Spots N Dots
The Daily News Of TV Sales
June 7, 2016
NBA SCORES BIG IN RATINGS AND AD SALES
PLAYOFFS: TNT, ESPN AND ABC ALL CASH IN
Through two games, the 2016 NBA Finals is the second-highest rated ever on ABC, averaging a 12.4 metered market Households rating in the Nielsen overnights. Streaming viewership is also strong, with Sunday’s game two generating 43.2 million total minutes of streaming on WatchESPN. The games are also available on ESPN Deportes (in Spanish on cable) and ESPN Radio.
The bad news for ESPN/ABC is that the tournament has so far been a bit of a rout, with the Golden State Warriors winning the first two games—the second by the largest margin of victory ever, 110-77. Despite the blowout, the game generated an 11.8 rating. The Cleveland Cavaliers will at least have the home court advantage for tomorrow’s game three, airing at 9:00 pm (ET), with the pre-game NBA Countdown at 8:30 pm (ET). Last year’s championship, involving the same two teams, was won in six games by the Warriors.
Before the finals even began, data compiled by iSpot.tv for MediaPost calculated that the first three rounds of the NBA playoffs pulled in $436.7 million for the cable and broadcast networks carrying the games—up 12% from last year. TNT, which carried 42 games, pulled in $257.2 million, up from $224.6 million last year. ESPN collected $109.1 million for its 25 games, up from $107.5 million. And ABC sold $65.97 million in advertising on its nine NBA playoff games (before the Finals), up from $52.7 million. So ABC execs obviously have their fingers crossed that this year’s tournament will get as close to the maximum seven games as possible.
MediaPost says Kia was the top NBA playoffs advertiser this year on TNT, Toyota on ESPN and Honda on ABC. Samsung Mobile was among the top five advertisers for all three.
ADVERTISER NEWS
Cadillac has about 925 U.S. dealerships, about three times as many stores as its imported luxury competitors, but sells only about half what Lexus and the German competition sells. The Wall StreetJournal says Caddy is now trying to get smaller dealers to embrace Project Pinnacle, a concept where dealers would not have inventory on their lots but would instead use virtual reality headsets to get potential buyers interested. Caddy is reported to currently have about 88 days’ worth of inventory on dealers’ lots, well above its luxury competitors……Sonic Automotive has hired the CBRE Group, a commercial real estate services company, to help it buy real estate for a rapid expansion of Sonic’s EchoPark used-vehicle only stores, with Texas and the Carolinas high-priority areas for immediate expansion. “We’re looking at building lots of stores,” a Sonic Exec VP said……This Week In Consumer Electronics reports T-Mobile and Sprint made big gains in customer satisfaction in the latest American Consumer Satisfaction Index, with T-Mobile now the highest scorer among the four national carriers. And in an interesting creative application, Sprint’s new TV pitchman is actor Paul Marcarelli—if you don’t recognize the name, he was the actor who appeared in Verizon commercials for almost ten years saying “Can you hear me now?”……Also from TWICE, a survey of consumer electronics prices at major CE retailers found that Target was “lowest by far” for a basket of tech products, beating Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart when its Redcard discounts are used……Not directly related to her purchase of 10% ownership of Weight Watchers, Oprah has filed for a trademark for a line of foods to be called Oprah’s Kitchen. The name would give her the right to develop hundreds of products and while there’s no timetable as yet, the law for such filings requires “a bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce”……Five Below posted another strong quarter in the first quarter with same-store sales up 4.9%. We had recently reported on the growing success of dollar stores—Five Below’s concept is a merchandise assortment with no item priced above $5. The chain added 21 new stores during the quarter to reach 458 locations in 28 states, and has planned for a total of 85 new stores this year……In what’s likely to be the final chapter of the Haggen debacle, the fifteen remaining stores with that banner have now begun operating as a standalone unit with local autonomy within the Albertsons organization. Albertsons generally gives its units such as Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and others freedom to make local decisions for their businesses.
NETWORK NEWS
Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg revealed that Superman (and Clark Kent, of course) will appear in the first two episodes of Supergirl next fall as the series moves to The CW from CBS. Casting is currently underway for the actor who will don the red cape and visit the cousin of the Man of Steel. Supergirl stars Melissa Benoist……Uzo Aduba, Claire Danes, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Neil Patrick Harris, Sean Hayes, James Earl Jones, Daniel Dae Kim, Diane Lane, Angela Lansbury, Lucy Liu, Marlee Matlin, Andrew Rannells and Blair Underwood have joined the roster of presenters for The 70th annual Tony Awards, airing live Sunday, June 12, at 8:00 pm (ET) on CBS……President Barack Obama will make his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this Thursday, June 9, airing at 11:35 pm (ET) on NBC. The two have met before. Fallon previously interviewed and slow jammed the news with President Obama on April 24, 2012 during a special Late Night with Jimmy Fallon broadcast from the campus of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill……ABC Talent and Casting has launched its fourth annual ABC Discovers: Digital Talent Competition, which takes place through Friday, June 17. The online competition aims to discover and champion actors who may not have had the opportunity to be seen yet by a team of professional casting executives. Actors 18 and older are encouraged to visit ABCDiscovers.com to enter the contest for the chance to receive a one-year $25,000 talent deal with ABC. The top ten finalists and their entries will be posted to the website Friday, July 22, and the 2016 winner will be announced Tuesday, July 26.
SUNDAY RATINGS
ABC won every hour of Sunday primetime with Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night and NBA Countdown leading into Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs. According to the Nielsen Fast Nationals, ABC averaged a 4.5 rating in Adults 18-49 and 6.8 in Households, with an average audience of 11.879 million viewers. FOX, with the 2016 Miss USA Competition, was a distant second in the 18-49 demo at 1.1, a 2.5 HH and 4.036 million; Univision, with Copa America: Mexico vs. Uruguay, 1.0 18-49, 1.2 HH and 2.401 million; NBC 0.6 18-49, 1.9 HH and 3.028 million; CBS 0.5 18-49, 3.1 HH and 4.689 million; and Telemundo 0.4 18-49, 0.6 HH and 1.317 million.
TWITTER AMPLIFYING SOCCER
In what’s being called its largest video distribution and ad deal to date, Twitter tells The Wall Street Journal that it is delivering clips of the Copa America soccer tournament in deals with both Univision Deportes and Fox Sports. The video highlights, which are being posted to Twitter during games in real time, carry six-second pre-roll ads from seven different global advertisers—the biggest deal yet for Twitter Amplify.
Mike Park, Twitter’s director of content partnerships and Twitter Amplify, told the WSJ that the social media site has run 300 Twitter Amplify programs with partners over the past three years. Typically, these partnerships involve a sports league or a broadcaster posting short video replays in near real-time, and the video is sponsored by a single advertiser.
DAIMLER TRUCK PLANT LAYOFFS
Daimler Trucks North America announced layoffs of more than 1,200 workers at three plants in the U.S. and one in Mexico. It’s the second such cutback this year for the German company in response to falling demand for commercial trucks. The first layoffs announced in February were only half as large.
Most of the jobs eliminated will be in North Carolina, with 600 workers (41%) to be cut loose by July 1 at its Mount Holly plant and 200 workers (15%) in Gastonia. Another 170 workers (24%) will be laid off from Daimler’s Portland, OR, plant, as well as 270 workers (11%) in Santiago, Mexico.
THIS AND THAT
Lincoln’s top marketing and sales executive, Matt VanDyke, is leaving to become Ford of Europe’s vice president of marketing. Automotive News reports that Robert Parker, who oversaw Lincoln’s launch in China, will return to the U.S. to succeed VanDyke……E.W. Scripps Company has expanded its portfolio in podcasting with a $4.5 million purchase of Stitcher, which facilitates discovery and streaming for more than 65,000 podcasts to 8 million registered users. Stitcher will operate as part of Midroll Media, which was acquired by Scripps inJuly 2015……The National Retail Federation has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate thePayment Card Industry Security Standards Council. Rather than insuring data security, the NRF says the organization controlled by the major credit card companies is involved in “controversial practices” that raise antitrust concerns……Following Friday’s dismal jobs report from the Labor Department, the head of the Federal Reserve,Janet Yellen, said in a speech to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia that an interest rate increase is pretty much off the table for next week’s Fed policy meeting.
AVAILS
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WIS, the NBC affiliate, and dominant multi-platform media outlet, in Columbia, SC, has an opening for an experienced Local Account Executive with 3-5 years sales experience. You must have a proven track record of negotiating and developing business in broadcast sales and digital sales. Position requires that you are computer literate, and possess excellent verbal and written communication skills.Qualified applicants, get more info or click to APPLY NOWand attach cover letter and resume. No phone calls please. EOE-M/F/D/V
The company that makes products for Apple and Samsung in Asia has replaced 60,000 factory workers with robots. Just to keep it authentic, they're all child robots.
--Jimmy Fallon
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SPOTS N DOTS
The Daily News Of TV Sales
June 7, 2016
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