AMERICAN PET FOOD MARKET: $24 BILLION

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Monday, March 7, 2016

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AMERICAN PET FOOD MARKET: $24 BILLION MORE CATS, BUT 80% SPENT ON DOGS

Around the world, people spend about $70 billion annually on food for their pets, according to new analysis from GfK. The biggest spenders, not surprisingly, are Americans, with the U.S. accounting for about a third of that total, some $24 billion yearly. European countries, collectively, spend about $20 billion, and the rest is spread around the globe. Dogs represent roughly 80% of food spending, even though they are actually outnumbered by cats, populationwise, in the U.S. and Europe. The sales distribution among wet, dry, and treat pet foods can vary widely from country to country; Dry dog food, the market leader globally, accounts for 45% of spending in the U.K., compared to 80% in the Czech Republic and 74% in South Africa. Among China’s dog owners, small bags (less than 1 kg/2.2 pounds) are top sellers, representing 76% of all dry dog food sales there; this is due to the popularity of small or toy breeds in China’s urban areas. For dry cat food, the U.S. has almost completely moved away from the extra-large (larger than 10 kg/22 pounds) bags that are still popular in the other countries. Also, American cat owners have a strong preference for canned products, while all other countries show high shares for other packaging types, such as trays and pouches. For cats specifically, 94% of all wet cat food sales in the U.S. are attributed to canned products, while the average for all other countries in the GfK analysis was just 37%. Most interestingly, the GfK analysts say, the muchdiscussed “natural” trend in pet food is almost exclusively a U.S. phenomenon, with “natural” brands accounting for 69% of all dollar sales in the pet retail channel here. The closest to this total across the globe is the U.K., at 38%, followed by the Czech Republic (22%) and Greece (20%). Natural also has captured 68% of shelf space in the U.S., compared to just 34% in the U.K. TESLA SETS MODEL 3 DEBUT Luxury electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla will finally reveal its lower-priced Model 3 this month. Checking in with a price tag of $35,000 before any tax credits, the Model 3 is aimed at more mainstream buyers than the previous Tesla models—and could be crucial to growing the company long-term. After all, nearly every major car maker is bringing to market a high-end EV to challenge Tesla. The Model 3 will have its official unveiling Thursday, March 31 in Los Angeles. Tesla will begin accepting orders PAGEthe 1 next day. at its retail stores that day and online www.CableSpots.tv

ADVERTISER NEWS

More bad news for Volkswagen dealers: in an interview with a German newspaper published on Saturday, the head of the VW brand said it may take months rather than weeks to reach an agreement to fix the U.S. emissions problem. At the moment, there’s a March 24 deadline for VW to tell a federal court if they have found a fix—apparently they have not……There will be something new in the amusement park industry (at least for Six Flags) to advertise this year. This Week In Consumer Electronics reports the company is teaming with Samsung for virtualreality headsets on nine of its rollercoasters, where riders on six coasters will be pilots of fighter jets battling alien invaders and on three Superman-themed coasters, riders will battle Lex Luthor’s LexBots……We’ve reported before that the convenience store industry is one of the least-consolidated retail segments, but with most c-stores doing very well now, it may be an excellent time to buy or sell. Chain Store Age reports CST Brands, parent of Corner Store and Nice n Easy, will explore “strategic alternatives” that could lead to a sale, and Convenience Store News says Massachusettsbased Global Partners is looking to sell off about 125 of its locations. CS News also says consolidation has seen a “dramatic increase” in the last two years with Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard having grown the most in that period……It’s also a good time to be a Burger King franchisee, and Carrols, the largest with more than 700 BK locations, said its same-store sales rose 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Combined with an average 28% drop in the cost of beef, EBITDA profit more than doubled……Net income at Wingstop also more than doubled for its full fiscal year. Domestic same-store sales were up 5.9% for the fourth quarter and 7.9% for the year as the chain added 133 net new stores. About 90% of the 767 units are franchised…… Fred’s, one of the few retailers that still reports sales on a monthly basis, had a 0.8% same-store increase in February. It commented the mild cold and flu season had a negative effect on overall sales……Big Lots recorded a 0.7% same-store sales increase for its fiscal fourth quarter which it felt was depressed by Winter Storm Jonas and a later start to the tax refund season……Staples had another bad quarter, but there’s some thought the negatives might improve chances of getting government approval for the effort to acquire Office Depot. Same-store sales were down 4% in the quarter that ended on 1/30 and the chain declined by 73 stores last year. An FTC hearing on whether to appprove the merger starts on 3/21.

CABLENET CHATTER

AD BLOCKERS A GROWING PROBLEM

Disney XD has ordered two original animated series— Ad blocking continues to gain ground as more Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer consumers discover how easy it is to install a browser plugfrom Emmy Award-winning director Aaron Springer; and in that eliminates the ads they consider most intrusive— Country Club from comic book creators, brothers Chris video pre-rolls, displays, interstitials, page takeovers, etc. and Shane Houghton. Both series, slated to launch in 2017 A new Global Ad Blocking Update from eMarketer says and 2018 respectively, are produced by Disney Television only partial solutions are in sight for those involved in adAnimation. The network has also ordered a season three supported digital media. pickup for Disney TVA's Star vs. The Forces of Evil from and Social video advertising firm Unruly delved into the a second season of the short-form comedy series Two More “why” of ad blocking with a survey that asked internet users Eggs……Michael Cristofer and Stephanie Corneliussen whether they were seeing too many ads or being shown have been upped to series regulars on the same ad repeatedly. Respondents the USA Network series Mr. Robot. generally complained more about Cristofer and Corneliussen join the Osama bin Laden’s will an excess of video ads than about previously announced Grace Gummer repetition, but the survey suggests has come out, and in the for the summer return. Hip hop artist both factors contributed to decisions to will he says he wanted most Joey Bada$$ and Chris Conroy will install ad blockers. of his $29 million fortune to also join the cast as recurring guest Teads.tv, a video monetization be used ‘on jihad.’ And $5 stars for the second season……In platform for publishers, also studied the million goes to his Siamese tomorrow’s season finale of Just Jillian, factors that inspire users to install ad cat, Mr. Peepers. star Jillian Michaels lands a deal with blockers. With video ads, pre-rolls were Cosmopolitan Magazine, expanding her considered the most intrusive format, Conan O'Brien empire and proving that she’s more than and by extension the one that pushed just a fitness guru. Jillian’s protégé is put people to take countermeasures. So, to the ultimate test during a live workout, moving away from pre-rolls may help meanwhile conversations about marriage heat up between video content providers ease the ad blocker problem. Jillian and Heidi. The season finale airs Tuesday, March Malware also factors into decisions to install ad blockers, 8, at 10:00 pm (ET) on E!.....Disney Junior has ordered though users aren’t necessarily aware of the presence of two new animated series: Vampirina, executive-produced malware. They are simply responding to an increase in the by Doc McStuffins creator Chris Nee; and Puppy Dog incidence of ads. Tails, created by comedian Harland Williams. Both series eMarketer found that the percentage of Internet users have begun production and are slated to premiere in who had installed ad blockers increased last year from 27% 2017. Vampirina, inspired by Disney Publishing's popular in Q1 of 2015 to 38% by Q4. children's book series Vampirina Ballerina, tells the story of a young vampire girl who faces the joys and trials of being the LATEST BLACKOUT: UNIVISION FROM U-VERSE new kid in town when her family moves from Transylvania AT&T U-Verse dropped the broadcast (Univision to Pennsylvania. Puppy Dog Tails centers on two fun-loving Network and UniMás) and cable networks (Galavisión, pug puppies, Bingo and Rolly, whose thrill-seeking appetites Univision Deportes Network and others) of Univision take them on daily adventures around their neighborhood Communications on Friday in the latest dispute over fees. and beyond……How do you land the biggest cleanup in Univision accused AT&T of “redlining” for refusing to pay as Bering Sea Gold history? In short: gamble. It's the start much for the Spanish network as it does for English ones. of the summer mining season, and the dredgers of Nome, AT&T denied that, and noted that U-Verse still carries dozens Alaska, face a new reality. With gold on the trusted Tomcod of other Spanish channels. The blackout does not include claim growing scarce, the miners risk everything to strike Fusion, the English-language joint venture net of Univision pay dirt. From state-of-the-art technology to untested remote and Disney. The Univision networks remain on AT&Tclaims, millions of dollars have been invested, which means owned DirecTV, which is covered by a separate contract. the miners face pressure like never before. It's now or never when Bering Sea Gold returns for an all-new season on GOOGLE FIBER STILL SMALL MVPD Wednesday, March 30, at 9:00 pm (ET) on Discovery...... Google Fiber may get lots of press attention and be Miramax and El Rey Network announced the start of driving competitors to speed-up deployment of gigabit production on the third season of the original drama, From Internet service, but analysts at MoffettNathanson have Dusk Till Dawn: The Series. Comprised of 10 hour-long been searching through data from the U.S. Copyright episodes, the series, based on the iconic film franchise Office to try to unearth real video subscriber numbers for of the same name, will feature a returning ensemble cast Google Fiber—something the company has never made that includes: D.J. Cotrona, Zane Holtz, Eiza González, public. What they found was that Google Fiber had 53,000 Jesse Garcia, Madison Davenport, Brandon Soo Hoo video subs as of the end of 2015. That was up 79% for the and Jake Busey. Filmmaker and El Rey Network founder year, which is significant, but the report notes that growth on Robert Rodriguez will return to direct select episodes this the video side has been slowing—from triple digits in 2014. season, which begins shooting March 14 in Albuquerque, In Provo, UT, where Google bought the municipal network New Mexico. Carlos Coto returns as showrunner (as well three years ago, it added just 65 video subs in six months, as writer and executive producer). noted re/code after digesting the MoffettNathanson report. “That said, the numbers point out that Fiber’s priority lay in PAGE 2 its broadband service, where it does not have to compete with entrenched cable bundles,” said the re/code story. Monday, March 7, 2016 www.CableSpots.tv