Spots N Dots
The Daily News Of TV Sales
April 25, 2017
GOOGLE INTO PROGRAMMATIC TV AD SALES
PARTNERS WITH WIDEORBIT, CLYPD
“Manage TV and digital video campaigns in a single platform with DoubleClick Bid Manager” is the sales pitch from Google as the digital ad giant adds linear TV to its programmatic sales platform. The announcement posted by Rany Ng, Director, Product Management, says Google is integrating with WideOrbit for inventory from local TV stations and with clypd for national broadcast and cable network inventory. In addition, for the first time the company is making addressable TV inventory available through the programmatic platform from Google Fiber.
“With their inventory now available through DoubleClick Bid Manager, television networks and station owners get access to new types of buyers, such as advanced TV buying groups in agencies, digital-first advertisers, and even global advertisers,” said Ng. “Many of these buyers already use DoubleClick, but until now, have had limited access to U.S. TV audiences,” she added.
Ad Age noted that Google made a previous attempt to sell linear TV inventory with Google TV Ads, but abandoned the effort in 2012 after it failed to take off. Google is expected to face some industry resistance, since it has been aggressively going after TV budgets for advertising on YouTube. Still, we think Google could be a “frenemy” for stations and networks if there is money to be made on its programmatic platform—and if it is successful in competing with multiple companies already into the market.
Programmatic sales are a tiny, but growing part of total TV ad revenues. eMarketer predicts that it will account for $4.4 billion, or about 6% of all TV ad revenues, in 2018.
ADVERTISER NEWS
A tale of two toymakers: Mattel first quarter sales were down 23% in North America, with retailers apparently holding back on placing new orders as they cleared inventory left over from the holiday season. One small bright spot came from improved direct sales to consumers for the Barbie, Fisher-Price, and Hot Wheels lines……But better news at Hasbro: U.S. revenue was up 2% as strength on gaming and emerging brands offset a decline in what the company calls franchise and partner brands. The CEO saw “strong consumer takeaway at retail, both compared to a robust first quarter last year and with a shift of Easter into this year’s second quarter”……99 Cents Only stores has a strong 6.4% comp stores sales gain in its fourth fiscal quarter with average ticket up 4.4% and customer traffic up 1.9%. For the full fiscal year comps were up 2.1%. The company lost $118.2 million for the fiscal year, but the amount was less than half the loss in the prior fiscal year, which had been negative $248 million……The Fresh Market is closing five stores to “allow the company to focus on the success, service and growth of its existing portfolio of stores.” None of the closings will be in markets where there will be no remaining Fresh Markets locations, and the chain is opening a few stores in other markets……There are a lot of burger chains to choose from, but Five Guys BurgersandFries emerged on top on the 2017 Harris Poll EquiTrend study, beating out West Coast regional favorite In-N-Out Burger. Other chains above the industry average were Shake Shack, Wendy’s, Culver’s, Whataburger, McDonald’s, Sonic, Smashburger and Steak ‘n Shake, but Burger King, Carl’s Jr.,Checkers/Rally’s, DQ Grill & Chill, Hardee’s, Jack in the Box and White Castle all fell below the category average. Among chicken restaurant brands, Chick-fil-A was on top, with Zaxby’s, El Pollo Loco and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen all ahead of the category average and Bojangles’, Boston Market, Church’s Chicken, and KFC below the category average……AutomotiveNews reports Buick dealers will receive the first vehicles from the upscale Avenir (the name comes from French for “future”) sub-brand in September starting with the redesigned 2018 Enclave crossover, and then spreading throughout the Buick lineup based on size and price. General Motors is hoping the more expensive extra features of the sub-brand will replicate the success of the Denali sub-brand it has seen grow business for the GMC division. 29% of GMC sales last month were Denalis, and those transaction prices were higher than Audi and Lexus.
NETWORK NEWS
Megyn Kelly and NBC are expected to launch a news Sunday newsmagazine program in June. The new program is expected to feature Kelly as the lead of a group of reporters, and will be supervised by two veteran NBC News producers from the network’s long running newsmagazine Dateline. David Corvo and Liz Cole have been behind the popular program since 2011. Kate Snow, who is the Sunday Night anchor for NBC Nightly News, and who recently stepped down from anchoring an hour on MSNBC, is expected to contribute to Kelly’s new program. Meanwhile, Kelly’s daytime show will be presented as part of The Today Show brand and is expected to debut in September. A title for the show is still being decided as well as whether it will air in the 9 AM (ET) or the 10 AM (ET) time slot. NBC News did not make executives available for comment……ABC has picked a May premiere date for its new adaptation of the classic movie, Dirty Dancing. The three-hour filmed musical will feature an all-star cast including Abigail Breslin, Debra Messing, Bruce Greenwood, Nicole Scherzinger, Sarah Hyland, Tony Roberts, Katey Sagal and Billy Dee Williams. They will join rising stars Colt Pratte and J. Quinton Johnson for a fresh take on the movie revolving around the events in a Catskills summer resort. ABC’s Dirty Dancing will debut on the network Wednesday, May 24th at 8 PM (ET)……Variety is reporting that ABC is now in the fast lane when it comes to getting affiliate stations on board with emerging digital MVPDs. The network has enlisted more than 160 of its 200 affiliates to join the ABC Clearinghouse initiative introduced last year at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. The network offered the affiliates the chance to opt-in to a uniform carriage deal template negotiated by ABC executives to make sure the network has a robust presence on the emerging platforms. ABC said that more and two-thirds of its affiliates, plus the eight ABC O&Os will be carried on DirecTV Now, Sony PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV and CenturyLink. More deals are pending with the soon-to-be-unveiled service from Hulu and other new ventures. Amazon is pursuing a skinny-bundle streaming channel package that would include local broadcast affiliates of the Big Four networks. CBS has most of its affiliates on board as partners in its CBS All Access SVOD service and is looking to take similar steps with outside distributors. FOX is believed to be moving in the same direction.
DEALERS WARNED: DON’T SELL ABOVE STICKER
Apparently there’s a sales trainer in the automotive business that is teaching a sales tactic leading to salespeople trying to sell vehicles above sticker price, in effect getting a customer to pay an additional amount as a “tip” for excellent service or getting what the customer perceives to be an excellent deal. The sales trainer claims the tactic is legal as long as the additional amount is disclosed to the customer, and the customer agrees to it.
But the National Automobile Dealers Association is warning its members about this idea—an article on the NADA website written by a law firm tells dealers if the tactic sounds too good to be true—it probably is, in that most states have laws referred to as the “ad price rule” that requires them to sell at or below the advertised price. Even if a dealership is not in a state with those laws, there’s been plenty of attention to dealership sales practices from the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The article on the NADA site also discourages trying to mark up aftermarket sales at variable prices—the CFPB has been especially active in policing “payment packing,” quoting a price or monthly payment to a customer that includes products or services not requested. It specifically warns dealerships about the possibility of variances in average prices to different ethnic groups.
MOM’S BIG DAY TO HIT SPENDING RECORD
Consumers say they will spend more than ever on Mother’s Day this year as they shower moms with everything from jewelry to special outings at favorite restaurants, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Mother’s Day shoppers are expected to spend an average of $186.39 for the holiday, up from last year’s $172.22. With 85% of consumers surveyed celebrating the holiday, total spending is expected to reach $23.6 billion. That’s the highest number in the survey’s 14-year history, topping last year’s previous record of $21.4 billion.
According to the survey, consumers plan to spend $5 billion on jewelry (purchased by 36% of shoppers), $4.2 billion on special outings such as dinner or brunch (56%), $2.6 billion on flowers (69%), $2.5 billion on gift cards (45%), $2.1 billion on clothing (37%), $2 billion on consumer electronics (15%) and $1.9 billion on personal services such as a spa day (24%).
The overall increase is expected to be driven largely by spending on jewelry, which is up 19%, and personal services, up 15%.
“Gifts of experience” are especially popular with younger consumers, with nearly half under age 35 planning to give a gift such as tickets to a concert. For all potential recipients of Mother’s Day gifts, 28% want to receive such a gift, compared with 24% last year.
When searching for that perfect gift, the survey found that 35% of consumers will head to department stores and 31% will shop at specialty stores such as florists, jewelers or electronics stores, while 24% plan to shop at a local small business. Meanwhile, 30% will shop online, up from 27% last year.
MORTGAGE RATES COME DOWN AGAIN
The housing market is already strong, a great sign for several important retail segments, and as we enter the spring home-buying season there’s additional good news in that mortgage rates have dropped below 4% for the first time since last November. Mortgage company Freddie Mac says the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.97% for the week ended on 4/20, down from 4.08% the week before and from 4.3% last month. For most of last year, rates were just a bit above 3.5% on 3-year fixed mortgages, but rates moved upwards after the elections in November.
SMITH WELCOMES CHANGE AT NAB SHOW
With the incentive auction just completed and Next Generation Television on the launching pad, NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith welcomed change—calling it both “unsettling and exciting”—in his annual address to the NAB Show in Las Vegas.
“When we talk about broadcasting, it’s very easy to talk about change—both in the way consumers access content and the way broadcasters are delivering it,” Smith said.“But there are some things technology will never change: Listeners and viewers will always want that local connection that broadcasters provide—with the weatherman who tells them if a storm is approaching, or with their favorite DJ who warns them of the traffic building up ahead.”
New platforms are making broadcast content available to consumers in new ways. But Smith insisted that the one-to-many architecture of television “is the envy of other media platforms.”
WSJ: SOME SKIPPING NEWFRONTS
The NewFronts were created in 2012 as the digital media counter to the traditional TV Upfronts, but the Wall Street Journal reports that some of the biggest digital names are taking a pass on the NewFronts this year. It cites AOL, Yahoo, BuzzFeed and Fullscreen as among those who have pulled out or cut back considerably on their NewFronts efforts. The article says some digital media executives have been questioning whether the NewFronts have lived up to their original promise of securing ad commitments—and ideally getting advertisers to shift budgets from television.
“What clients are looking for is scale,” the WSJ quotes Dentsu Aegis Network president of product and innovation Doug Ray as saying. And the agency exec notes that there are very few digital video platforms that can deliver premium video content at scale.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which organizes the NewFronts, is predicting record attendance this year. It claimed 16,000 attendees last year (including ad buyers who attended multiple NewFronts events). And there are new media companies participating for the first time, such as BBC and Little Things.
The NewFronts aren’t going away, but the bloom is off the rose. Unlike network television, which has limited inventory to be snapped up, there’s no urgency for buyers when it comes to digital video ads.
THIS AND THAT
A new study from Parks Associates finds that 32% of free OTT trials will result in a paid subscription, noting that services like Hulu and Netflix often offer a period of free service with the aim to convert as many as possible of free-trialers into paying customers. Parks senior analyst Glenn Hower says “There is a potential for free trial abuse, but only about 1% are ‘serial trialers’ who abuse free trials to avoid paying for services. Most consumers use trials for their intended purpose of trying out a service before deciding whether or not to continue as a paid subscriber.” It’s estimated over 25% of U.S. broadband households trialed at least one OTT service in the last six months. Hower also reports that average monthly spending on subscription OTT has increased to $7.95 per U.S. broadband household last year, but says that doesn’t leave much money for “niche OTT services” who should not expect to expand beyond their particular audience niche……Tesla says it will double its charging network this year as it prepares for the introduction of its first mass-market electric vehicle. The $35,000 Model 3 is due out late this year.
ACCOUNT ACTIONS
Accenture named UM, and agency of IPG Mediabrands, as its global media agency, replacing GroupM’s MEC……Supermoon, Santa Monica, CA, has been named AOR for startup AutoGravity, which is a financial tech company with a smartphone app to connect car buyers with lenders before they even visit the showroom. TV spots will run first in California, and then go nationwide.
AVAILS
WDSU, Hearst owned NBC affiliate in New Orleans, LA, has an opening for an experienced, highly motivated, dynamic and drivenAccount Executive. The AE will be responsible for sellingWDSU TV,MeTV,WDSU.comand Mobile, and our specialty apps such as Parade Tracker and Transit Tracker. New business development is our #1 Priority. Must be able to thrive in a fast-paced, competitive, multi-media environment. CLICK HEREfor more info or to apply now.EOE.
KOHD ABC / KBNZ CBS in Central Oregon are searching for a Local Sales Manager. The LSM is responsible for developing, leading, and managing a team of account executives (AEs) with the objective of meeting and exceeding the team’s local and regional commercial revenue targets for Zolo Media. Bachelor’s degree OR 4+ years professional work experience, and 5+ years’ experience selling media advertising 2 + years' team lead and/or leadership experience required.CLICK HERE for more info or to apply now. EOE.
WNCN, CBS North Carolina, in the growing Raleigh market has an immediate opening for a Traffic Coordinator to support the sales department with inventory management and maximization.The coordinator works with our central traffic hub double checking the dub list, looking for missing copy and going over the log once released to make sure there are no issues. A minimum of 2-3 years of experience working in a TV station traffic department producing and editing logs required. CLICK HERE to apply. EOE M/F/V/D Background check required.
An archaeologist is claiming he’s discovered an amazing lost city in Kansas. Then he realized he just got drunk and watched ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
--Conan O’Brien
The nation’s first drive-through marijuana dispensary is opening in Colorado. Also, down the street will be the world’s most successful DUI checkpoint.
--James Corden
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SPOTS N DOTS
The Daily News Of TV Sales
April 25, 2017
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