Global time spent watching content on Snap grew year over year, “while lapping the boost in engagement we saw at the onset" of COVID-19, CEO Evan Spiegel told a Q2 call Thursday. “We have also observed a year-over-year decrease in daily time spent” watching user-generated content created by friends, “even as the number of daily viewers of that content has grown,” he said. Snap attributes this partly to declining daily posting activity “coinciding with mobility restrictions and behaviors" due to the pandemic, "which reduces the amount of content created by friends,” he said. The stock closed 23.8% higher Friday at $77.97 after Snap significantly exceeded revenue and profit forecasts for the quarter.
Interactivity is key to the future of videoconferencing and enterprise video events, Namita Dhallan, Brightcove vice president-marketplace and technology, told us. It's integrated into Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Cisco's Webex, and its video platform powers virtual global product launches and events. The platform has chat functionality, within the video and interactivity with polls, along with the ability to put placements on the video. “It can be much more engaging than just watching a bunch of blocks on a screen,” said the executive. Brightcove powered a Dropkick Murphy event from Fenway Park in Boston in May 2020, reaching an audience of over 9 million. “If you were having an on-site conference, and you thought you might get 2,000 people to attend, now that it was virtual, people were seeing that their events were going to the tens of thousands, if not more,” she said. The company’s platform is designed for broadcast-quality and can scale from hundreds to “millions” of users, she said. That helped companies deliver their message when people couldn’t travel or gather. As conferences start to return, Dhallan said, indications from customers and the market are that “hybrid events are here to stay.” Customers can reuse event content and put it on a website that lives on beyond a physical event or as an over-the-top application, she said. South by Southwest had an OTT application “so it would be this omnichannel experience that lived on,” she noted: Video will play a vital role for the future of work, events, marketing and internal communications.
Wedbush maintained a “neutral” rating on Logitech in a Wednesday investor note, expecting “solid” results for the company when it reports Q1 FY 2022 results Monday, after an “astronomical” FY 2021. “Logitech was ideally positioned to benefit from global COVID-19 quarantines last year, which drove rapid expansion in already growing categories such as video communication, esports/gaming, and streaming/podcasting,” said analyst Michael Pachter. Wedbush expects Logitech to maintain single-digit revenue growth over the next three years because it will “likely retain” most of its larger user base. Estimates assume a corporate push to equip offices with videoconferencing equipment to enable hybrid work locations and reduced corporate travel; continued gaming trends supported by esports and community with friends; continued high demand for peripherals and software for streaming and podcasting; and upgrades on a “typical cycle” by Logitech’s “significantly expanded” computer peripherals user base. Wedbush expects a 41% increase in Logitech's Q1 revenue to $1.12 billion, driven by videoconferencing and gaming. Its Q1 earnings call is Tuesday.
Zoom’s proposed buy of Five9 underscores the growing importance of customer contact and customer experience services in the post-pandemic world, said GlobalData Tuesday. Zoom announced Sunday it signed a definitive agreement to buy the intelligent cloud contact center provider for $14.7 billion. Zoom is under “significant pressure” to convert the momentum it achieved during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic into longer term financial results, said GlobalData analyst Gary Barton. Customer contact services is a way to “extend its value proposition,” he said. COVID-19 forced companies to change the way they do business with customers as physical branches closed; that has made people more accustomed to dealing with companies remotely. Many people favor an in-person experience, especially when dealing with complex issues, but that wasn't possible during lockdown, forcing people to change their behavior. In the future, he said, “video will be a primary route to market for a wide range of services as people expect a more on-demand customer experience.”
IFA organizers pulled the plug on the CE China 2021 show that would have been Sept. 16-18 in Guangzhou, China, but was “severely hampered by travel restrictions” into China due to COVID-19, they said Friday. It was further proof that the global trade show circuit is not quite back to pre-pandemic normal, coming eight weeks after organizers canceled the Sept. 3-7 IFA Berlin show because it was “near impossible” to hold the event safe from COVID-19 (see 2105190023). With the “latest emergence” of COVID-19 cases in Asia, multinational and Chinese companies remain “uncertain about their participation in international trade shows,” they said. “This was a tough decision to make, especially since we do get a lot of positive feedback and especially international companies signaled their interest to present themselves at CE China,” said IFA Executive Director Jens Heithecker. A German pavilion with 10 German brands “was already set to be part of CE China 2021,” he said. The show will return next year in “a hopefully more light-hearted 2022 with strong business opportunities,” said organizers.
ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliate boards will meet in person for the first time in two years at the NAB Show, the association announced Thursday. The event in Las Vegas didn't happen physically last year, and this year was delayed because of COVID-19. Affiliate officials gather Oct. 11-12 in the "closed meetings," emailed an NAB representative. For more on the event's safety precautions, see our report.
Consumers are showing “high optimism” as the COVID-19 crisis abates, Nielsen emailed Wednesday, citing a survey of 1,000 respondents 18 and older fielded June 22-25. Some 95% of respondents said they were starting to resume normal activities; more than 90% said their town is emerging from the crisis and stores that had been closed are beginning to open again. Eighty-five percent said it’s safer than it was a month ago vs. 64% responding to the same question in March. About 68% said they're less concerned about the virus. Two-thirds of respondents had gotten the COVID-19 vaccine or planned to get it; 13% were uncertain about the vaccine vs. 26% in March. Nearly half of consumers anticipate an improved economy in the months ahead; 29% think it will be unchanged and 23% expect it to get worse.
A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson declined comment on contracts signed by Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to buy 5 million doses each of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from China's Fosun Pharma for distribution to the Taiwanese public, after Taiwan alleged Beijing blocked a direct Fosun-Taipei government sale from going through. “This is not a question concerning foreign affairs,” the spokesperson told his regular news conference Monday. “I want to stress that we truly care about the welfare of our Taiwan compatriots and hope they can have early access to the direly needed vaccine.” After two months of vaccine procurement delays, “I am very pleased to finally be able to give an account to the public today that the relevant contracts have been signed,” wrote Foxconn CEO Terry Gou on Facebook Monday, according to an unofficial English translation. Less than 1% of the Taiwanese population was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 through Thursday, reported the research website Our World in Data.
About 3.2 million consumers went to the movies Thursday-Sunday at AMC Theatres locations, setting a new “post-reopening weekend attendance record,” said the theater chain Monday. The figure included more than 2.5 million who went to AMC U.S. theaters, it said. Disney’s Black Widow grossed an estimated $80 million for its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, breaking the previous post-reopening record set by Universal’s F9 two weekends earlier, said AMC. Black Widow debuted simultaneously as a $29.99 premier access streaming option on Disney+.
About half of all organizations globally lacked work-from-home policies before COVID-19, but more than 80% now have them, reported the Fibre Council Global Alliance Monday. And 52% identified limited internet connectivity as the top challenge for employees suddenly thrust into a remote-work environment, it said: “Resolution of this and other challenges included changing ISPs, upgrading equipment, limiting internet use, and adjusting time of day online meetings and tasks were being conducted.”