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SUBS DROP, BUT PAY-TV STILL MAINTAINS REACH Three-quarters of U.S. homes still rely on traditional cable and satellite TV services. Kagan says the residential penetration rate for those services stood at 75 percent at the end of 2018. But that was a slight downtick from the 76.2 percent recorded at the end of September, illustrating the pressure legacy video services are under. Kagan’s quarterly multichannel subscription report says fewer than 90 million subscribers remain for cable, direct broadcast satellite (DBS) and telecom multichannel providers. It calculates 1.1 million subscribers were lost during the fourth quarter alone, and that pushed the full-year decline to 4 million. Kagan says DBS services accounted for more than half of the annual loss, with both DirecTV and Dish Networks each losing more than one million subscribers last year. Lots of households still rely on their local cable company for a broadband internet connection to access services like Hulu or Netflix. As a result, those MSOs weren’t as hard-hit. But Kagan says the ability to keep those customers in a subscription package of live linear channels wasn’t enough to prevent the space from shrinking. “Traditional and virtual multichannel subscriptions combined fell nearly 1.3 million for the year,” it says. That compares with a 997,000 drop in 2017. At the same time, traditional telco services cut combined annual subscriber losses for a second consecutive year, losing 351,000 subscribers to end 2018 at 10.3 million. Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence at GroupM, says the streaming services are “meaningfully impacting” the media industry. But he expects a “gradual” impact on cord-cutting and advertising trends. “It is possible that hit programming on the new platforms will cause consumers to massively shift viewing away from traditional TV at a faster pace than we’ve seen to this point, but it seems unlikely,” Wieser says, linking the trend toward spending on programming. “The gap in quality would need to expand massively,” he says. Even if the digital video services use a “more likely” approach similar to what Netflix has deployed, Wieser thinks it’s more likely the pay-TV marketplace is likely to see a mid-to-high single digit shift of viewing from traditional providers. In a new analysis — Wieser’s first since moving to GroupM — he says traditional cable and satellite TV providers have a few ace cards up their sleeves. Live sports programming means most viewers are “likely to remain on traditional TV” he says, and he predicts cable and satellite companies will offer discounted broadband services that will keep many households from completely

(Continued on Page 2)

WIESER SEES ENDURANCE IN TRADITIONAL TV’S REACHADVERTISER NEWS Honda says it will recall about 1.1 million Honda and Acura vehicles in the U.S. to replace defective Takata airbags on the driver’s side. The company says it’s aware of one injury linked to the defect that may have caused the airbag to rupture when it was deployed in a crash. The vehicles involved in the recall were previously repaired using specific Takata desiccated replacement inflators (PSDI-5D) or entire replacement airbag modules containing these inflators... Ad

Age says Orbitz is launching its first televised campaign, “Just Like What,” in nearly a decade on Monday, the second iteration on the brand’s “Just Like That.” Created by Havas Chicago, it’s targeting older Millennials and touts unique experiences and rewards. The campaign

will air on cable as well as during special event and sports programming... Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group, which is considering strategic alternatives that include a possible sale, has over the past year closed and sold off a number of restaurants and plans no Grille opening in the next two years, executives said yesterday. The Irving, Texas-based casual-dining operator owns four brands, including Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, Del Frisco’s Grille, Barcelona Wine Bar and Bartaco... There’s been a big shakeup at the top at Rite Aid, Chain Store Age reports. The drugstore chain announced late yesterday that John Standley will step down as CEO, staying on until the appointment of his successor. In addition, Rite Aid said it’s reducing management layers and consolidating roles across the organization, resulting in the elimination of approximately 400 full-time positions, or more than 20 percent of the corporate positions located at the company’s headquarters and across the field organization... Kraft Heinz has hired Royal Bank of Canada to review options for its Breakstone’s business, which sells cottage cheese, butter and sour cream. Options could include a sale, sources tell CNBC. The move is understood to be part of a broader review of the company’s dairy business, which also includes its natural cheese business. Breakstone’s has roughly $400 million in revenue and $50 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

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

AVAILS 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. If you’ve ever wanted to work in one of America’s best places to live, here is your opportunity! WKOW, the ABC affiliate in Madison, Wis., has an immediate opening for an account executive. The successful candidate will help an established client list grow with Green Bay Packers football, Big 10

football, local sports and news from the 2016 Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Station of the Year. This is your chance to live and work in the home of the Wisconsin Badgers! Resume to bbeer@WKOW.com. No calls, please. EOE. WMOR (Tampa, Fla.) and WMTW/WPXT (Portland, Maine) have an opening for an experienced Regional Research Director. This is a great opportunity to join one of the broadcast industry’s most respected companies, Hearst Television. The director will analyze and translate digital research into meaningful stories and strategies to support cross-platform sales and promotion. This position will be based in Tampa and will require some travel to Portland. For more information, CLICK HERE. EOE. WDTN TV (NBC/CW, Nexstar) in Dayton, Ohio, is searching for a General Sales Manager. The GSM oversees all aspects of the sales department, including staff management, advertising inventory throughout all channels, revenue goal setting and achievement, and budgeting. The GSM also has direct responsibility for national sales efforts. Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Advertising or Mass Communications, plus a minimum five years’ experience in media sales required. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply today. EOE. WTVD, the ABC-owned affiliate in the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville, N.C., market, has a rare opening for a Local Sales Manager to work with the strongest local team in the market and national sellers in the country. The LSM will be involved in all aspects of the sales operation. 5 years’ experience in broadcast sales required, 3-5 years Television sales management preferred. Knowledge of and proficiency with Matrix, Wide Orbit, Excel and PowerPoint also preferred. Please CLICK HERE to apply online (Job ID 645718BR.) EOE

See your ad here tomorrow! CLICK HERE for details.

NETWORK NEWS Justin Kirk is set as the male lead opposite Jennifer Morrison in Under the Bridge, a CBS drama pilot. The story centers on surgeon Caitlin Lanchaster (Morrison). When a scandal rocks the medical practice she runs with her husband Michael (Kirk) and their friends, Caitlin rises to the occasion and takes the lead in trying to mend both the practice and her marriage. David Ajala, Sarayu Blue and Reggie Lee co-star in the pilot... Fox’s drama pilot Prodigal Son is recasting its lead. The Walking Dead alum Tom Payne has been tapped to topline the pilot. He will replace Finn Jones, who originally was cast in the role. The decision, Deadline reports, was made after the pilot’s table read this week... CBS will present a new one-hour special featuring two back-to-back colorized episodes of I Love Lucy on Friday, April 19 from 8-9 PM (ET). The two episodes, The Million-Dollar Idea and Bonus Bucks, are newly colorized with a nod to the 1950s period in which they were filmed. As with previous Lucy specials, the main titles and end credits are seamlessly combined into one set at the beginning and end of the hour, with no interruption between the episodes... The end is near for The Big Bang Theory. CBS says the sitcom will wrap its 12-season run with an hourlong series finale at 8 PM (ET) on Thursday, May 16. Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar star in The Big Bang Theory, which remains one of the most popular shows on television.

WIESER: TRADITIONAL TV’S REACH TO ENDURE(Continued from Page 1)“cutting the cord” to maintain access to local broadcast TV. “This means that overall, new services will probably be complimentary to the industry, and change will continue to be gradual and incremental,” Wieser concludes. “The reach of traditional TV will likely hold up relatively well [and] to the extent it erodes, this will also likely be gradual.” Yet Wieser also thinks changes are inevitable, such a move toward less TV ad clutter and the rise of more targeted buying options. It’s also likely new ad units will be created. “Just as they’ve adapted to a world with significant time-shifting, advertisers will have time to adapt to the streaming era,” Wieser says.

THIS AND THAT CBS has bought out Lionsgate to acquire full ownership of the cable network Pop. In 2013, CBS invested $100 million in half of the network, when it was still known as the TV Guide Network, or TVGN... The senior smart home market will be worth up to $30 billion by 2022, a recent CTA survey found. The brunt of this growth will come from safety and smart living solutions, which will triple in value from 2018 to 2022, the report noted... Apple has set March 25 as the day for the It’s Show Time event, the latest in its tradition of first-quarter reveal extravaganzas. This year, VentureBeat reports, the focus will likely be on Apple’s soon-to-be-launched subscription offerings for magazines, videos and games.

3/13/2019

Conan O’Brien

If “words can’t describe” what you saw, you could,

like, shut up.

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

SOCIAL VIDEO AD SPEND TO GROW 44% BY 2021 Social video ad spending in the U.S. will reach $14.89 billion in 2021, growing 44 percent from 2019, eMarketer forecasts. It will then account for 30.4 percent of total video ad spending. eMarketer also estimates that overall video ad spending will increase 62.1 percent between 2019 and 2023. Facebook and YouTube are the dominant players in this space. (eMarketer doesn’t factor YouTube into its forecast.) But smaller social platforms, like Twitter and Snapchat, are also significant.

Twitter’s U.S. video ad revenues will pass $1 billion in 2021. And Snapchat’s U.S. video ad business is estimated to grow 19.9 percent year over year in 2021, reaching $727.4 million. That’s nearly on par with Roku’s expected total U.S. revenues of $785.4 million by 2021. U.S. digital video viewers favor YouTube and Facebook, according to AudienceProject, with social networks Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat also

ranking higher than major news sites. Social platforms are among the most popular destinations for viewing ad-supported video in the U.S., especially among the highly coveted millennial and Gen Z populations. “Video has taken center stage on social platforms that were once text- or photo-centric — including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, even Pinterest,” said eMarketer principal analyst Paul Verna. “Not only do younger users spend growing amounts of time watching video on these platforms, but they also share clips among their followers, potentially amplifying brand messages.”

DISNEY SETS CLOSING DATE FOR FOX DEAL Disney has set a closing date of Wednesday, March 20 for the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The date was included in a release in which Disney indicated that the company has received the last major approval for the deal from regulators in Mexico, Deadline reports. According to Disney, 21st Century Fox shareholders will have until tomorrow to choose the amount of cash and Disney stock to receive in the $71.3 billion transaction.

3/13/2019

Funny Tweeter

My therapist puts her toilet paper roll on upside down, yet

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NETWORKS TEAM UP ON ADDRESSABLE ADS Yet another consortium is forming among TV companies — this time to establish standards in addressable advertising, Ad Age reports. Dubbed Project OAR, which stands for Open Addressable Ready, the goal is to develop and deploy a new, open standard for delivering ads to individual households on smart TVs, which is known as addressable advertising. At launch, the consortium includes NBC Universal, CBS, Disney Media Networks, Discovery, AMC Networks, Turner, AT&T’s Xandr, Comcast’s FreeWheel and Hearst TV, along with Inscape, a division of Vizio, which will develop the technology. This is the latest effort by TV networks to work together to improve measurement and targeting to fend off digital ad behemoths like Google and Facebook. Addressable advertising has long been ballyhooed as the holy grail of TV advertising. But after more than a decade of talking about the benefits of targeting individual households, the process of delivering such ads remains cumbersome and time-consuming. Addressable advertising is currently available in about 70 million households and is about a $2 billion marketplace, according to eMarketer. Some industry experts question that estimate, though it pales in comparison to the $70 billion TV ad business regardless. Vizio is promising that once the standard is developed, it will allow programmers to deploy it through its footprint of 10 million connected TVs. And it is designed to be open, so any internet-connected TV maker can use it, says Jodie McAfee, senior VP at Inscape. McAfee says they are currently in discussions with other TV makers. In this way, it hopes to help scale addressable advertising.

AUTO SUPPLY HIGHEST FOR MARCH SINCE 2009 Automakers and dealers entered March with an estimated 4,127,100 unsold cars and light trucks on hand, a 78-day supply, Automotive News reports. In terms of days, it’s the largest supply for this time of year since 2009, according to the Automotive News Data Center, but was still down from the 88-day supply of unsold stock that automakers and dealers had on hand at the beginning of February. The supply is calculated based on the previous month’s selling rate, and thus takes into account not only volume but also outside factors that affect sales, like inclement weather. For comparison, the industry’s 101-day supply at the start of March 2009 was only 2,900,600 vehicles because demand was much lower than today. On a volume basis, inventories are at their highest level since July 2017, when the industry had an estimated 4,196,800 units on hand. Inventories have increased by about 93,000 vehicles from this point a year ago, when automakers had a 74-day supply, and are up 111,600 units from the start of February. Vehicle stocks topped 4 million units to start March in both 2017 and 2018 as well. In both of those years, they stayed above that level for at least the following two months.