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Friday, July 21, 2017

VACATION SPENDING TO TOP $100 BILLIONBIG SPENDERS: GENERATION X For the second straight year Americans are planning to spend more on vacations. In fact, the 8th annual survey by Allianz Travel Insurance projects travels spending to top $100 billion for the first time ever. Spending is expected to rise 12.5% to $1.01.1 billion from $89.9 billion in 2016. According to the survey, on average, Americans will spend $1,978 on summer vacations, a 10% increase from 2016 ($1,798), which was an 11% rise from 2015 ($1,621). “Americans are feeling better about the econ-omy and have loosened their purse strings for summer 2017,” said Allianz spokesman Daniel Durazo. By age group, vacationing Millennials (ages 18-34) will spend the least ($1,373) this summer, followed by Baby Boomers (ages 55+) ($1,865). The big spenders are people from Generation Xers (ages 35-54), who are expected to average $2,628 on their summer vacation. The survey, which tracks Americans’ confidence that they will be able to take a summer vacation, revealed that more than four in ten (44%, up one point since last year) are confident they’ll take a summer vacation, and half (51%, up a point) are confident about the prospect of a vacation at some point in 2017. 40% aren’t confident about taking a vacation, while 9% have already taken one. While Americans are slightly more confident they’ll take a vacation this year, some are questioning its overall impor-tance. Down a significant six points since last year, the sur-vey found that 59% of Americans say that taking an annual vacation is important to them, and one in four (23%) say that annual vacations are not at all important to them. The survey found no significant change in the “Vacation Defi-cit,” or percentage of Americans who think that a vacation is important but are not confident they’ll be able to take one. In 2017, two in ten (21%) of Americans who say an annual vacation is important to them are not confident that they’ll take a vacation, down one point from 2016 but still higher than the 2015 Vacation Deficit of 19%. The Vacation Confidence Index has been conducted each summer since 2010 by national polling firm Ipsos Pub-lic Affairs on behalf of Allianz Global Assistance USA. This year’s survey in early June got responses from a na-tionally representative sample of 1,009 randomly-selected adults residing in the U.S. The data are weighted for re-gional and age/gender composition. For purposes of the survey, a vacation is defined as a leisure trip of at least a week to a place that is 100 miles or more from home.

ADVERTISER NEWS Sears will start to sell Kenmore products on Amazon.com and will integrate the full line of Kenmore smart appliances with Amazon’s Alexa. Sears says moving Kenmore onto Amazon represents the biggest distribution of that brand outside of Sears branded stores and related online platforms……After a strong second quarter, T-Mobile execs downplayed speculation there could be consolidation on wireless in the near future. The company

added 1.3 million subscribers in the second quarter (to get to 69.6 million) with 786,000 net additions of postpaid subscribers, the most profitable in the industry. “We’re interested in potential partnerships with other companies but we don’t need them,” Chief Operating Officer Mike Sievert said……Automotive leasing was down in the first half of the year for the first time since 2012 according to new

data from Edmunds. Leasing made up 31.1% of “sales” in the year’s first six months, down from 31.9% last year. The total number of leased vehicles was down 4.4%, double the rate of decline in the total market……Buick dealers will have a hatchback to sell this fall with the Regal Sportback, starting at just under $26,000. The base price has been cut by about $2000, aimed at attracting customers that had previously bought the Verano sedan which has been discontinued……Not all of the consolidation in the convenience store segment is as large and spectacular is the big deals Couche-Tard has been making lately—some smaller regional deals are also taking place. Kwik Trip has just announced a deal to take over PDQ Food Stores and its 34 units with a deal expected to close in October, and GPM Investments is continuing its Midwest expansion by buying Jiffy Stop Food Mart……Furniture Today reports June sales for the furniture and home furnishings sector were up 2.5% from June, 2016, slightly ahead of the broader retail sector. For the full second quarter, home furnishings store sales were up 3.5%.....(Continued on Page 3)

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AUTO ADV: STABLE THIS YEAR Good news for local TV ad sellers. Auto advertising should remain relatively stable at $13 billion per year, as long as the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate remains at or above 16 million units, which is likely for the next several years, according to Wells Fargo analyst Marcia Ryvicker. Ryvicker notes that while digital (really search and mobile rather than display) will continue to gain auto ad dollars, market share will likely come at the expense of other media – probably print - rather than television. And here’s some interesting news. According to Ryvicker, digital advertising comprises only 5% regional dealer

associations auto advertising. The remaining 95% still goes to the stations. Ryvicker notes that the auto industry is in “the best condition ever.” Car companies are more efficient and are able to build to consumer demand. In fact, as they introduce new cars with more technology and innovation, ad spend could actually increase. And Ryvicker suggests that even if there’s a downturn, TV will get cut last. Newspapers, direct mail, yellow pages, perhaps even radio and outdoor, will

suffer rather than TV.

IS UNIVISION NEXT? With consolidation in the media business dominant in many people’s minds right now, The Wall Street Journal reports Univision Communications may be the next target. The company’s owners (mostly private equity firms) had been planning an Initial Public Offering of its stock, but that has been delayed and the paper is reporting Liberty Media’s John Malone could be one of the interested parties after having met with major Univision shareholders earlier this month at the annual Sun Valley media conference. Another possible buyer could be Televisa, which currently owns 10% of Univision stock and produces much of the network’s programming for something north of $300 million annually. Univision currently owns 59 broadcast stations, 64 radio stations, and some cable networks including Galavision.

SIX SECOND ADS GETTING ATTENTION As we mentioned last week, Fox Networks Group says it will start supporting the six-second unskippable ads following YouTube’s example. The company has gotten a positive response from advertisers, with some starting to create ads of that length. Mediapost notes that Facebook began inserting short ads in the middle of publishers’ videos earlier this year. That followed news from Google that it would get rid of its 30-second, unskippable pre-roll ads on YouTube, and push its six-second unskippable ads.

ECONOMIC NEWS The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Indicators index rose a more-than-expected 0.6% in June to 127.8, led by a surge in housing permits. It was the sixth consecutive month in which the index has risen, indicating more growth ahead in the economy and a likely improvement of Gross Domestic Product growth in upcoming quarters.

Friday, July 21, 2017

CABLENET CHATTER The Oprah Winfrey Network has given a greenlight to a new drama series from Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil. Love Is ____ will be based on the Akil’s relationship, telling the story of a power couple navigating the landscape of Black Hollywood. It was previously in development at ABC as a multi-camera comedy. Mara Brock Akil is the creator of Girlfriends and Being Mary Jane and will serve as the showrunner for Love Is ____. She and her husband Salim are executive producers of the upcoming CW DC Comics-based superhero series Black Lightning on which Salim Akil is the showrunner. “I’ve dreamed of working with the Akil’s,” said Oprah Winfrey. “I’ve been a huge fan of their work since first viewing Girlfriends. They know how to hit the cultural nerve to make you think and laugh at the same time.”……Velocity has announced the premiere date for a new series called RMD Garage. The series will follow the work of Ralph Holguin, a Mexican Immigrant and high school dropout, who took a car wash business he started at 19 and built it into the RMD Group. Holguin and his 75 employees run one of the hottest automotive restoration shops in Southern California. RMD Garage will debut on Velocity Wednesday, August 2nd at 9 PM (ET)……Ryan Murphy, creator of FX’s American Horror Story tweeted out that Leah Dunham (Girls) is joining the latest installment of the anthology series. Dunham will join a cast that already includes Sarah Paulson, Even Peters, Bill Lourd, Billy Eichner, Cheyenne Jackson, Alison Pill, Colton Haynes and Adina Porter. The seventh season of American Horror Story is currently in production…….AMC has released the air date for the season eight premiere of the blockbuster hit The Walking Dead. The season will kick off with the 100th episode of the zombie apocalypse series on Sunday, October 22nd. The announcement came just two days after The Walking Dead resumed production following the death of stuntman John Bernecker on July 12th. AMC also announced that TWD spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead, will return with its season premiere on Sunday, September 10th……The America’s Got Talent winner that sang the national anthem at President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, is back in the spotlight with her own special on TLC. Jackie Evancho will take viewers behind the scenes into the lives of the Evancho family, including transgender sister Juliet. their parents and two other teenaged siblings. The special entitled Growing Up Evancho will air on TLC Wednesday, August 9th at 10 PM (ET)……The Wahlburgers, an A&E Network reality series that chronicles the lives of Mark, Donnie, Paul Wahlberg, and the family matriarch Alma, will air its 75th episode with back-to-back shows on Wednesday, August 9th at 9 PM (ET). The family faces the challenges of balancing their burger empire, which is set to open 300 new locations around the world. Mark Wahlberg, Donnie Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson are executive producers of the series…….HGTV has renewed three of its fantasy lifestyle series. Beach Hunters, Lakefront Bargain Hunt, and Lakefront Bargain Hunt Renovation are set to air more than 50 news episodes in 2018.

Larry The Cable Guy

Well, ...I’ve come to that strange place in life where I’m to fat for Kohls and to

thin for Wal-Mart.