Spots N Dots
The Daily News Of TV Sales
May22, 2017
HUNDREDS MORE STORES NEED TO CLOSE
RETAIL SPACE: “UNDER-REPURPOSED”
Last year, real estate research firm Green Street Advisors made a startling statement: about 800 department stores had to be closed nationwide to bring sales per square foot back to where that metric had been a decade ago.
Now, however, the same firm says last year’s estimate was too conservative—a lot more stores need to be closed! “Just a year later,” Green Street’s latest report says, “the 800 number looks much too light on a strict sales productivity standpoint and is much lower than what will ultimately be needed as the industry will likely need to massively rationalize its store count as it reinvents its business model. The era of a mall anchored by four department stores is coming to an end. One or two such stores per mall are the most likely future.” Green Street also predicts that subsequent store closings could also happen more often in higher-tier malls.
Just the currently announced closings of more than 300 major department stores will put about 36 million square feet of vacant retail space back in the market according to analysis from commercial real estate firm JLL, the largest third-party retail property manager in the country handling more than 1000 shopping centers covering 125 million square feet. But it sees the departure of department store tenants as an opportunity, noting “Historically, rents paid by department stores have been extremely low—usually less than $10 per square foot. As they become vacant, owners have a new opportunity to re-tenant the space and create a significant financial boon.”
“Retail space isn’t overbuilt,” JLL’s Retail Research director James Cook said, “It’s under repurposed.”
As one example of the scope of the opportunity, JLL notes Seritage Growth Properties has 266 properties originally leased to Sears and Kmart at an average of $4.40 per square foot. But for new tenants, has averaged more than quadruple the rent Sears paid; an average of $18.55 per square foot, and about two-thirds of the new tenants are other apparel retailers, restaurants or entertainment venues.
Holly Rome, director of national retail leasing for JLL commented, “Beyond dining and entertainment, categories like fast-fashion, cosmetics, sporting goods, home furnishings, and even department store operators like Von Maur are taking space in former anchor locations. The best use for an empty anchor will vary and be dictated by the demographics and lifestyles of the surrounding community, but the many options available might come as a pleasant surprise.”
ADVERTISER NEWS
Ross Stores has been among the rare apparel sellers producing solid numbers for the last several quarters and did so again in the just finished fiscal quarter with a 3% same-store gain. Including expansion within the last year, Ross saw a 7% total sales gain despite “uncertainty and volatility” in the retail environment. Ross operates 1,363 of its namesake stores and 198 dd’s Discount locations…… Gap Stores did a bit better than had been expected led by its Old Navy banner. Total domestic sales for Old Navy were up 7.3% while total domestic sales were down 1.4% at Gap stores and off by 3.7% at Banana Republic. Blended comp store sales were up 2%, but that’s a worldwide figure—Gap does not identify comps in the U.S. alone……Target will carry Casper, a previously online-only brand of mattresses and other sleep products, beginning next month. Target has previously offered brands such as Sleep Comfort, Serta and Sealy online but Casper will now become the only brand at target.com and will have products such as pillows and sheets available in physical stores……Church’s Chicken has signed its biggest franchise development deal ever in which the Goalz Restaurant Group will develop 20 restaurants per year in six states, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina and South Carolina. Goalz also is a franchisee of Captain D’s and Dog Haus……Fiat Chrysler announced it has filed for diesel vehicle emissions certification with the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board for 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel vehicles. FCA says it believes this will resolve lingering questions over questions about emissions software in its 2014-2016 vehicles and conclude discussions with the Department of Justice and other governmental agencies. In a related note, the EPA and the California Board are expected to announce approval for a fix for 84,000 2012-2014 Volkswagen Passat diesels that have been part of the 475,000 VWs originally ordered to be bought back or fixed……Foot Locker first quarter comp store sales were up just 0.5% for the full February-April quarter, but the gains were back-loaded as March and April showed “high-single digit” increases. It’s blaming the slow February on late tax refunds……If customers are no longer coming to malls, might a possible answer be to go out of the mall to sell merchandise? The New York Post reports J.C. Penney is hiring an outside sales force to break into the hospitality industry selling items such as bedsheets, towels, curtains and mattresses to hotels. Penney says many hotels had already been buying those kinds of items and outside salespeople gives Penney a chance at a $200 billion “opportunity.”.... German discount grocer Lidl is set to shake up the competition soon with prices that promise to turn up the heat on its U.S. competitors, who are already engaged in a price war. Lidl says the first of 100 new U.S. stories will be built in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
NETWORK NEWS
Megyn Kelly will make her NBC debut on June 4 at 7pm, with her news magazine show, Sunday Night WithMegyn Kelly, per pagesix.com. Promos will start running on NBC for her new show as early as today. Kelly hasn’t announced her first guests yet — although Page Six first reported she is hopeful about landing a big exclusive sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kelly will also launch her 9 a.m. NBC daily “inspirational talk show” in September.....Heineken has a new partnership with The Late Late Show with James Corden. The agreement includes an exclusive sponsorship of the CBS late night show’s famous on-set bar. Signage, bottle displays, barware and more with the Heineken brand being featured on-air and available to serve to guests. Along with the on-set bar takeover, the sponsorship offers multiple touchpoints with audiences including product placement and on-air and digital integrations, on-set signage and on-air call-outs……Five-time NFL MVP and two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning will be hosting The 2017 ESPYS Presented by Capitol One. Manning will be joined by top celebrities from sports and entertainment, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. The 25th annual edition of the ESPYS will air Wednesday, July 12th at 8 PM (ET)……NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises announced an exclusive content partnership with Vice Media, the world’s largest global media brand. The companies will co-produce original documentary segments on a variety of subjects ranging from music, sports, food, culture and more for Telemundo News. The agreement also includes the acquisition of an exclusive one-hour hosted weekly show for Universo, Telemundo Enterprises’ entertainment cable channel. Both programs are expected to air this fall……Tuesday night’s edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live will welcome U2 as guests. The appearance is part of the band’s Joshua Treetour and will be “their only sit-down TV interview and performance while on the road in U.S.” according to a press release. The tour, which is a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the band’s historic album, is expected to play to 1.7 million fans in 33 shows across North America and Europe this summer.
WATCHING TV (EVEN COMMERCIALS) THEIR WAY
The majority (54%) of time spent watching TV is dedicated to something other than traditional linear programming, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The largest share of that non-linear time (20%) is spent streaming digital video. The remaining viewing time is devoted to watching programming via DVR recording (15%), Video on Demand (6%), and downloaded video (5%). 8 percent is uncategorized. Half of streaming enabled TV owners (50%) say they prefer watching commercials over having to pay for ad-free subscriptions when streaming video on TV, up 14 percent over 2015. 44% say that commercials while watching digital video are less intrusive than those during traditional linear programming, a 16% increase over 2015, and the commercials themselves simply offer a “better” experience (at 34%, an uptick of 48% over 2015).
FRAUD FOR AUTO LOANS?
Remember when the housing bubble burst a decade ago it was discovered that many mortgages had been approved based on incorrect or overly-optimistic information about the applicants? That led to massive defaults and eventually a recession. There’s some evidence that the same practice may hurt auto loans. The Point Predictive data analytics firm says as many as 1% of U.S. car loan applications include material misrepresentations, based on their analysis of reports from banks and finance companies. While 1% may not sound like a lot, the company estimates that lenders’ losses based on those misrepresentations could double this year to $6 billion. “We see an extraordinary amount of parallels between the auto and mortgage industries in terms of the rising levels of hidden fraud,” Frank McKenna, the chief fraud strategist at Point Predictive said. Much of the problems traces to dealers according to the director for fraud at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, as dealers have an incentive to complete sales and may better know how to tweak paperwork to get a bad loan funded than a customer.
AMAZON MAY COMPETE IN THE PHARMA FIELD
A warning to the drug industry: you may be next in Amazon’s sights! A report on CNBC says the online giant has hired a general manager for a project that could move Amazon into the pharmacy business on top of its many other current pursuits. “I think Amazon would introduce a lot of transparency to what drugs really cost,” the co-founder of GoodRXsaid on the business network. Amazon already offers drug and cosmetics deliveries to Prime Now customers in Japan, and had backed the startup of Drugstore.com before Walgreens bought it and eventually retired the site (it now links to Walgreens.com).
THIS AND THAT
Anheuser-Busch InBevwill invest $2 billion in the next few years on a variety of initiatives including alternative beverages such as “near beer,” sparkling water with alcoholic content, and tea. Advertising Age reports the first half-billion gets spent this year on three major priorities, elevating A-B’s biggest beer brands, building presence in craft beers and imports, and pushing into low-alcohol beverages and other drinks.....Should ESPN drop Monday Night Football? That question was asked by Todd Juenger, senior media analyst for Bernstein Research, and reported by Mediapost.com. Juenger estimates Disney spends $1.9 billion a year for the games. Dropping them from its schedule could increase operating income by 50% from its current level of $4 billion a year.... Veteran CBS Television Stations executive Kevin Walsh has been named President and General Manager of the group’s San Francisco Bay Area properties, KPIX-TV and KBCW-TV, as well as KSTW-TV, the CBS-owned CW affiliate in Seattle. Walsh is assuming his new role after spending the past nine years as VP/GM of KOVR-TV and KMAX-TV in Sacramento. He replaces Bruno Cohen, who is retiring from CBS at the end of this month.
TV UPFRONTS: DIGITAL BALANCING ACT
In presentations last week to promote programming for the 2017-18 season, executives from major cable and broadcast networks had to pull off a carefully orchestrated balancing act. WSJ.com says executives from Fox, NBC and CBS took aim at Facebook, YouTube and other digital platforms. But at the same time, they talked up their own digital chops, as well as partnerships with and investments in digital companies. Indeed, that has become a key message, as they find little to brag about to advertisers in terms of ratings and hit shows.
“There’s certainly some hedging going on,” said Ben Winkler, chief investment officer at Omnicom ad-buying shop OMD. Today’s media companies need the digital platforms to reach young people, he said, “and there’s just simply too many advertisers trying to reach young people to ignore that reality. So they’re covering their flank.”
Winkler warned broadcasters not to ignore digital. “The future of video is one that’s rooted in the creativity and innovation of digital, plus the content of TV, and focusing solely on the content and traditional distribution of TV does not feel like a sustainable strategy.”
AVAILS
KHOU 11 News, a TEGNA owned CBS affiliate in Houston, is seeking an experienced National Sales Manager. We are seeking a driven, solutions-based seller who is eager to sell KHOU marketing solutions to national agencies, as well as grow our national market share by negotiating, packaging and increasing current client spend utilizing all of our assets. Qualified applicants can CLICK HEREto apply. No phone calls please. Due to the volume of resumes received, we are unable to provide updates on the status of individual applications.
Comcast seeks a Regional Automotive Director for a positon in Bingham Farms, MI in the Detroit metro. The Regional Automotive Director will be responsible for developing, leading and supporting the region’s growth in the automotive category within all Comcast Spotlight businesses and advertising tiers. 10+ years in related automotive media management and/or automotive advertising sales experiences, with increasing management responsibilities. Experience in the automotive, media, sales and marketing industries is preferred. CLICK HEREto apply. EOE.
Comcast Spotlight seeks a Regional Automotive Director, Bethesda, MD. The Automotive Director will utilize all Spotlight products and solutions within their respective region and align with corporate initiatives. The role requires high collaboration and integration with Spotlight constituents in Corporate and Region in development of strategies and tactics that can support new business and share growth of automotive advertisers’ marketing spend. 10+ years in related automotive media management and/or automotive advertising sales experiences, with increasing management responsibilities.CLICK HEREto apply. Comcast is an EOE/V/D/LGBT employer.
WTAE-TV, the Hearst-owned ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, PA is seeking a dynamic individual to become an Account Executive. The AE will be responsible for increasing the station’s active advertiser customer base through the development of new business. Candidate should have 1-3 years of experience in Media Sales and have a proven track record of generating new business revenue across multiple media platforms. CLICK HEREto apply. EOE.
KIRO TV, (Cox Media Group), Seattle WA, seeks a Digital Sales Manager. The DSM’s responsibility is to identify and drive digital strategies in order to attain revenue and share goals through development of overall direction, product and service launches and training. Our digital assets include across all screens, kirotv.com, seattleinsider.com, Live Streaming, SEO, SEM, and Social Media. 3+ years of sales management experience, strong problem solving and communication skills, and a Bachelor’s degree from four-year College preferred. CLICK HEREfor more info or to apply now. EOE.
A Girl Scout troop leader in Kentucky is on the run from police after she allegedly stole $15,000 worth of Girl Scout cookies. The suspect is now at large. And getting larger every minute.–James Corden
I think you can criticize Google and Facebook but still invest in digital media without being hypocritical.–Ben Winkler, OMD
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SPOTS N DOTS
The Daily News Of TV Sales
May22, 2017
Phone: 888-884-2630