expected to be announced. New contracts at Ford and General Motors provide pathways for all employees — both full-time and temporary, and hired prior to the contract’s ratification date — to reach the top of the pay scale within the contracts’ four years. The agreements also include hefty ratification bonuses, do not increase health care costs and promise billions of dollars in investments in U.S. facilities.

NETWORK NEWS The Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys broadcast on Thursday was the most-watched Thanksgiving Day game on CBS Sports in 27 years, and the most-watched regular season game on any network in three years. The game, which ran from 4:32 PM to 7:48 PM (ET), averaged 32.538 million viewers (Persons 2 +), up 22 percent from last year’s game on CBS (Chicago-Detroit; 26.61 million; 12:39-3:48 PM, ET) and up 7 percent from last year’s comparable game window (Washington-Dallas; 30.524 million, FOX; 4:36-7:57 PM, ET), according to Nielsen fast national ratings (Live + Same Day). Viewership peaked with 35.453 million viewers from 7:00-7:15 PM (ET). The game also was the most-watched television program since Super Bowl LIII programming on CBS on Feb. 3, 2019... Scot Ruggles (NOS4A2) has booked a recurring role in the second season of The CW’s All American. The return of All American finds Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), now a football state champion, with a tough decision: He must decide whether to stay in Beverly Hills and play for Coach Billy Baker (Taye Diggs) or back home to South LA, reunite with his mother, Grace (Karimah Westbrook), brother Dillon (Jalyn Hall) and play for his father Corey (Chad Coleman), the new head coach for the South Crenshaw Chargers... The classic TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is America’s favorite holiday show or movie, according to a Morning Consult/Hollywood Reporter poll. Pollsters asked 2,200 adults about to rank well-known holiday entertainment based on favorability. Some 83 percent had holly-jolly feelings about the 1964 claymation Rudolph, which originally aired on NBC through 1971 and has aired on CBS each year since 1972. The beloved animated specials A Charlie Brown Christmas (originally on CBS, now on ABC) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (also originally on CBS) tied as the second most popular, with 82 percent of people viewing both favorably. It’s the second year in a row Rudolph has topped the poll... As the month’s ratings roundup comes to a close, Univision is claiming that not only will it be rated among the top five broadcast networks, alongside ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, it will be the leading network on Spanish-language U.S. TV in primetime among adults 18-49 and all viewers aged over 2, Rapid TV News reports. During the November 2019 sweep, Univision is averaging 1.3 million total viewers 2+, 581,000 adults 18-49, and 238,000 adults 18-34 during primetime. With an average median age of 46, Univision says that it’s attracting an audience that’s 13 years younger than the combined average viewer of English-language broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW — in primetime. In fact, Univision claims to be delivering the highest audience concentration of adults 18-34 and adults 18-49 compared with all the English-language broadcast networks during primetime... Audrey Corsa (Mary Page Marlowe) is set for a recurring role in the second season of the CBS All Access anthology series Tell Me A Story, which takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as dark, twisted psychological thrillers.

12/2/2019

Conan O’Brien

I just ‘Okay Boomered’ a police officer. Did

not go well.

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

REPORT: UPHOLSTERY HAS 22% OF SALES FLOOR Stationary upholstery occupied 22 percent of furniture stores’ selling space in 2019, down 2 percent from last year but still the largest share of any category. That’s according to Furniture Today, whose 2019 Furniture Store Performance Report says stationary and motion upholstery account for 17 and 9 percent, respectively, of total sales this year. Motion chairs’ share of the sales floor and of the sales pie both dipped slightly from last year, falling from 8 to 5 percent in both metrics. Master bedroom is the second largest category in terms of

selling space at 16 percent but punches above its weight, comprising 19 percent of total sales. Bedding accounts for 10 percent of selling space and 12 percent of total sales. Overall, 84 percent of total revenue is derived from merchandise sales on average, with other services led by delivery and design accounting for the remaining 16 percent. Selling space also comprises 84 percent of total space, with the remaining 16 percent dedicated

towards all other space, including storage, warehouse and utilities. Advertising spending is on the rise this year, as 10 percent of annual sales go to the advertising budget, up from 6 percent last year. Within the advertising spend, the percentage spent on social media has more than tripled, from 6 percent last year to 19 percent this year, to make it the most popular advertising channel. Direct mail is the second most-popular at 15 percent, while TV, the third largest advertising source, has plummeted from 42 percent last year to only 13 percent of ad dollars going towards it this year.

U.S. CONSUMER SPENDING UP 0.3% IN OCTOBER U.S. households increased spending in October but much of that rise was due to higher outlays on electricity and gas, The Wall Street Journal reports. Households pared back goods purchases, a sign of caution among consumers as the holiday season gets under way. Personal-consumption expenditures, or household spending, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in October from September, the Commerce Department said last week. But spending for long-lasting goods, particularly new autos, fell at a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent rate. Economists surveyed by The Journal had expected consumer spending to rise 0.3 percent and personal income to increase 0.3 percent. Rising wages, a historically low unemployment rate and low interest rates have helped support consumer spending.

12/2/2019

FunnyTweeter.com

No one will even notice your holiday weight gain if you start carrying pie

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SATURDAY NIELSEN RATINGS - LIVE + SAME DAY

HOLIDAY TOY SALES SLUMP THIS YEAR The holiday toy season has kicked off — and manufacturers already look pooped, the New York Post reports. Big toymakers like Mattel and Hasbro have failed to launch any new, blockbuster toys this year, analysts say. That, in turn, has left toy franchises that are already a year old or more to pick up the slack. Amid the shopping frenzy on Black Friday, top-selling toys smacked of stuff that was almost, but not quite new: licensed dolls, for example, from Disney’s Frozen 2 — the sequel to a movie that debuted in 2013, according to Adobe Analytics. Other winners included O.M.G. dolls — updated, larger versions of MGA Entertainment’s L.O.L. Surprise! dolls, which first appeared three years ago; and Spin Master Entertainment’s Paw Patrol animated series, which also first launched in 2013. This year to date, the lack of new stuff has hurt business. Toy sales are already down more than expected — 5.5 percent through the first nine months of the year, according to BMO Capital Markets. “There’s no breakout hot product to drive traffic to stores or online,” wrote BMO analyst Gerrick Johnson. Even after the holiday surge, he expects toy sales to be down 2 percent this year.

AT&T, NASHVILLE CW AFFILIATE REACH DEAL AT&T reached a renewal of its retransmission agreement with Nashville License Holdings, which owns the CW affiliate in Nashville, Tenn., lifting a six-month blackout and ending a dispute that affected a dozen stations that operate under shared service agreements with Sinclair Broadcast Group, Broadcasting & Cable reports. In addition to the situation with the Sinclair-linked stations, AT&T had long blackouts with CBS and Nexstar. Now, no AT&T subscribers are suffering blackouts in their local markets. The blackouts helped contribute to a decline in subscribers to AT&T DirecTV unit during the third quarter. On Nov. 8, the FCC upheld a complaint by AT&T which charged that many of the stations working with Sinclair weren’t negotiating in good faith as required by the law. At that point, some of the station groups had signed new agreements with AT&T.

THIS AND THAT Judy Woodruff, Amna Nawaz and Yamiche Alcindor from PBS NewsHour and Tim Alberta from Politico will moderate the next Democratic debate, to be held Dec. 19 in Los Angeles. Woodruff is the anchor and managing editor of NewsHour, Nawaz is the senior national correspondent and Alcindor is the White House correspondent. Alberta is chief political correspondent at Politico. PBS and Politico are sponsoring the debate, and CNN will provide a simulcast... Hulu has launched its latest Black Friday offer – tempting new subscribers to the service for $1.99 per month for a year. The streaming platform is making the offer for its ad-supported plan through today, Cyber Monday. It’s available for new subscribers as well as subscribers who have not been members for the last three months.