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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2018.The Daily News of TV Sales Thursday, March 28, 2019

FREEWHEEL: VIEWERSHIP STARTS TO CONVERGE Linear TV and digital content viewership is looking more similar than ever before, according to Multichannel News, citing a recent report from advanced advertising company FreeWheel, which says advertisers are buying across both platforms at an increased rate. According to FreeWheel’s Video Marketplace Report, which surveyed more than 200 advertisers and agencies, more than half (52%) of agencies are already combining the buying of digital and linear TV today, with 91 percent saying they will do so by 2021. In addition, 74 percent of the advertisers surveyed said it’s important or very important to have integrated digital video and linear TV/data technology solutions. According to FreeWheel, a unit of cable operator Comcast, the data set used for the VMR report is one of the largest available on the usage of professional, rights-managed video content worldwide, and is based off of census-level advertising data collected through the FreeWheel platform. The VMR, formerly the Video Monetization Report, also looked closely at convergence trends in the industry, adding that tentpole sporting events like the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup and Super Bowl LII were viewed increasingly online. According to the VMR, NBC Sports digital coverage of the Winter Olympics set a new record in 2018, with 2.17 billion streaming minutes and an 11 percent lift in its linear only audience. That increasing comfort with digitally delivered content helped fuel 86 percent growth in live content ad views during the year, said the VMR. Premium video was shared across multiple day parts, not just primetime: 23 percent of all connected TV ad views were in the 8-11 PM time slots, while 18 percent of desktop views were between noon and 3 PM, according to the VMR. Total video views were up 25 percent in 2018, while ad view growth was 27 percent for the year. That compares to the prior year, when video views rose 26 percent and ad views were up 22 percent. The report added that full-episode content remains the most widely-viewed segment, particularly in the fall viewing season, and made up 61 percent of ad views in Q4 2018. About 95 percent of those ad views occurred on entertainment content, the report said. Still, live TV was the biggest driver of growth, up 51 percent year-over-year in Q4 2018. Sports content dominated, accounting for 57 percent of total live ad views. The VMR data seemed to jibe with TV ratings measurement giant Nielsen’s Content Ratings Benchmarks report, which noticed a growing trend by consumers, especially younger ones, to watch programming first on their digital devices.

LINES BLURRING BETWEEN LINEAR TV, DIGITAL VIEWINGADVERTISER NEWS The maker of OxyContin and the company’s controlling family agreed yesterday to pay a groundbreaking $270 million to Oklahoma to settle allegations they helped create the nation’s deadly opioid crisis with aggressive marketing of the powerful painkiller. It’s the first settlement to come out of the recent coast-to-coast wave of nearly 2,000 lawsuits against Purdue Pharma that threaten to push the company into bankruptcy and have stained the name of the Sackler family, whose members rank among the world’s foremost philanthropists... CNBC reports that multiple prospective

buyers have considered bids for Bed Bath & Beyond in recent years, but none has followed through as the chain has failed to create a clear point of differentiation with its

retail rivals. The New Jersey-based chain has seen its share price fall nearly 80 percent since reaching an all-time high in 2015... E-sports training facilities are turning into a big sponsorship opportunity, VentureBeat reports. The latest to demonstrate that point is e-sports organization Complexity Gaming, whose new performance center is being sponsored by game retailer GameStop. GameStop has unveiled a string of strategic partnerships in e-sports, including an alliance with Complexity Gaming, one of North America’s longest-standing competitive gaming groups that’s owned by Jerry Jones, who also owns the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. GameStop will serve as the title sponsor of the team’s new state-of-the-art headquarters in Frisco, Texas... Lyft increased its expected IPO share price range to between $70 and $72 per share in a new filing yesterday. The company previously expected to price its shares between $62 and $68. The company would be valued around $20 billion in the updated pricing range. Lyft is expected to price its shares today and go public tomorrow on the Nasdaq under the ticker LYFT... Shares of Lululemon Athletica rallied in post-market trading yesterday after the apparel company reported fourth-quarter earnings and expectations for first-quarter profit that topped Wall Street expectations. Lululemon said it earned $218 million, or $1.65 a share, in the quarter, compared with 88 cents a share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017.

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

AVAILS Nexstar’s Norfolk duopoly of WAVY-TV (NBC) and WVBT-TV (FOX) seeks a Local Sales Manager to co-lead its local sales team on the southeast Virginia coast. The Sales Manager is responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the sales department, including development of new business and achievement of broadcast and digital revenue goals. Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Advertising or Mass Communications, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work-related experience required. CLICK HERE to apply. No calls, please. EOE.

TVB is searching for a VP, Digital. This person will position local broadcast television digital platforms to advertisers and agencies, and will train broadcast sellers on the most effective use of combining digital platforms with on-air. The VP, Digital will also help TVB develop the most current and cutting-edge positioning on multi-platform selling. Good working knowledge of OTT, Google, mobile media, geo targeting, ad networks and other essential digital

sales platforms required. CLICK HERE for more details. If qualified, please send cover letter and resume to: susanc@tvb.org. EOE. Nexstar Broadcasting-Norfolk (WAVY TV-10 and WVBT FOX43 TV) is looking for a Sales Assistant/Program Coordinator. Program coordinator duties include maintaining program schedules for both stations. Work with a high-performance sales team in the exciting environment of broadcast and digital advertising. High school diploma, fluency in English, excellent communication skills, both oral and written, and a minimum one year of experience in clerical support or administrative assistance preferred. Prior media experience a plus. APPLY ONLINE, and be prepared to upload your cover letter and resume. No calls. EOE/M/F/D/V.

See your ad here tomorrow! CLICK HERE for details.

SINCLAIR LOWERING THE CURTAIN ON CIRCA Sinclair Broadcast Group says it’s shutting down its general interest website Circa. “For three years, Circa.com has provided unique video storytelling that has yielded a committed audience, national awards and numerous innovations for Sinclair’s wider digital efforts. So, it is with great sadness that we announce today that, after deep consideration, we will be closing Circa.com,” Sinclair said in a statement. “This was an extremely difficult decision, and we remain grateful to our talented team for their incredible work and dedication to our mission,” they wrote. The broadcasting company said that as a smaller publisher it could not compete with larger outlets as the digital media sphere continues to evolve. Circa was originally started as an app in 2012 and shut down in 2015 for financial reasons before being picked up and relaunched by Sinclair the following year. The platform garnered video and other material from Sinclair’s roughly 170 local affiliates to promote coverage on an array of topics, including politics, lifestyle and entertainment.

NETWORK NEWS Max Willems has been cast as the lead in CBS’ multi-camera comedy pilot The Emperor of Malibu. The project centers on Auggie (Willems), the son of a Chinese billionaire (Ken Jeong). When Auggie announces his engagement to an American woman, his outrageous family descends upon the couple to win their son back and test drive the American dream... CBS’ comedy pilot To Whom It May Concern is recasting one of the series regular roles opposite Michael Angarano and Briga Heelan, Deadline reports. Rules of Engagement alum Adhir Kalyan will play Tanner in the hybrid comedy. He replaces Raymond Ablack, who originally was cast in the role. To Whom It May Concern centers on Evan (Angarano) who, with the help of his group of friends, sets out to accomplish a list of challenges he wrote for himself years ago in an effort to turn around his banal life... Fox is making its summer plans. The network has unveiled premiere dates for returning reality competition hits So You Think You Can Dance and MasterChef, along with game shows Beat Shazam and the new Dax Shepard-hosted Spin the Wheel. The Cat Deeley-fronted SYTYCD will hit the floor for Season 16 at 9 PM (ET) on Monday, June 10. The 10th course of MasterChef gets cooking at 8 PM on Wednesday, May 29, and will air twice a week. Season 3 of Beat Shazam cues up at 8 PM on Monday, May 20, and the high-stakes new game Spin the Wheel begins play at 9 PM on Thursday, June 20. The quartet joins new series Paradise Hotel (May 9), Season 7 of MasterChef Junior and the newly launched Mental Samurai on Fox’s spring/summer reality schedule.

DO TV SHOWS SPARK POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT? Kerry Washington, Julianna Margulies and Téa Leoni may inspire more than just the occasional binge-watch, MarketWatch reports. A new study links regular viewing of the female-led political TV dramas Scandal on ABC and The Good Wife and Madam Secretary on CBS with heightened political interest and participation. “People who viewed these shows more felt more engaged [with] the shows themselves; they felt more connected to the characters,” lead study author Jennifer Hoewe, an assistant professor of political communication at Purdue University, told MarketWatch. “Through that process, they became more engaged in politics.” The small study involved 218 participants, 71 percent of whom were women and 81 percent of whom were white, recruited from sub-reddit pages and fan forums that focused on the three shows. People who regularly watched these dramas featuring politically powerful women reported increased feelings of “transportation” (getting caught up in the narrative), which in turn led to more feelings related to “para-social relationships,” which means feeling a connection to a character. Those relationships, according to findings published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, led to increases in real-life political interest, in addition to enhancing the extent to which they felt like they can make a difference by participating in the election process.

3/28/2019

Larry The Cable Guy

I knew I needed to lose weight the last time I played on the trampoline. I jumped two times, and had to call the fire department to get

my son out of a tree.

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

THE RESALE APPAREL MARKET IS REVVING UP Conscious consumers looking for a great deal on quality apparel have given rise to the fast-growing resale market, and this has some retailers adjusting their models. The fashion resale market has grown 21 times faster than the traditional retail market over the past three years, according to a January report from online resale marketplace thredUP. This year, the resale market will account for one-quarter of the second-hand apparel market and reach nearly half by 2023. The resale sector of the secondhand market is made up of

curated products offered primarily online. It includes retailers like The RealReal, Buffalo Exchange and thredUP. By contrast, the thrift and donation sector is generally offline and includes brick-and-mortar sellers like Goodwill, The Salvation Army and yard sales. The thredUP survey of 2,000 U.S. women found that while respondents of all ages were open to secondhand apparel shopping, growth in this population was predominantly driven by

younger shoppers. For 2019, the share of Gen Zers ages 18 to 24 who purchased secondhand apparel grew 46 percent from 2017. (However, when compared with thredUP’s 2018 survey, Gen Z secondhand apparel adoption decreased from 40 percent to 37 percent this year.) Growth for millennials ages 25 to 37 was 37 percent over the same two-year period, vs. 18 percent for Gen Xers and 15 percent for boomers.

THIS AND THAT Following a cleanup of its platform and revamped ad model, online social blog reddit is on pace to more than double its ad revenues by 2021, eMarketer says. Its ad business will grow nearly 55 percent, crossing the $100 million mark this year, the firm forecasts... A new pitch deck that Twitter is using positions the company as unique, Digiday reports. It highlights such qualities as the platform’s status as No. 1 for discovery and a Nielsen report that notes a 45 percent boost in sustained awareness from Twitter-based campaigns.

3/28/2019

Funny Tweeter

Due dates for babies are like estimated download times.

TUESDAY NIELSEN RATINGS - LIVE + SAME DAY

RETAIL AGGRESSIVE IN PRIVATE LABEL PRICING Nine out of 10 leading retailers price their private label products lower than the average prices of their respective categories. That’s according to a study from DataWeave, a provider of competitive intelligence as a service to e-commerce businesses and consumer brands, and corporate and investment bank SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. The study, reported by Chain Store Age, revealed that an increasing number of retailers are viewing private label brands as a way to ensure sustained profitability. “As the CPG space reels under intense competition, a number of retailers are doubling down on private labels to capture valuable additional margin,” said Karthik Bettadapura, co-founder and CEO at DataWeave. “For instance, Kroger, Walmart and Amazon Fresh have a higher degree of private label penetration than the other retailers we analyzed.” The report tracked and analyzed 450,000 products across 10 leading retailers and 10 ZIP codes each.

U.S. TRADE DEFICIT SHRINKS IN JANUARY The U.S. trade deficit narrowed by the most in 10 months in January as automotive exports rose and China likely boosted purchases of soybeans, driving the first increase in exports in four months and offering a respite to a flood of dour data on the economy. Reuters reports the goods trade gap with China narrowed by the most in nearly three years as imports from the world’s No. 2 economy plunged, Commerce Department data released yesterday showed. It totaled $34.5 billion in January, the narrowest since June. The reduced gap with China was the leading force behind a nearly 15 percent improvement in the overall U.S. trade deficit to $51.1 billion. That larger-than-expected narrowing in the overall trade deficit was a bright spot after a raft of weak data, including retail sales, manufacturing and homebuilding, had economists anticipating a sharp slowdown in growth in the first quarter. “At a minimum, the U.S. trade deficit softens some of the blow from all of the other negative figures,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.

NIELSEN ACCREDITED FOR TV BY MRC IN MEXICO The Media Rating Council has accredited Nielsen’s Television Audience Measurement Service in Mexico, marking the first time the MRC has accredited a TV measurement system outside of the U.S. The accreditation should give programmers, media buyers and agencies confidence in Nielsen’s audience measurement and is a step in providing a better understanding of how viewers are consuming media, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Nielsen offers the service through a joint venture with IBOPE and Mexico is the first international market for Nielsen Global Media.