C O R P O R A T E RadioShack
RadioShack, the 1,500-store electronic chain, is preparing to seek bankruptcy
protectionforthesecondtime.Thestats,accordingtotheU.S.bankruptcyCourt,
asreportedbyUSAToday:
Stores
Stat Total
1,943 Closingbymonth’send
187 StoresthatwillbecomeSprintonly
360 Storesbeingevaluatedforclosure
971 D A T A comScore/
ConnectedHome
Data-ist comScore launched a new product, Connected Home, that measures
usageofdeviceslinkedtotheinternetandhomenetworks,includingcomputers,
mobile phones, tablets, streaming sticks, smart TVs, thermostats and other
appliances.
Note:ThisiscomScore’sfirstsyndicatedproductbasedonitsTotalHomePanel,
which measures usage of devices within the home through a panel of 12,500
householdswithmorethan147,000activedevicespermonth.
D I G I T A L U.S.DigitalUsers
According to eMarketer, roughly 84% of the U.S. population is expected to go
onlineregularlythisyear.U.S.internetusers,bydevice(2015-2017):
Year
Category
2015
2016
2017(est.)
Total
260.8million 267.4million 273.3million
MobileOnlyInternetUsers
32.1
36.6
40.7
Desktop/LaptopOnly
24.7
20.3
17.9
DualMobile/Desktop/Laptop 204.0
210.4
214.6
F I N A N C E AmericanExpress/
PersonalLoans
AmericanExpressispushingintotheburgeoningpersonalloanbusiness.In2016,
lenders overall originated some $133 billion of personal loans in the U.S., the
most in the last 10 years and nearly double the volume in 2010, according to
creditreportingfirmExperian.
G A M I N G Amazon/Pulse
Amazon has launched Pulse, a Twitter competitor, on its gaming streaming site
Twitch:“aplacewherestreamerscanpostandengagewithalloftheirfollowers
and greater Twitch community right from the Twitch front page.” How it works:
broadcasters can post to their friends and followers with a mix of text, links,
imagesandvideos.
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G L O B A L Britain/HighHeels
Members of the British Parliament are debating whether to modify a rule that
requires females to wear workplace high heels (2-4 inches) in response to a
petitionstartedbyareceptionistwhowassenthomeforwearingflatshoes.Other
dress code guidelines include: non-opaque tights, having hair with “no visible
roots”andwearing“regularlyre-appliedmakeup.”
M O B I L E Smartphone/
Shipments
Smartphoneshipmentsweredownin2016forsixofthetopmakers,accordingto
CounterpointTechnologyMarketResearch,asreportedbyTheWallStreetJournal:
SmartphoneMaker
ChangeFromPreviousYear Samsung
-4.0%
Apple
-7.0%
Hauwei
+28.0%
Oppo
+112.0%
Vivo
+78.0%
ZTE
+4.9%
Xiaomi
-16.0%
LG
-7.7%
Lenovo
-31.0%
Alcatel
-18.0%
P E R S O N A L I T I E S Monarchs
A hundred years ago, on March 14, 1917, Russian Czar Nicholas II abdicated,
endingthreecenturiesofRomanovrule.Today,monarchsstillexistin43countries
–11oftheminEurope.
Robert Osborne, the film historian and affable host of Turner Classic Movies, has
passedaway.Hewas84yearsold.
RobertOsborne
P O L I T I C S Congressional
Travel
In 2016, taxpayers paid for 557 overseas flights – reportedly to visit military
operationsandtooverseeprojectsfundedbytheU.S.governmentt–eachofwhich
cost more than $10,000 for a member of Congress or staffer, according to the
TreasuryDepartment’sBureauoftheFiscalService,asreportedbyUSAToday:
Year
TaxpayerFundedOverseasTrips(Millions) 2006
$13.9
2007
$13.1
2008
$19.3
2009
$17.6
2010
$9.9
2011
$10.9
2012
$11.7
2013
$9.7
2014
$12.5
2015
$11.0
2016
$19.4
WeekofMarch13,2017
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R E L I G I O N Pope/MarriedMen
Ordination
The New York Times reported that Pope Francis is contemplating “appeals from
bishopsintheremoteandoverwhelmedcornersoftheRomanCatholicChurchto
combat a deepening shortage of priests by ordaining married men who are
alreadycommittedtothechurch.”
Note:In1980,JohnPaulIIcreatedaprovisionbywhichsomemarriedProtestant
ministers who converted to Catholicism could maintain their ministry. Also,
priestsinthefirstcenturiesofthechurchwerefreetomarry.
S O C I E T Y Felons/Voting
Rights
There are an estimated 6.1 million felons who have served their time and lost
their right to vote. Desmond Meade, an ex-convict living in Florida, is leading a
chargeinFlorida,topetitiontheFloridaSupremeCourttoallowfelons,exceptfor
murders and sex offenders, to vote after they finish their sentences, parole and
probation. Since 1997, 23 states have made it easier for people with felony
convictionstovoteagain.
S P O R T S Golf
Golf’s governing board is contemplating modifying the rules of the game,
particularlyasitrelatestotelevisedevents:
♦ Severalinfractionsthatcurrentlycarrypenaltystrokeswouldbeeasedtoavoid
any dent on a player’s scorecard such as deflecting another player’s ball or
kickingyourballwhilesearchingforit
♦ Reducingtheamountoftimeplayerscansearchforalostball–3minutesmax
♦ Simplifyingtheprocedurefortakingadrop.
Last week, Dirk Nowitzki, German-born Dallas Maverick star, surpassed 30,000
career points against the Lakers. He has become the NBA’s highest scoring nonU.S.bornplayerever.NationalBasketballAssociationNBApoints/careerleaders:
Rank Player
Seasons
Points 1 KareemAbdul-Jabbar
20
38,387 2 KarlMalone
19
36,928 3 KobeBryant
20
33,643 4 MichaelJordan
15
32,292 5 WiltChamberlain
14
31,419 6 DirkNowitzki
19
30,005 7 ShaquilleO’Neal
19
28,596 8 LeBronJames
14
28,316 The National Football League has decided that Las Vegas is a viable NFL city, a
determinationthatgetstheNFLfranchiseOaklandRaidersclosertomovingthere
–whentheNFLownersmeetnextmonth.Togainapproval,theRaidershaveto
get the support from 24 of the league’s 32 owners. The proposed 65,000 seat
domedstadiuminLasVegaswillcostasmuchas$1.9billion.
NBA/DirkNowitzki
NFL/Oakland
Raiders
WeekofMarch13,2017
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V I D E O Amazon/AmazonVideo Amazon rolled out Amazon Video Ads, a new out-stream video advertising
Ads
product that allows advertisers to run an autoplay feature in videos as
shoppers browse on the Amazon platform across desktops, tablets and
smartphones. The ads are muted by default. With a click, site visitors can
choose to view the ads in full screen mode and listen to them. Also, the
autoplayfeaturestartsonlywhentheadisinviewanditautomaticallypauses
whentheadgoesoutofview.
BrandedEntertainment BrandedEntertainmentNetwork,whichbeganin1989asanimagelicensing
Network
service founded by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who still owns the company, is
takinganewdirectionandconcentratingontheTVproductintegrationrealm.
BEN aims to automate that process and to achieve that end, has created a
marketplace of product integration opportunities across traditional film, TV
andOTT.
Boomerang
TurnerandWarnerBros.arelaunchingBoomerang,anewdomesticpremium
streaming service featuring classic titles and new exclusive series from their
extensive animation collection. This marks the first time the two companies
haveofferedtheHanna-Barbera,LooneyTunesandMGManimationlibraryof
more than 5,000 titles on a streaming platform. The service will be ad free
andcost$4.99amonthor$39.99annually.
BritBox
BritishmediacompaniesBBCWorldwideandITVPlclaunchedBritBoxinthe
U.S., a new subscription based video streaming service that includes iconic
BritishTVshows.Cost:$6.99permonth.
DickClarkProductions/ The proposed $1 billion deal between Chinese investment company Dalian
Wanda
WandaGroupandDickClarkProductionshasfallenapart.
Facebook/Messenger/
Messenger became the latest Facebook property to adopt Stories, a format
Days
that was made popular by Snapchat: photo and video collections that users
can share with friends for up to 24 hours before they disappear. Messenger
has been testing its version of this format, which it is calling Days. How it
works: users take photos and video using Messenger’s in-app camera, then
postthemtotheirDaywherefriendswillhave24hourstowatchthem.
Note:ItisvirtuallythesamefeaturealreadyavailableonSnapchat,Instagram,
WhatsAppandFacebook’sStoriesinitsmainapp.
Facebook signed a deal with Major League Soccer and Spanish language
broadcasterUnivisionthatgivesitexclusiveEnglishlanguagerightstostream
atleast22regularseasonsoccergamesintheU.S.commencingMarch18.As
partofthedeal,MLSwillalsoproducemorethan40“MatchdayLive”analysis
shows for Facebook that will be exclusive to the social media company
globally.ThegameswillappearonUnivisionDeportes’Facebookpage,while
theliveshowswillstreamontheFacebookpageforMLS.
Facebook/Soccer
WeekofMarch13,2017
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V I D E O (cont’d)
MGM/Epix
RumorsarecirculatingthatMGM,themoviestudiobehindtheJamesBondfilm
franchise,iscontemplatingacquiringcontrolofpremiummoviechannelEpixat
apurchasepriceofmorethan$1+billionfrompartnersViacom(50%)andLions
Gate(31%).
Sony/PlayStationVue Sony’s over the top console PlayStation Vue unveiled a new feature called
Multi-view, which allows PlayStation Vue subscribers to watch up to three TV
channelsonscreensimultaneously.Howitworks:topullupmultichannels,you
just hold the X button while in Vue’s guide. From there, you choose whether
you want to use the two-channel or three-channel viewing mode. Audio will
play from whichever channel is in the primary/largest box, which can be
changedbyselectingoneoftheotherchannelsonscreen.
TVsPerHousehold
The Department of Energy’s U.S. Energy Information Administration reported
thattheaveragenumberofTVsinU.S.householdshasgonefrom2.6in2009to
2.3in2015.
Twitter/Guarantees
Twitterhasbegunofferingsomeadvertisersguaranteesonvideoads,whichlets
brandsorderasetamountofpre-rolladswiththecertaintythattheygetseen
byatargetgroupofconsumers.
Note: The pre-roll video ads are counted according to Media Rating Council
standards and the results are confirmed by third parties, such as Integral Ad
Science,whichverifiesdatafromplatformslikeTwitter,FacebookandYouTube.
WeekofMarch13,2017
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GASOLINETAXES:HIGHEST&LOWESTPERGALLON
HIGHEST
STATE
CENTSPERGALLON LOWEST
STATE
CENTSPERGALLON
Pennsylvania
58.2 NorthDakota
23.0
Washington
49.4 Alabama
22.9
Hawaii
44.4 Virginia
22.4
NewYork
43.9 Colorado
22.0
Michigan
40.4 Arkansas
21.8
Connecticut
39.9 Tennessee
21.4
California
38.1 Louisiana
20.0
NewJersey
37.1 Texas
20.0
Florida
36.8 Arizona
19.0
NorthCarolina
34.6 NewMexico
18.9
Illinois
34.0 Mississippi
18.8
RhodeIsland
34.0 Missouri
17.3
Indiana
33.6 Oklahoma
17.0
Nevada
33.5 SouthCarolina
16.8
Maryland
33.5 Alaska
12.3
Source:TheTaxFoundation,TheWallStreetJournal
WeekofMarch13,2017
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MULTICHANNELNEWS’TOP25MVPDS*
RANK MVPD
SUBSCRIBERS(MILLIONS)
1 AT&T-DirecTV
25.3
2 Comcast
22.5
3 Charter(Spectrum)
17.2
4 Dish
13.7
5 Verizon
4.7
6 Cox
4.1
7 Altice(Cablevision)
3.6
8 Frontier
1.5
9 Mediacom
0.828
10 WideOpenWest(WOW)
0.486
11 TexasPacific(TPG)
0.377
12 CableOne
0.329
13 CenturyLink
0.325
14 AtlanticBroadband
0.246
15 Armstrong
0.219
16 Midcontinent
0.218
17 ServiceElectric
0.188
18 BlueRidge
0.150
19 Telephone&DataSystems
0.145
20 WaveBroadband
0.138
21 CincinnatiBell
0.138
22 Buckeye/Black
0.128
23 General
0.109
24 NewWave
0.86
25 Metrocast/Harron
0.086
*MultichannelVideoProgramDistributors
WeekofMarch13,2017
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TOTALDIGITALVIDEOADVERTISINGSPEND
YEAR
EXPENDITURE(BILLIONS)
2011
$1.9
2012
$2.4
2013
$3.0
2014
$4.1
2015
$5.5
2016
$6.8
2017
$8.6
2018
$10.9
2019
$13.8
2020
$17.0
Source:Magna,MultichannelNews
Note:Actualdatafrom2011-2015,projectionsfor2016-2020
TOTALSOCIALMEDIAADVERTISINGSPEND
YEAR
EXPENDITURE(BILLIONS)
2011
$1.8
2012
$2.9
2013
$4.5
2014
$7.0
2015
$11.0
2016
$16.3
2017
$20.6
2018
$24.6
2019
$28.4
2020
$31.8
Source:Magna,MultichannelNews
Note:Actualdatafrom2011-2015,projectionsfor2016-2020
WeekofMarch13,2017
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