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The Daily News of TV Sales Monday, January 30, 2017

OUTPUT PROJECTED TO GROW 5.3% Businesses that are part of national franchises make up a large part of the advertising at local media. In the vital automotive category, the tier two dealer groups usually spend a great deal of money along with the tier three individual dealerships. In some other categories, franchisees often form groups (such as McDonald’s co-ops), where part of what they have paid to the franchisor in advertising funds comes back into local markets, and many specialty businesses with just a handful of locations may get advertising creative from the parent, and add a local tag. The annual report from the International Franchise Association says that the franchise part of the economy was strong in 2016, and is expected to expand faster than the overall economy this year. The group says there has been a “noticeable unleashing of ‘animal spirits’ (as) consumer and business optimism and stock market indexes have surged.” That sentiment is expected to help franchised businesses outpace the overall economy. The IFA’s report says the number of franchised businesses grew by 1.7% last year and will grow by another 1.6% this year. It estimates that at this moment there are about 744,000 franchised businesses in operation, producing $237.6 billion in output. The largest single group of those businesses are Quick Serve Restaurants, with over 190,000 in operation, showing growth of 1.9% in unit count in a year. (There are also an addition 31,000+ Table/Full Service Restaurants—that category also grew by 1.9% in the past year). The number of auto dealers - 37,603 - grew by 1.3% in the past year. The number two category is a broad grouping called Personal Services with over 109,000 establishments. That’s also the fastest growing category of franchises with growth of 2.3% in the past year. Close behind is the Business Services group with over 106,000 in operation having grown 1.5% in the past year. And while much of the supermarket business is company-owned, there are still almost 53,000 franchised businesses in the Retail Food category, with the number up 1.2% last year. While there should be growth in franchising everywhere, the IFA projects the South and West to see the strongest expansion, including franchise employment and output growth. It notes along with the strong growth of population and personal income in the Sun Belt, tourism is an important driver of franchise growth and both the restaurant and lodging industries are “franchise-intensive business lines.”

ADVERTISER NEWS The J.D. Power/LMC Automotive estimate for January sees retail dealerships having sold 874,400 units during the month, 2.0% behind January of 2016. While that’s the first negative for a January since 2010, a Power Senior VP commented part of the drop may have been attributable to the “impressive gains” dealers saw at the end of December. Total industry sales are estimated at 1,125,900 units, 1.8% below last year. The average transaction price is $31,473, a record for the month……Lithia Motors added 18 stores

to its roster last year and its CEO told a retail forum his company hopes to grow by a similar amount this year. Bryan DeBoer said “There’s a fair amount of supply of available deals right now, so prices have to some extent subsided. We’re able to make transactions happen at values that both sellers and buyers are able to pay and sell for”……Here’s an owner in a different retail segment

selling out: Art Van Furniture, with about 100 stores in the upper Midwest, is selling to Thomas H. Lee Partners. THL has several other retail investments including 1-800 Contacts, Bargain Hunt, and Party City……Shortly after The Limited shut down its stores, The Wet Seal in the latest teen-oriented retailer to give up, closing its remaining 171 stores. The chain had been in bankruptcy for two years……Stanley Black & Decker, the toolmaker that’s acquiring the Craftsman brand from Sears, said organic sales were up 4% in its latest quarter, although company profit slipped due to restructuring costs……After admitting in a preliminary announcement sales had slipped due to a decision not to compete based on price, hhgregg reported a quarterly loss of $58 million, more than double last year’s loss. Comps were down 38.6% in consumer electronics, down 9% in furniture and mattress, and off by 4.2% in major appliances……Oprah has signed a deal with Kraft Heinz to launch a new line of nutritious food products that will be called Mealtime Stories……(continued on page three)

FRANCHISING TO OUTPACE ECONOMY

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

NETWORK NEWS This Is Us, NBC’s new hit show, has cast Amanda Warren (Leftovers) in a guest starring role in an upcoming episode. Warren will play William’s mother, Dorothy. She joins an impressive list of guest stars for the series including Katey Sagal, Brad Garrett, Gerald McRaney, Janet Montgomery, Sam Trammell, Jimmi Simpson, Alexandra Breckenridge and Seth Meyers. Katie Couric is slated to play herself in an upcoming episode……The Trustee, a female buddy cop comedy pilot, has been picked up by ABC. The hour-long project is written by Jay Scherick and David Ronn and will be executive produced by Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman……NBC’s plan for Megyn Kelly is starting to come to light. A source with knowledge of the situation told Variety that NBC is planning to a launch a daily talk show with Kelly sometime in the fall. The report went on to say that NBC has yet to decide what time slot they’ll use for the hour-long talk show, but the source indicated the network is considering either 9 AM (ET) or 10 AM (ET). That means that NBC is willing to pre-empt an hour it currently devotes to The Today Show to make room for Kelly……Season 12 of The Voice returns to NBC on February 27th with Grammy winner Celine Dion serving as an advisor to Gwen Stephani. The judges for new season of the singing competition will be Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Alicia Keys, along with Stefani……Fox has picked up a pilot for a one-hour drama from writer Elizbeth Heldens and executive producer Ridley Scott. The Passage is based on the book by the same name by Justin Cronin, and centers on a post-apocalyptic story with vampires. Fox also put a pilot order in for Ghosted, a new comedy from Craig Robinson and Adam Scott, and Liz Meriwether’s Thin Ice, a single-camera comedy set in Antarctica……. Univision’s new scripted series about the life of notorious drug lord Joaquìn “El Chapo” Guzmàn will air in April. Univision’s Story House production company and Netflix developed the drama that promises to pull back the curtain on “one of the most captivating criminals of our time”. El Chapo will be available on Netflix after the program airs on Univision……NBC is adding to its comedy line-up by picking up three new comedy projects. An untitled single-camera project from Mindy Kaling revolves around a charismatic gym owner and his brother. The Sackett Sisters comes from writer Luke Del Tredici and producers Tina Fey, Robert Carlock and David Miner. Comedy veteran Bill Lawrence and writer Adam Sztykiel are developing Spaced Out for the network.

ACCOUNT ACTIONS Convenience Store News reports 7-Eleven has named Deutsch as its new creative agency, responsible for collaborating on marketing strategy, brand positioning, and creative campaigns to promote the stores and proprietary brands such as Slurpee and the 7-Select private label products. Camelot Communications in home town Dallas will remain as the media shop for both planning and buying.

1/30/2017

Today a man knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the local

swimming pool. I gave him a glass of water.

Anonymous

AVAILS Nexstar Media Group is looking for a National Sales Manager with passion and drive to lead our Memphis, TN. station’s national TV sales efforts. The NSM will work closely with the DOS to ensure that top line goals are being met while increasing billing, maximizing share of business, and strengthening client relationships in conjunction with our National sales teams across the country. Minimum of 2-4 years in sales management or 5+ years in media sales required. CLICK HERE for more details or to

apply now. The Networks of Mid-Missouri is seeking a highly motivated, competitive professional to lead its KQFX (FOX) and NMIZ (MyNetwork) team as Local Sales Manager. The LSM will implement the company’s plan to cultivate new local business, grow long lasting relationships with clients and shape a productive sales team through training and management. The position leads the revenue generating effort of

the company through selling television air time, internet and special events. Cover letter and resume to: donnaf@kmiz.com. Tell us where you saw this ad! EOE. KOKI-TV FOX23, KMYT-TV My 41 Tulsa, and NOKI- MeTV Cox Media Group stations in Tulsa, OK, seek an energetic and innovative General Sales Manager to lead our team in the world of convergence selling. Our GSM will oversee broadcast sales efforts as well as website, mobile, and digital channels at a time when our business is growing and our ratings continue to increase. Minimum of five (5) years media sales experience and three (3) years in media sales management experience. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply. EOE. KSAZ/KUTP TV in Phoenix are searching for a Local Sales Manager. Duties include sale of ad time and digital assets to local/regional clients-agencies. Assist the training, development and motivation of a local sales team. Candidate must be detailed oriented, resourceful, team player, reliable and a self-starter. College degree and 3-5 years major market broadcast sales experience required. Competitive comp and excellent benefits! Qualified candidates should submit their resume, salary requirements and cover via the on-line application process at www.Fox10Phoenix.com. EOE. Capitol Broadcasting Company in Raleigh, NC seeks a New Media Digital Project Manager. This person will assist in digital marketing customer fulfillment by providing support to local clients. Agency experience desired; video production skills a plus. Daily tasks include managing reputation and social media campaigns, updating status reports for clients, receiving creative changes from clients, and training clients on interface functionality. CLICK HERE to apply (job 1448). All Capitol Broadcasting Company properties are tobacco free. CBC participates in E-Verify. EOE M/F

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

1/30/2017

AVAILS Raycom Media’s corporate office in Montgomery, AL is seeking a Marketing Specialist to serve in our Corporate Media Analytics Hub. Successful candidate will manage station inventory and provide primary research support for Raycom stations, and will assist station efforts with data analysis, interpretation and sales application of syndicated research resources including Nielsen, comScore, WideOrbit Media Sales as well as online resources. Qualified applicants,

APPLY HERE, and attach your resume with cover letter. No phone calls please. EOE-M/F/D/V Hearst Television in Tampa, WMOR-TV and This TV Tampa Bay, has an opportunity for highly motivated, driven National Sales Manager. A minimum of four years’ experience, preferred, with a proven track record in share growth and revenue generation. Must be creative and have the ability to establish non-traditional revenue both locally and

nationally. Five years broadcast sales management experience and college degree preferred. CLICK HERE to submit your resume and cover letter. EOE

Send jobs to: ads@spotsndots.com Pricing Options

ADVERTISER NEWS (continued from page one) Even Starbucks is having traffic problems. Same-store transactions were down 2% in the fourth quarter, but with the average ticket up 5%, same-store sales were up 3%......After a successful test last summer, KFC will roll out Georgia Gold Honey Mustard BBQ Chicken nationwide as an LTO starting this week……The Day Star Restaurant Group is closing another batch of Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon and Texas Land & Cattle restaurants after a round of closings last fall. Nation’s Restaurant News says that will leave the chains with about 30 locations, down from more than 100 when the brands were acquired by Day Star late in 2013....Less than a week until the TV event of the season, the Super Bowl, airs. The National Retail Federation says consumers are expected to spend about $75 each on average on products related to the 2017 Super Bowl, well off the historic highs reached for last year’s game. 76% of the people surveyed said they plan to watch the game.

ECONOMIC NEWS Fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product came in at a 1.9% growth rate according to just-released data from the Commerce Department, a large drop from the 3.5% growth seen in the third quarter. For the year growth was just 1.6%, down from 2.6% in 2015. A wider trade deficit—which acts as a negative to GDP when the difference between imports and exports gets greater—was seen as the primary cause of the decline, while consumer spending and business investment showed resilience……Durable goods orders were down 0.4% in December, but it was largely due to cutbacks in purchases by the military. Consumer purchases of durable goods were better, especially in the automotive sector, which was up 2%. LIVE SUPER BOWL SPOT Live commercials go back to the very earliest days of television and recently NBC ran a few as part of the telecast of Hairspray Live. Now we expect to see the first live spot in a Super Bowl, for Mars’ Snickers candy bar. Adam Driver will star in the spot as a “very hungry cowboy.” As we have already reported, Hyundai will be doing some shooting during the game for a spot that will run after the game ends……There’s also another surprise advertiser in the game: It’s a 10, an independent hair care brand, has bought a spot in the third quarter. Hair stylist/owner Carolyn Aronson may have gotten the idea from her husband—Jeff Aronson is the founder of Cash4Gold which ran the first-ever direct response ad in a Super Bowl in 2009, starring the late Ed McMahon.

VERIZON CABLE DEAL ADVANCING QUICKLY? Last week we were among the first to report on growing belief that Verizon was showing possible interest in making a major cable acquisition and within the last week it appears a possible deal could be progressing quickly. After a soft Verizon quarterly report showing little growth in its primary phone business, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has made a preliminary approach to Charter, and is working with advisors to study a potential transaction. Charter has a market capitalization of over $80 billion, while Verizon is valued at $194 billion. Reports say Verizon isn’t terribly interested in traditional TV services, rather it is a big believer in the structure that powers high-speed internet, and “Charter would offer a large, dense fiber-and-cable network that could bolster Verizon’s coming fifth-generation wireless services.” Of course if there were to be a deal, it would be an early test of regulatory pressures at the new FCC and other federal agencies. There’s a substantial overlap of many Charter operations with Verizon’s FiOS, which currently has about 5.7 million internet customers and an estimated 4.7 million television subscribers.

Got an idea for a story? Suggestions or comments? Send an email to SND editors: Jack Messmer Fred Rains Joe Marcoe

Jimmy Fallon

SATURDAY NIELSEN RATINGS - LIVE + SAME DAY

Arnold Schwarzenegger met Pope Francis at the Vatican last week. When the Pope

heard it was the guy that said, “I’ll be back,” he said, “Oh, I

was expecting someone else. Sorry.”