Here’s what happened this week.
YouTube aunched their first 360 degree live video with D∆WN. This is more than a gimmick, 360 videos are critical to VR. If you missed the live stream, or want to check out other 360 videos on YouTube, head to the dedicated 360 channel. You will see videos from ABC News, Disney, Warner Bros, and Honda. All of whom have similarities with UM clients, so worth watching and learning more.
Netflix shares took a hit this week despite outperforming market expectations, as forward looking comments revealed that subscriber numbers may be starting to stall. To counter this, Netflix is investing further in original content. The question is though, will this be enough? Especially now that in the same week, Amazon unbundled Prime Video from Amazon Prime (although it’s cheaper to buy Prime annually).
With quarterly reporting season underway, it wasn’t just Netflix that received a market backlash. Google’s earnings were up 20% with profits of $4.21B but missed Wall Street estimates, sending the share price down ~5%. Microsoft too had a tough week, with profits down 25% to $3.8B sending their share price down ~6%. Showing that even billion dollar profits and being at the hub of digital innovation isn’t enough.
Transparency and viewability are constant hot topics among our clients. Facebook finally took more positive steps around viewability, announcing support for more partners according to this blog post. Previously only supporting MOAT, Facebook will soon also support IAS, ComScore, and Nielsen across both viewability and attention. This is good news for all our clients and you should start discussions with your Facebook rep now so that you can extend your viewability measurement (and KPIs) if MOAT wasn’t satisfying your needs.
Joshua