Despite reports of sluggish Q4 advertising in the streaming world, FuboTV remains optimistic, management said on the virtual MVPD’s Q3 earnings call Friday. Ad revenue grew 21% year on year in Q3 to $22.5 million. Some 94% of Fubo content was viewed on a big-screen connected TV in Q3, and 88% of viewing was live content, said the shareholder letter: “This represents a highly engaged audience that advertisers will pay a premium to reach.”
The National Retail Federation forecast 6%-8% sales growth for the Nov. 1-Dec. 31 holiday shopping season, to a total $942.6 billion-$960.4 billion in stores and online. Last year, retail sales -- excluding autos, gasoline and restaurants -- grew 13.5% vs. 2020 to a record $889.3 billion, NRF said.
Samsung wants the 13 class actions stemming from its summertime data breach transferred to and consolidated in the U.S. District Court for Nevada in Las Vegas, or alternatively the Southern District for New York in Manhattan, the company told the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) in a response Wednesday (case number 3005). The plaintiffs are evenly split into camps that want the cases moved to the Northern California district in San Francisco or the New Jersey district in Newark.
Roku stock reached a 52-week low Thursday at $44.50 on an unusually negative holiday quarter outlook. Q4 guidance is for $800 million in net revenue, adjusted earnings before interest of negative $135 million and a $245 million loss. Shares edged up later in the day, closing at $51.84, 4.8% down.
Online holiday sales will grow at just 2.5% November-December, to an estimated $209.7 billion, said Adobe Analytics on a Wednesday webcast. “This is the slowest growth we’ve ever seen” in Adobe’s 10 years of doing modeling and “pretty much in the history of the internet,” said analyst Taylor Schreiner, saying online holiday sales growth typically averages “low teens to high teens.”
New York legislators could double down on a court-blocked state law that sought to require $15 monthly plans for low-income households. Assemblymember Brian Cunningham (D) plans to reintroduce his 2022 bill AB-10690 this January to require $5 monthly internet for low-income consumers, the Democrat said in an interview this week. Three ISP associations that sued New York over its previous affordability bill condemned the fresh attempt to lower broadband prices.
Supply chain shortages that have strained the custom integration channel are likely to persist until next summer, said Brad Hintze, Crestron executive vice president-global marketing, on a rAVe Agency pro audio/video supply chain webinar last week.
Consumers expect to spend less on holiday gifts this holiday season, including on consumer electronics, said NPD Tuesday, citing the research firm’s annual holiday spending report report. U.S. consumers plan to spend $760 on average during the 2022 season vs. $785 last year.
Wireless carriers, like companies in every other sector, are having to learn how to use AI, said Meghna Sinha, Verizon vice president-AI, and other speakers during a Fierce Wireless virtual event Monday. Carriers don’t have a choice, Sinha said: “The sheer volume that runs through our network is so large. Detecting patterns, making sure that we can catch issues quickly, it’s just not possible through humans or through spreadsheets -- that is where AI comes in.”
DirecTV named 10 defendants, plus 10 John Does and 10 “XYZ” companies, in a complaint Tuesday (docket 6:22-cv-00423) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Tyler that it said “seeks to terminate” an ongoing “imposter fraud scheme” uncovered after “a months-long investigation.”