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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2018.The Daily News of TV Sales Tuesday, October 29, 2019

AUTOMAKER INCENTIVES STILL KEY TO PROFIT The profitability of U.S. car dealers may be stabilizing after several years of shrinking margins, Automotive News reports. The National Automobile Dealers Association says franchised light-vehicle dealers are controlling costs and continuing to emphasize fixed operations and used-vehicle sales as the new-vehicle market cools. Such efforts could help reverse last year’s operating loss — the first on average in a decade since NADA began reporting the data. Yet even amid optimistic signs, NADA’s 2019 midyear data report shows franchised new-vehicle dealers still rely heavily on automaker incentives for the bulk of their profit. NADA Senior Economist Patrick Manzi told Automotive News that at this point in the year, it’s difficult to say whether last year’s average operating loss was an anomaly or a sign of an emerging trend. Through June, dealers’ pretax net profit margins held steady with 2018 levels, at 2.3 percent, according to the report. That’s the first time since 2015, when margins were 2.8 percent, that average dealership net profit as a percentage of sales hadn’t declined. Through August, they had ticked up to 2.4 percent, according to NADA’s monthly dealership financial profiles. Net profit includes automaker incentives, such as controversial stair-step volume-based sales targets, that are excluded from operating results. “I’m happy to see that it has sort of plateaued there,” Manzi said of average net profit margins. He said the data signals there may not be much more room to fall, barring a major economic disruption. He also said he doesn’t see signs of an imminent recession. “A flatlining... indicates that, even with all the added pressure of relying on these manufacturer incentive programs, dealers are still able to maintain a profitable business,” he said. Through June, dealers’ average pretax net profit was $714,480, just 1.5 percent higher compared with the same period a year ago, according to NADA’s monthly profiles. The picture was rosier through August, the most recent monthly data available, with pretax net profit rising to $991,455, or 2.5 percent above the year-earlier period. Along the way, the U.S. auto sales picture has brightened. Sales were down 2.5 percent at midyear and 1.6 percent after three quarters. NADA’s midyear report doesn’t address dealers’ operating profit

(Continued on Page 3)

NADA: DEALER PROFITABILITY MIGHT BE STABILIZINGADVERTISER NEWS After 40 days on picket lines, thousands of General Motors’ hourly workers returned to their regular shifts yesterday. “Our focus was to resume normal operations as quickly as possible,” GM spokesman Dan Flores told Automotive News. GM’s suppliers also are working on getting back to normal operations, Flores said, without giving details. GM “is a huge operation that spans North America and our supply

chain beyond that. There’s a lot of moving parts.” Flores would not say whether any parts shortages are slowing production. The strike, which started Sept. 16, ended last week after UAW members at GM voted to ratify their new four-year contract with the automaker... LVMH, the parent company of the Louis Vuitton and

Givenchy luxury brands, has reportedly offered $14.5 billion to acquire Tiffany & Co. The jeweler, which saw its share price rise on the news, is expected to reject LVMH’s offer, Fortune reports... Birchbox has shifted its marketing emphasis from beauty connoisseurs to “everyday” men and women in an effort to grow its monthly subscription service. Birchbox fell from the ninth largest subscription service in 2017 to eleventh last year, CNBC reports... Restaurant Brands International posted third-quarter earnings in line with estimates as the company’s Popeye’s business reported that same-store sales were up 9.7 percent on the strength of the chain’s new chicken sandwich. Burger King reported a comp gain of 4.8 percent, while Tim Hortons fell 1.4 percent during the quarter, Yahoo Finance reports... Walgreens will shutter nearly 40 percent of the clinics in its stores as the drugstore chain cuts costs and shifts to other businesses it believes will draw more people through its doors, USA Today reports. The company said yesterday that it will close 150 Walgreens-run clinics by the end of the year, but it will keep open more than 200 that are run in partnership with health care providers. Walgreens also said yesterday that it also will open 100 locations for the weight-loss company Jenny Craig at stores nationwide, starting in January.

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

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VIACOM-CBS MERGER EYES DECEMBER CLOSE The $30 billion merger of CBS Corp. and Viacom has been approved by their parent company National Amusements, the latest step toward the proposed combination. The companies said yesterday that the approval — from National Amusements and its affiliate — for the all-stock deal “satisfies the closing conditions to the merger requiring approval of a majority of the CBS Class A shares and a majority of the Viacom Class A shares.” Viacom and CBS now say that pending other customary closing conditions, the merger is expected to be completed by early December. At closing, CBS will be renamed ViacomCBS Inc.

NETWORK NEWS ABC, the last network to make pickup decisions on its new fall series, has given back orders to comedy Mixed-ish and drama Stumptown. Additionally, the network has ordered additional episodes of sophomore drama The Rookie, which had a 13-episode pickup... Errol Barnett has been named national correspondent at CBS News, based in New York, reporting for CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell, CBS This Morning and the digital streaming service CBSN. Barnett joined CBS News in 2016 as a correspondent based in Washington... The CW’s DC universe is eying another major expansion with Superman & Lois, a present-day drama based on the DC characters, starring Supergirl’s Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch as the iconic couple. The hourlong project, now in development, is written by Todd Helbing. Superman & Lois revolves around the famous superhero and journalist as they deal with all the stress, pressures and complexities that come with being working parents in today’s society.

REPORT: AMAZON TO SURPASS WALMART IN 2022 Amazon is set to become the largest retailer in the U.S. by 2022 overtaking current leader Walmart, according to a report from market research firm Packaged Facts. The firm bases the forecast on the expectation that Amazon sales will continue to grow at a much faster rate. The report, Amazon Strategies and the Amazon Shopper, 2nd Edition, analyzes the e-commerce giant’s activities in grocery, pet products and financial services. “Amazon’s already has an enormous impact on e-commerce sales, benefitting from its creation of an endless online aisle with products at competitive prices,” David Sprinkle, research director for Packaged Facts, said in a statement. “Packaged Facts estimates that Amazon’s U.S. gross merchandise sales will comprise 43 percent of U.S. e-commerce sales in 2019, up from 28 percent in 2015. By 2022, we forecast that Amazon will contribute almost half of U.S. e-commerce sales.”

25% HAVE ALREADY STARTED HOLIDAY SHOPPING Consumers have started their holiday shopping well in advance of the season, according to a survey from e-commerce platform Profitero. Forty-five percent of respondents said they planned to start holiday shopping before November, and 25 percent said they started in September. Forty-one percent of respondents said they plan to spend the most online in November, with 16 percent planning to do their online shopping in December. Profitero surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers. Twenty-eight percent of people plan to shop online for gifts during Black Friday and Cyber Monday/Cyber Week, which Profitero refers to as the Cyber Five. But the largest group of respondents, 31 percent, said they aren’t sure when they’ll shop (or they don’t plan to shop for gifts). As the holiday shopping season spreads out on either side of the traditional Black Friday festivities, retailers have an opportunity to attract shoppers during “down days,” according to Profitero.

10/29/2019

Jim Gaffigan

There are magazines dedicated to running. If you thought running

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

DEALER PROFITABILITY MIGHT BE STABILIZING(Continued from Page 1)outlook, but the group’s monthly financial profiles for 2019 have indicated that dealers are seeing some improvement this year. Through June, dealers on average reported an operating profit of $53,526, 12 percent below the level in the same period last year. Through August, however, dealers reported making $96,038 on average on operations, 21 percent ahead of the same period in 2018. NADA will have a clearer picture on profitability trends once

third-quarter data is in this fall, Manzi said. How dealers choose to push fleet sales through the end of the year will be another factor. Recent interest rate cuts could lower dealers’ floorplan expenses, he added, and their efforts to rein in other operational costs are adding up to a profit “that’s a little more robust than we saw last year.”

DONE DEALS Brian Quinn has been named vice president and general sales manager for WTTG FOX 5 DC and WDCA FOX 5 Plus, WTTG/WDCA Vice President and General Manager Patrick Paolini said. His first day at the station will be Nov. 4. Quinn replaces Mike Lewis, who was named VP and GM of WJZY/WMYT, the FOX-owned duopoly in Charlotte, N.C. Most recently, Quinn served as director of sales for Comcast Spotlight in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he was an account executive for Time Warner Cable’s NY1 in New York... Gray Television has announced the retirements of two veteran broadcasters. In Greenville-New Bern, N.C., Mark Gentner will retire as GM of WITN (NBC) effective Nov. 1. In Charlottesville, Va., Harold Wright will retire as GM of WVIR (NBC) effective Jan. 31, 2020. Gray also announced that Ron Henslee will become GM of WITN following Gentner’s retirement, and David Hughes will become GM of WVIR upon Wright’s retirement.

10/29/2019

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AT&T WORKS TO MOLLIFY ACTIVIST INVESTOR In its first earnings report since last month’s critical onslaught by Elliott Management, AT&T has announced stepped-up initiatives that represent a compromise with the activist investor, Television News Daily reports. AT&T announced new financial revenue and profit targets for each of the next three years, during which it will pay off the remaining debt from its $80-billion acquisition of Time Warner in 2018. The company also committed to reviewing its portfolio for businesses that might make sense to sell or spin off, implementing regular stock buybacks, and making no “major” acquisitions. Further, it announced a plan to add two more directors to its 13-member board, and to separate its CEO and chairman roles once the current holder of those titles, Randall Stephenson, retires. Stephenson, whose strategy for WarnerMedia came under heavy fire from Elliott, will stay on through at least 2020. AT&T reported that it lost a total of 1.36 million pay-TV subscribers in the quarter, including 1.2 million DirecTV and U-verse subscribers, and 195,000 AT&T TV Now subscribers. That works out to a loss of nearly 20,000 paid subscribers per day. DirecTV – which Elliott has asserted should be sold off — had 22.9 million subscribers as of Q2, down from 25.4 million in the same quarter in 2018.

NEXSTAR STATIONS TURN TO IMPRESSIONS Following other TV groups, Nexstar Media Group’s broadcasting unit, one of the largest owners of U.S. TV stations, will move to a cost-per-impression (CPM) model from household ratings for selling advertising, Television News Daily reports. As with other TV companies, Nexstar says impressions provide more granular data of viewers watching a program or commercial. More importantly, this positions TV stations against increasingly competitive digital media platforms. Earlier this month, TV station groups such as NBCUniversal, CBS, ABC, Hearst Television, Graham Media Group and Gray Television have said they would switch to impression-based TV advertising selling. Nexstar owns 197 television stations and related digital multicast signals reaching 115 markets, or approximately 39 percent of all U.S. television households.

THIS AND THAT About 29 million Americans plan to spend a total of $490 million on Halloween costumes for their pets this year, approximately twice what they shelled out in 2010, according to an NRF survey... Consumer attention spans for online content dropped from the 2000 mark of 12 seconds to only 8 last year, shorter than the attention of common goldfish, Social Media Today reports. The Taboola and Nielsen study reporting these results found that the most engaging time for consumers is at the end of viewing, and that videos that were parts of ongoing feeds boosted attentiveness 25 percent higher than ads got in YouTube pre-roll footage.