Connected TV (CTV) is one of the fastest growing segments of the advertising market, Canaccord wrote investors Monday, citing strong advance commitments from the upfront marketplace. Legacy media companies with ad-based VOD platforms are bundling premium CTV ad placements with linear TV inventory for large advertisers, it noted. CTV advertising demand has caught up with supply growth for the first time in several years, resulting over recent months in low-double-digit growth in cost per thousand impressions, it said. Independent measurement and verification have become increasingly important for premium digital video advertising, with only about 70% of video placements viewable, it said. That makes DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science “a critical part of the advertising tech stack.”
June retail sales rode Amazon Prime Day coattails, rising 0.8% from May, said the National Retail Federation Friday. There was a sequential decline of 1.9% in May. Electronics and appliance stores rose 3.3% from May, 36.5% year on year. Retail sales excluding gasoline, automobiles and restaurants gained 12.1% vs. June 2020, “unusually high” due to the pandemic, NRF said. Most stores were closed a year ago, and some had started to open by June. NRF expects a record back-to-school season including on electronics purchases, but CEO Matthew Shay warned of the impact of product shortages and supply chain constraints: “We urge Congress and the administration to enact meaningful, bipartisan infrastructure legislation that is critical for retailers who depend on a safe, reliable and efficient transportation system.” Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz noted a continued “impressive recovery,” saying the economy and consumer spending are “particularly sensitive to government policy.” The boost from government stimulus earlier this year shows benefits, he said. Reopening stores and the economy progressed despite rising prices, Kleinhenz said. “As more people get vaccinated and get out, some of the growth will shift to services rather than retail but there’s enough momentum to support both.” For the first six months, sales increased 16.4%, a rate expected to slow in the second half. That’s consistent with NRF’s revised forecast for retail sales to grow 10.5-13.5% to $4.44 trillion-$4.56 trillion, it said.
U.S. fixed wireless access residential subscriptions are projected to rise at a 16.1% compound annual growth rate the next five years, reaching 5.31 million in 2026, reported GlobalData Friday. The expansion of 5G networks will combine with increasing demand for broadband in the post-COVID-19 era to drive most growth, it said. Fixed wireless access was “gaining traction” pre-pandemic, “thanks to demands for faster broadband with lower latency in unserved and underserved areas, the push for digital inclusion” and growing adoption of digital voice assistants and related smart home devices, said analyst Tammy Parker.
Cinedigm “successfully completed” moving from a “legacy” digital cinema equipment business to “high-growth independent streaming,” CEO Chris McGurk told a call for fiscal Q4 ended March 31. There’s a “huge potential market for our portfolio of enthusiast streaming channels,” said McGurk Wednesday. “This strategy and our channels are perfectly complementary to the big general entertainment subscription services like Disney+ and Netflix.” Cinedigm will soon launch the Elvis Presley Channel as an ad-supported VOD and linear streaming service in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises, said Cinedigm Networks President Erick Opeka. Cinedigm distributes 16 “enthusiast” streaming channels through 31 platforms, including TCL, Roku and Vizio, said Opeka.
Walmart is automating 25 of 42 regional distribution centers after testing a Symbotic system in its Brooksville, Florida, center, blogged Joe Metzger, executive vice president-supply chain operations. It’s using automation to sort, store, retrieve and pack freight onto pallets, replacing a process that uses manual labor to pack a 53-foot trailer “in a human game of Tetris for transit,” said Metzger. An algorithm helps to “store cases like puzzle pieces” in stores, using high-speed mobile bots that speed up the intake process and increase accuracy, he said Wednesday. Modular storage expands building capacity, and high-speed “palletizing” robots create custom store- and aisle-ready pallets. That takes guesswork out of unloading trucks, Metzger said of the “game changer.”
U.S. wireless customers spent 110 minutes daily on average on their smartphones in June, five minutes more than the January average, reported J.D. Power Thursday. “Despite the increased usage on everything from streaming audio to browsing content to gaming,” consumers experienced fewer data and streaming problems, it said. There's "a combination of improvements from carriers and manufacturers and an increasing level of sophistication among consumers,” said Managing Director Ian Greenblatt. Findings were based on a January-June canvass of 32,400 U.S. wireless customers across six regions of the country.
ViacomCBS and Charter Communications renewed distribution agreements allowing continued carriage of ViacomCBS' content and licensing of its streaming services, they said Thursday. They said the deal will expand collaboration on addressable media and advanced advertising.
Netflix is in for another quarter of “modest subscriber growth” when it reports Q2 results July 20, Canaccord Genuity wrote investors Wednesday. Net subscriber additions slowed due to the “strong pull-forward” of subscription VOD adoption during 2020's first half, when the company added 26 million new accounts, it said. “Investors likely will be focused on how much this metric can rebound during 2H21 as consumer behavior normalizes and the release schedule strengthens,” after months in which COVID-19 halted content production, the analyst firm said: “We expect the return of numerous popular original series and a slew of new titles across genres and formats to drive a notable uptick in subscriber acquisition.” Netflix's April 20 projection expected 1 million paid net adds for Q2, compared with 15.77 million in the 2020 quarter, when most of the world went into lockdown.
Intelsat dropped the Gogo branding from the commercial aviation connectivity business it bought in December (see 2012010026), said the company Tuesday. Gogo sold Intelsat the business for $400 million to focus on business aviation connectivity.