COVID-19 juiced up the cord-cutting trend, with 31% of Americans now cord cutters and 41% of those making the decision in the past year, What If Media Group reported Wednesday. It surveyed 23,000 consumers online in December. It said 52% of current cable customers are considering cutting the cord, with 31% planning to do so “imminently” or “in the new year.” It said 66.6% of households subscribe to one or two streaming services, and 17% subscribe to three. And 58% have a $15 cap for how much they're willing to spend monthly on streaming; 36% had password access to a friend or family member's streaming service; and 51% don't consider that as stealing.
Comcast will drop its "roommate"/"living with AT&T commercial" and drop or modify its "best in-home WiFi experience" claim, the National Advertising Review Board said Wednesday. NARB said AT&T challenged the ad, with Comcast appealing and AT&T cross-appealing. The appellate body for the Better Business Bureau’s advertising self-regulatory programs said Comcast indicated it will “take NARB’s recommendations under consideration in future advertising.” Comcast didn't comment.
The FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment meets virtually Feb. 11, said a public notice Wednesday. The meeting will feature remarks from acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington, and reports from the Access to Capital, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity in the Tech Sector working groups.
Cowen forecast 24% Q4 revenue growth to $828 million for Vimeo parent IAC, after the video platform’s announcement Monday it raised $300 million in equity funding. In a Tuesday investor note, analyst John Blackledge attributed expected stronger financial results to investments and the impact of COVID-19 to multiple business segments. IAC said last month it plans to spin off Vimeo as an independent company this year, which Blackledge pegged for Q2. He forecast strong Q4 revenue growth for Vimeo at 53% driven by strong growth in subscribers and average revenue per user. IAC reports Q4 Feb. 3.
Comscore debuted a “cross-screen" tool for measuring movie audiences “regardless of release windows” and where films are consumed, said the analytics company Monday. The pandemic "has forced us all to throw out conventional wisdom," said Chris Aronson, Paramount president-domestic distribution. "We're confident that people are going to return to theaters in force." He said more consumer choices for content "means we need new solutions to truly understand audience behavior as they engage with content on their terms and their screens.”
S&P downgraded AMC Entertainment to SD from CC on the theater owner’s increasingly precarious cash-poor position amid pandemic-induced shutdowns and audience declines, said the ratings service Friday. Though the $100 million raised in a “debt-for-equity” deal with Mudrick Capital Management gives the chain some “incremental near-term liquidity,” S&P believes that will provide less than a month of additional cash: “We view this transaction as distressed and tantamount to a default because the lender received less than originally promised. ... Monthly cash burn was about $125 million in late 2020, and we have seen no indication that it will materially improve.” The company didn’t comment. The stock closed 17.8% higher Friday at $3.51.
The post-coronavirus world is likely to be more home-focused, “creating more opportunities for consumers to listen to music and watch movies at home, which will ultimately place a stronger emphasis on the quality of home audio products,” said Futuresource analyst Alexandre Jornod Wednesday. The industry research firm expects the trend to drive long-term growth for high-end audio products, “especially as consumers who have experienced high audio quality are usually more likely to upgrade to perfect their listening experience or access the latest tech features.”
Streaming and creating are poised for long-term growth, Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell told investors, referencing podcasts and the rise of creators on TikTok and Instagram, which demonstrate the “democratization of digital content.” The trends that grew during the pandemic will “surely grow after the pandemic,” he said Tuesday. Logitech’s Q3 sales growth -- more than the total growth for the past three years combined -- rode work-at-home and spectator gaming trends, said the CEO. Sales soared 85% year on year to $1.67 billion, and operating income jumped 248% to $448 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Darrell said that while meeting with about 60 CEOs this week, the “vast majority” indicated they will adopt hybrid work “as the new norm.” A global trend toward spectator gaming continued, Darrell said, noting that over 1 billion people watched a part of the League of Legends final last quarter, and over 100 million watched the final game live, the same number of viewers as the Super Bowl had last year.
ViacomCBS' Paramount+ streaming service goes live March 4 in the U.S. and Latin America, with launches March 25 in Nordic countries and in mid-2021 in Australia, it said Tuesday. It said its CBS All Access service in Canada will be rebranded to Paramount+ on March 4, with an expanded offering available later in the year.
Netflix had 8.51 million global net subscriber additions in Q4, beating its Oct. 20 forecast by nearly 42%, said the company Tuesday. It finished 2020 with 36.6 million net subscriber adds, well above the previous high of 28.6 million in 2018, and 31% above the company’s 2019 performance. The result was 2.9% off the pace of the 2019 quarter, vs. projections of a 32% year-on-year decline. Netflix surpassed 200 million subscribers for the first time. “The big growth in streaming entertainment has led legacy competitors like Disney, WarnerMedia and Discovery to compete with us in new ways, which we’ve been expecting for many years,” said the quarterly shareholder letter. “This is, in part, why we have been moving so quickly to grow and further strengthen our original content library across a wide range of genres and nations.” Netflix is forecasting 6 million paid net adds for Q1, which would be 62% below the level achieved in the 2020 quarter, when COVID-19 lockdowns sent subscriber growth through the roof. The stock was trending 9.8% higher in after-hours trading to $551.35.