NRF: IT’LL BE A GREEN CHRISTMAS

The National Retail Federation has put out its holiday forecast, and they predict that holiday retail sales will increase by around 4% versus 2024. It won’t be the biggest percentage jump (2021 saw a 12.5% increase after 2020’s pandemic-marred holidays), but it translates to a record $1 trillion in spending. Shoppers plan to spend an average of $890 on seasonal items like gifts and food, which is the second-highest per-person spend in the survey’s history. One headwind that retailers have faced is the federal shutdown; however, with the government reopening, consumers who were directly and indirectly affected will once again have money to spend. (NRF: November 6, 2025)

SPORTS STREAMERS GET A BIG BOOST

Live sports aren’t just huge for linear TV; they’re also big-ticket streaming content. New research from Parks Associates shows that 38% of internet households in the US now subscribe to a sports-specific streaming service. This dwarfs 2019’s four percent, showing that viewers will go out of their way to access sports content. This comes as welcome news to media companies that have big investments in carriage rights. Streaming platforms will account for 25-33% of TV revenue for the NFL, and 26% of NBA TV revenue will come from Amazon Prime Video.  (Advanced Television: November 12, 2025)

MARKETERS SHOULDN’T IGNORE OLDER CONSUMERS

Marketers who focus on younger audiences in the 18-34 and 18-49 demos could be missing out on the spending potential of the older demos. The Internationalist’s new white paper, “The 50+ Opportunity Gap,” finds that these consumers are a “dream demographic.” The vast majority (92%) of them are financially stable, two-thirds are loyal to brands and services, and the same amount are called “intergenerational spenders.” These are consumers who make purchases for themselves, their children and grandchildren, and their own aging parents. And yet, only 17% of marketers have strategies dedicated to this cohort. Many of the advertisers make the false assumptions that younger consumers will stick with brands as they get older and that the youth-targeted marketing will automatically reach older audiences anyway. (MediaPost: November 7, 2025)

THIS WEEK IN VIDEO HISTORY
November 16, 1986 – Saturday Night (almost) Live

In the mid-to-late 80s, comedy took on a decidedly problematic tone. Performers like Sam Kinison and Andrew Dice Clay sold out arenas with material that would surely qualify as “toxic” today. Never one to shy away from controversy (or ratings), SNL booked Kinison to host, but on a tape delay to avoid violating network standards. It was only the second time in the show’s history that a delay was used, after Richard Pryor’s episode in 1975. In the end, the show went fine, and it was an unremarkable episode.