Global tech spending will exceed $4 trillion in 2023, “as two-thirds of technology decision-makers increase their tech budgets, despite increasing economic uncertainty,” reported Forrester Thursday. It projects 80% of companies “will pivot their innovation efforts from creativity to resilience” by next year, it said. Forrester research found 65% of tech professionals expect their organizations will increase spending on emerging technologies over the next 12 months.

Dish Network landed the highest national TV customer satisfaction ranking for the fifth straight year, reported J.D. Power Thursday. Overall satisfaction was 699 points on a 1,000-point scale for cable and satellite and 774 points for streaming, it said: “Among both groups, the biggest driver for choosing a television provider is a lower price.” FuboTV ranked highest in the live TV streaming segment with a score of 789, it said. Sling TV (786) ranked second and YouTube TV (779) was third.

Paychex continues to regularly monitor its “key leading indicators for signs of changes to the macroeconomic trends,” said CEO Martin Mucci on an earnings call Wednesday for fiscal Q1 ended Aug. 31. Though “we have seen some moderation in key issues, we have not yet seen any significant changes,” said Mucci, who's retiring as CEO Oct. 14. Workers at U.S. small businesses “continue to benefit from higher wages,” he said. New jobs continue to grow, “but at a more moderated pace,” and job growth at U.S. small businesses “remains resilient even in the face of a tight labor market and inflation pressures,” he said. Employment levels at Paychex’s existing clients “have continued to increase as they’re finding more people to fill those positions,” he said. Paychex is finding new business starts “are not as strong as they were last year,” said Mucci. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, “we had a lot of people leave big business and start businesses,” he said. Small business employee retention has started to “normalize a bit because some small businesses that started during that period have gone out of business,” he said. “But the demand for employees from small businesses is still needed and they’re still adding employees.”

Analysts already gloomy about the state of linear TV are increasingly bearish about its prospects. Linear's steady decline "is arguably triggering a sense of defeatism" in pay-TV circles, "so there is less and less energy being devoted to saving it," MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors Wednesday. The traditional distribution ecosystem "has the earmarks of a lost cause," with the annual rate of decline in Q2 nearly 10%, while conversions of those lost traditional subscribers to virtual MVPD is slowing greatly, he said. He said it appears only about a quarter of disconnects from cable or satellite TV are going to a virtual provider. The rate of decline for direct broadcast satellite remains worse than cable, but that gap is narrowing as cable's decline is accelerating, he said. Citing Comcast's Flex box, provided free to broadband-only subscribers, he said Comcast and Charter "have made clear that they are fully willing to let video customers walk, even to the point of helping them with streaming options if they desire." He said programmers "continue to strip-mine their cable networks and move their best shows" to direct-to-consumer streaming, while raising prices to offset the decline of traditional pay-TV subscribers. He said the role of sports and news as an anchor to keep some pay-TV subscribers is eroding as regional sports networks disappear from lineups and as streamers like Amazon and Apple invest in carrying sports. Expect the rapid decline in the traditional pay-TV bundle to continue, since viewers decreasingly make traditional pay TV their default, opting to tune in an over-the-top service first, ScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. Homes without a big channel bundle will jump from 18 million in 2016 to an estimated 45 million by year's end, he said. Sizable numbers of viewers still watch both traditional and streaming TV, but the cost of a traditional TV package exceeds $100 a month, and the most popular tier of the three top subscription VOD services is $31 a month.

Roughly three in 10 U.S. consumers cite their own personal finances and “increased negativity” about the economy as reasons they plan to spend less this holiday season, reported NPD Thursday. Though the majority of shoppers plan to spend the same or more than last year, “the share of consumers who plan to spend less this year increased over last year,” said NPD. Spending “on par” with 2021 levels is expected during the traditional November and December holiday shopping season, with the potential of 0.5% to 2.5% growth when the season is expanded to include October and January. “Consumers are ready to get out and celebrate over the 2022 holiday season, but last year’s optimism has taken a beating as financial concerns have them feeling a bit more grinchy this year,” said Marshal Cohen, NPD chief retail industry adviser. “Despite economic challenges, consumers still have just as many friends and family members to shop for during the holidays, they will just be spending differently.”

Nearly a fifth of U.S. workers report having seen or been contacted about a “suspicious job opportunity” this year, an Allstate-sponsored survey found. Allstate hired Morning Consult to canvass 2,200 U.S. adults Aug. 27-28, finding that workers in the 18-34 age group “were the most targeted for remote job scams,” it said. “The findings come as bad actors take advantage of increasing numbers of remote job listings,” it said, citing FTC data that nearly 21,600 fake business and job opportunities were reported in Q2 alone, costing Americans $86 million in losses.

Consumer intentions on buying new TV sets plunged in September from August, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Analytics company Toluna canvassed 5,000 U.S. homes through Sept. 20, finding 10.4% plan to buy a new TV in the next six months, said the board. That’s down from 11% in August, 10.9% in July and 10.9% in September 2021, it said. Consumer confidence improved for the second straight month in September, “supported in particular by jobs, wages, and declining gas prices,” said the board: “The improvement in confidence may bode well for consumer spending in the final months of 2022, but inflation and interest-rate hikes remain strong headwinds to growth in the short term.”

Employees are losing their appetite for remote work for fear they will be first in line for layoffs and pay cuts, reported GoodHire, a provider of employment background screening services. The company canvassed 3,500 adult Americans Aug. 25-27, finding 44% who still prefer remote work, compared with 68% who were willing to shun the physical office in a similar survey a year ago, said the company Tuesday. Despite the 24-point decline in work-from-home preferences, the survey found 89% of respondents still thought most of their colleagues wantd to remain in a WFH situation, it said: “That percentage was virtually unchanged from 2021.” Asked if their organizations were to mandate a return to the physical office, a third of respondents said “they would either quit or start applying for a new job immediately if remote options were not available,” said GoodHire. That proportion was down 12 points from the 2021 survey, it said.

Shipping of self-installation equipment to cable customers was up 200% in 2021 over 2020, WideOpenWest said Monday in its inaugural annual sustainability report. It said it expects self-installation trends to grow. It said it decreased its real estate footprint by 59% in 2021, in part due to its move to a hybrid work environment. It said 98% of customers have access to 1 Gbps data service.

A 3.3% year-on-year ad spending decline in August, the third consecutive monthly ad spend decrease, was “far better than the market performed in July,” when ad spending dropped 12.7%, reported eMarketer Thursday, saying the August numbers “should ease some anxiety that July’s dramatic figures would become the norm.” Still, “until core issues plaguing the industry are resolved,” said analyst Daniel Konstantinovic, “the downturn will continue.” Konstantinovic called year-on-year spending decreases “inevitable” as post-pandemic “normalcy” resumes. “Digital ad spending reached record highs during lockdowns that increased the average consumer’s screen time, but now that society is reclaiming some normalcy, issues with addressability, measurement, and economic uncertainties have caught up with the industry," said the analyst. July figures were particularly rough due to the lack of major sporting events, he noted. Issues with addressability and changes in consumer spending habits are driving the industry’s big spenders to “permanently shift their strategies,” Konstantinovic said. The recent spending downturn came mostly from the top 10 ad categories, which had a 5.1% falloff, the most noticeable coming from carmakers, which cut spending 23% in June and 43% in July, he said. The money is going instead to customer experience and post-purchase marketing, he said. Worldwide ad spending on technology and electronics is expected to be up 25% this year vs. 2021, eMarketer said.