Spots N Dots
The Daily News Of TV Sales
July 19, 2017

NIELSEN ON TV: NO OTHER MEDIA COMES CLOSE

SIX HOURS AND 22 MINUTES

That’s how long the average viewer spends consuming live and time-shifted television programming each day. Nielsen’s Q1 Total Audience Report shows no other media option even comes close with the average American adult aged 18 and older spending three hours more time watching TV than using apps on their smartphone or accessing the internet on a PC. On a weekly basis Nielsen says the typical adult watches 34 hours and 25 minutes of TV. Americans aged 65+ consume the most TV at 51 hours and 42 minutes with teenagers and twentysomethings watching the least.

Yet television isn’t immune from the distractions of all the other media options stacking up in front of consumers. The report shows TV viewing has dropped an average of 15 minutes per day during the past year and by 24 minutes compared to the first quarter of 2015.

The declines come as Americans’ time with their smartphone has consistently ticked higher. The average person spends 3 hours and 21 minutes on the mobile web or with smartphone apps. That’s an 81% increase—or an hour and a half more time with a smartphone—compared to 2015.

But when Nielsen looks at the overall media landscape— including factoring in adults who never watch TV—it’s easy to see why television remains the king of all media. The average American spends as much time watching TV (4 hours and 55 minutes) as they spend with all other forms of media combined. TV usage is the most robust among older demos with a 95% weekly reach among Baby Boomers compared to 89% for Gen X and 83% among Millennials.

Time-shifted viewing is helping television defend itself. But consumption of time-shifted TV programming has remained flat at roughly two hours per day for each of the past three years. Nielsen says 50 to 64 year olds time-shift the most programming—five hours a week. Millennials aren’t as prone to time-shift with Nielsen reporting 25 to 34 year olds watch an average of 2 hours and 55 minutes of time-shifted programming a day.

Nielsen’s Q1 review also offers status report on how many households are unplugging from pay TV. It reports the number of broadcast-only homes jumped by nearly two million during the past year to 15.2 million. That represents 13% of U.S. households. It remains an option disproportionately popular among minority groups. While 20% of Hispanics are unplugged just 12% of Whites are with Asian Americans (17%) and Blacks (16%) somewhere in between.

Nevertheless the vast majority of households subscribe to a pay service. Nielsen says 97.8 million have cable with another 35.9 million subscribing to satellite TV and 9.9 million paying for a telco-based service like Verizon Fios.

What has many analysts buzzing are the latest numbers of broadband-only households. They jumped 39% year-to-year with Nielsen reporting 5.4 million households are broadband-only. “The pace of growth of broadband-only homes is accelerating with a proportionate impact on pay TV households,” Barclays media analyst Kannan Venkateshwar told clients in a report. He’s also worried about the trend showing fewer TV sets in U.S. households. The government reports 39% of households have three or more TVs and 58% have one or two sets. But the number of no TV households rose to 2.6% in 2015. That’s twice as many as in 2009. “The number of televisions in the U.S. is starting to fall which is likely to have a material effect on consumption patterns if sustained,” Venkateshwar said.

ADVERTISER NEWS

Stockpiles of yet-to-be-sold automotive units continue to grow, likely to bring about higher incentives and promotions and heavier advertising activity from factories and dealer associations. Automotive News reports U.S. inventory stood at 4,197,800 units on July 1, the highest amount at the start of July since 2004, and 9.4% higher than July 1, 2016. General Motors alone has 39% more unsold vehicles than it had at this point last year, with a 105-day supply of vehicles to be sold and among the steps it’s taking is to extend a shutdown at a Chevrolet Bolt factory in Michigan, despite the fact the Bolt will go to national availability next month for the first time……Kelley Blue Book is launching a national TV campaign telling viewers its Price Advisor capability can value and appraise vehicles taking into account factors such as local demand, vehicle availability, buying trends and recent sales of similar vehicles……The motorcycle business is slowing down along with the car business. Harley-Davidson said retail motorcycle sales were down 9.3% domestically in the second quarter and it lowered its projection for the rest of the year with worldwide shipments in the current quarter now expected to be down by 10-20%...... McDonald’s will roll out a Signature Sriracha sandwich nationally with advertising support for the new offering due to begin at the end of the month. Nation’s Restaurant News says it’s the first extension of Mickey D’s Signature Crafted Recipes line, which was introduced to give consumers some ability to customize the menu with a more premium item……Meanwhile Chick-fil-A is testing meal kits called Family Style Meals in three widely scattered markets (Greensboro, Phoenix and San Antonio). With the test set to run through November, pricing will be about $30 with various sides part of the meal……Restaurants like Chick-fil-A and certainly a provider like Blue Apron will not like this: Marketwatch reports Amazon has filed for a trademark for a meal kit, using the phrase “We do the prep, you be the chef”.……Same store sales at the Bravo Brio Restaurant Group were down 1% for the quarter that ended on 6/25, but on the bright side that was the company’s best performance since the fourth quarter of 2012. Its CEO said “we are gaining traction with our new menu and service orientation”……SpartanNash is the latest supermarket operator to start a click-and-collect plan with Fast Lane, which should be in about 25 stores before the end of this year, and double that number next year. Pricing for the service is $99 annually, $16.95 monthly, or $9.95 for an individual order. Fees are waived for the first three orders.

NETWORK NEWS

Fresh off his two Emmy nominations for his imitation of President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, actor Alec Baldwin is set to star in another NBC production. According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, Baldwin will play Col. Nathan Jessup in a live staging of A Few Good Men for NBC, a role played by Jack Nicholson in the 1992 feature film of the same name that also starred Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and Kevin Bacon. The NBC production comes from Aaron Sorkin and will be the first live production of a Broadway drama in more than 50 years. NBC, under the direction of entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt, has been aggressively expanding its live output, but the emphasis has been on musicals (Peter Pan, The Wiz, Hairspray, Sound of Music) until now. The televised play will air on NBC in the second quarter of 2018…… Deadline is reporting that Zuleikha Robinson (Lost) has been added to the cast of the second season of Fox’s The Exorcist. According to a release from the network, Robinson will give life to the character of Mouse, an enigmatic woman with a personal grudge against the Catholic patriarchy. The network hints that Mouse will not have a good relationship with the priests played Alfonso Herrera and Ben Daniels. Despite average ratings and a Friday night time slot, The Exorcist did not get canceled like Rosewood, Scream Queens and Sleepy Hollow. The second season of The Exorcist returns to Fox on Friday, September 29th at 10 PM (ET)……This past Sunday’s edition of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly drew only a 0.4 18-49 rating and 3.1 million total viewers, the lowest total viewer number for the newsmagazine since its June debut. The show also matched a series low in the key demos…… The Bachelorette delivered 6.1 million total viewers this past Monday night on ABC, a season high total for the long-running reality show, beating the previous high set on June 5th of 6.0 million……PaleyFest for 2017 is set to begin on September 6th at the Paley Center’s Beverly Hills location. The event features previews of the fall’s new TV shows for fans and allows viewers to engage with each of the show’s stars and creators. The agenda includes previews of ABC’s The Mayor, the CW’s Valor and Dynasty, NBC’s Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, Me, Myself & I from CBS, El Chapo from Univision, and Orville and Ghosted from Fox. In addition, the Paley Center’s New York location will host free PaleyFest Fall TV Preview screenings September 10th – 11th and September 16th & 17th.... Deadline reorts Denny Woods is coming back to Chicago P.D. Mykelti Williamson is joining the cast of the NBC drama as a recurring in its upcoming fifth season. He will reprise the role he originated as a guest star in episode 20 of the the most recent fourth season....NCIS: New Orleans alumna Zoe McLellan has been cast as a season regular opposite Kiefer Sutherland and Maggie Q for the sophomore run of ABC’s politcal drama Designated Survivor. McLellan will play Kendra Daynes, an attorney who lands a job as White House counsel. The political drama has undergone some changes as it heads into Season 2, with former The Good Wife executive producer Keith Eisner tapped as new showrunner.

DISNEY TRYING TO RECOVER ESPN SUB LOSES

Worries about the loss of subscriber revenue at ESPN, down 6% to 89% since 2013, have hurt Walt Disney’s stock price over the past two years. But soon, Disney will have a chance to do something about it.

Disney can’t stop U.S. consumers from dropping pay TV. But it can offset the decline by boosting its annual price increases by using “minimum penetration guarantees”— provisions in its contracts that stipulate which TV packages ESPN must appear on and what portion of pay-TV subscribers must receive it.

Disney is set to begin talks over its contract with cable operator Altice USA, which expires this fall. The deal will be the first of a series of new contracts Disney will negotiate with pay-TV providers that will allow it to offset subscriber declines at ESPN.

Assuming Disney already increases the prices it charges cable and satellite companies for ESPN by 5% a year, bumping that up to 6% as it signs new deals would boost fee revenue by 4% a year to $12.56 billion from 2016 to 2022, MoffettNathanson estimates. If Disney can use minimum penetration guarantees to add back 2.5 million of the subscribers it lost to skinny bundles, it could get an additional $400 million in fee revenue over the period.

Read the full story at wsj.com.

VIDEO CONSUMPTION ON THE RISE

Zenith’s Online Video Forecast 2017 report estimates that consumers will spend an average of 47.4 minutes a day viewing online video this year. That’s up from 39.6 minutes in 2016. The report attributes the lift to the abundance of video content on platforms including Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and Facebook.

The report also projects that mobile video viewing will increase by 35%, to 28.8 minutes per day in 2017, and rise by 25% in 2018 and 29% in 2019. Viewing on PCs, laptops, and smart TVs is projected to increase by 2% to 20.3 minutes.

NETFLIX MAKES GAINS IN SECOND QUARTER

Netflix added 5.2 million users in Q2, 2 million more than expected. The Wall Street Journal reports that Netflix said it was on track to meet its operating-margin target of 7% this year, and it expects its international unit to post its first-ever annual profit. Is Netflix hurting TV? Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser said earlier this week that U.S. national TV network ratings (including three days of time-shifted viewing) declined in June by 7% year-on-year.

AVAILS

New Media Digital Advertising Specialist - Raleigh, NC: We’re seeking person to manage the media buying and execution for a number of different clients and campaigns. This position will be responsible for set up, management and optimization of accounts within the DFP, Google AdWords, programmatic and Facebook advertising interfaces, among others. 1-2 years of digital ad operations experience. All candidates must APPLY HERE. EOE M/F All Capitol Broadcasting Company properties are tobacco free. Capitol Broadcasting Company participates in E-Verify.

WREX, the NBC affiliate in Rockford, IL is seeking a self-motivated individual to join our sales team. Primary responsibilities include growing existing business and development of new customers for both on air and online. Ability to call on new customers is essential. The ideal candidate will possess successful advertising sales experience, college education and television background. Must be energetic, positive and goal-oriented with a passion to succeed! Visit www.CareersAtQuincy.com for links to all stations and opportunities. Send your resume to: . EOE.

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Content & SEO Manager: New Media, Raleigh, NC. Capitol broadcasting Company seeks a sales professional to oversee all products and processes related to search engine optimization, social media management and content generation for our clients. The ideal candidate has experience in content production and distribution, including an in depth understanding for how to best utilize social media for marketing businesses. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply. EOE M/F. All Capitol Broadcasting Company properties are tobacco free. CBC participates in E-Verify.