IHeartMedia is expanding into binaural podcasting, in a “shift toward a more immersive listening experience,” said the company Tuesday. Such 3D audio creates a sense of movement and location.
Fifty-five percent of U.S. pay-TV households say availability of live sports is important in their decision to keep the service, said Parks Associates Tuesday. The churn rate for pay-TV services is trending “significantly lower than the rate for [over-the-top] OTT services,” said analyst Steve Nason. Over the past year, churn rates for OTT and virtual MVPD services declined as consumers turned to streaming video services for entertainment.
Smart Repair Pro, an Amazon marketer of do-it-yourself repair kits, including iFixit products, will pay $700,000 to buy two Amazon third-party sellers, said parent company Medigus Tuesday. It didn’t identify the sellers or respond to questions. Smart Repair Pro and another subsidiary, Purex, specialize in buying struggling brands on Amazon and turning them around, said Medigus.
DTS rebranded its Connected Radio as DTS AutoStage for automotive infotainment systems. This was due partly to DTS owner Xperi's combining with TiVo in June, said DTS Tuesday.
Telesat hired Thales Alenia Space as prime manufacturer of its 298-satellite Ka-band low earth orbit broadband constellation, it said Tuesday. Telesat said the first Lightspeed launches are expected in two years, with commercial service beginning in the second half of 2023. It said it's developing end-user terminals. Telesat said Lightspeed will specifically target such markets as fixed and mobile network operators, aeronautical and maritime users, enterprise customers and governments.
Universal Music Group and TikTok expanded their relationship to provide “equitable compensation” for recording artists and songwriters, they said Monday. The companies pledged to experiment with new features. TikTok users will be able to incorporate clips from UMG's music catalog. The alliance “sets an industrywide example of social media companies acknowledging, respecting and compensating the music creators whose songs are instrumental to their platforms,” said Marc Cimino, Universal Music Publishing Group chief operating officer. As a driver in creating chart hits, TikTok will help bring “legacy acts to a new audience,” said Ole Obermann, its global head-music.
Starz added 800,000 streaming subscribers in fiscal Q3 ended Dec. 31, finishing the quarter with 28 million global customers, said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer on a Thursday investor call. “We're well on our way to our goal of 50 million to 60 million global subscribers by 2025, the vast majority of which will be high-value streaming subs,” he said. “Amazingly, in spite of the challenges” from COVID-19, Lionsgate is shooting 19 scripted television series and another 20 unscripted shows globally, and five feature films “have returned to production,” he said. Lionsgate’s fiscal Q4 ending is perhaps the first time “where all the players are kind of on the field right now,” except for Paramount+, said Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch when asked about streaming competition. The “big broad-based streaming services,” including Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu, “are trying to service everybody in the home,” he said. “That's where the real competition is going to be, and you're going to see people competing on ad spend, people competing on price and people competing on bundling.”
Walmart bought advertising technology firm Thunder Industries and is developing a display self-serve platform for suppliers, Janey Whiteside, the retailer's chief customer officer, blogged Thursday.
January online sales grew 62% from the year-ago month, Mastercard reported Thursday. Electronics and appliance sales inched up 0.7% vs. a total retail sales average increase of 9.2%, excluding autos and gas. Department stores had their first sales increase since 2019, boosted by strong online sales.
About one in 10 U.S. online shoppers bought something on eBay during the holiday season, said CEO Jamie Iannone on a Q4 call Wednesday evening. In Germany, it was one in seven, and in the U.K., one in four, he said. The platform experienced “unprecedented traffic levels” for most of 2020, he said: “More than 100 days in 2020 exceeded peak 2019 traffic levels.” The holiday contributed to record volume “with high velocity in hard-to-find and sold-out items,” he said. “Refurbished gifts also emerged as a top trend, and we saw many products from top brands in our certified refurbished experience sell out.” The stock closed 5.3% higher Thursday at $61.12.