Rebecca Day

Consumer technology shipments showed some resiliency amid large-scale disruption to production lines and supply chains caused by the pandemic, said ABI Research Wednesday. Shipments will “gradually recover in 2021 as the impact of the pandemic starts to wane, consumer confidence returns, and device supply chains bounce back,” said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn. She highlighted ultra low-power machine learning chipsets and devices supporting ultra-wideband (UWB) networks as major consumer technologies expected to “take-off” in 2021. Consumer devices supporting UWB, including cellular devices, smart home appliances and automotive, will reach 286 million units globally, said the researcher. Demand for wireless connectivity propelled shipments of Wi-Fi routers, wireless hot spots, gateways and Wi-Fi customer premises equipment last year, as consumers looked for more robust Wi-Fi networks to support home-based work and learning, streaming video services and online gaming, noted the analyst. She also sees 5G growth (see 2103170055).

Entertainment trends accelerated by COVID-19 could speed sports viewership declines, just as the industry's nascent focus on e-betting micro-wagering on in-progress professional games requires better technology, LightShed analysts wrote Tuesday (login required). With more competition for attention, “historically resilient sports TV viewership has been hard hit,” even as “most consumers were stuck at home.” So "with viewership fading and linear TV demographics aging up fast, the pace of advertising dollars shifting away from TV toward digital will undoubtedly accelerate," analysts noted. States legalizing sports wagering expands the market by making it easier to bet, especially on mobile devices, analysts said. More engagement with linear sports TV would be positive for ads and boost long-term values of sports rights, even as cord cutting accelerates, they said. But technology isn’t there yet due to latency, said LightShed. It cited a “significant delay” between broadcast TV over MVPDs vs. over-the-top video streaming, “on top of a delay between what is happening on the field and the broadcast feed."

There are ways other “than the hide-bound traditional way to release movies that could be done in a way that was beneficial for our studio partners and for AMC,” said CEO Adam Aron. On AT&T-owned Warner's release of titles to its company's streaming service, HBO Max, Aron said his theater company “put out a very clear statement that we were not willing to let Warner Bros. advantage its streaming service at AMC shareholders' expense." He noted AMC made a “landmark agreement” with Universal in April. The pact assures that “any changes in [Warner's] their strategy are being done in ways where AMC shareholders benefit as opposed to being penalized,” the CEO told a Q4 call Wednesday. The theater chain is “willing to engage with every major studio on the same topic,” he said, hoping studios can “adjust the business relationships" with AMC "such that they can support their streaming services and their theatrical releases -- and do so not at our expense.” Warner didn't comment Thursday. Some 40 major movie titles delayed from 2020 releases will hit AMC screens beginning in May, said Aron. “We are LaGuardia Airport, closed by a thunderstorm, with tons of planes circling overhead, all waiting to land and all needing to land,” he said, paraphrasing a metaphor he said studio executives shared.

Warner Music Group sees its physical, merchandise and live performance businesses that took a hit in the COVID-19 pandemic “springing back,” WMG told an investor event. CEO Stephen Cooper sees opportunities from many areas. On whether he sees disintermediation in the music business in the way direct-to-consumer streaming services are proliferating in the over-the-top video market, Cooper said Thursday the concept is “always on our radar screen” and “doesn’t present a substantial risk.” The music model is different from the long-form video model because it requires “ubiquity,” he said. Warner’s artists “want their music to be everywhere,” he said. Cooper cited a “backlash” in the past few years when some streaming services tried exclusivity. "It just backfired because artists want their music to be accessible to everyone,” he said. The long-form video model, by contrast, is about exclusivity. Disney expanding from content to distribution and Netflix growing from distribution to content are examples of "far more vertical integration than I believe one will ever see in music.”

ViacomCBS launched its “reimagined” streaming service, Paramount+, Thursday, replacing CBS AllAccess. Consumers can subscribe directly. The $9.99 monthly premium tier has live sports, breaking news and commercial-free, on-demand entertainment including exclusive content and library shows and music with 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision, plus mobile downloads, said ViacomCBS. The ad-supported $5.99 tier, including live CBS programming, is available until June, when new subscribers will be offered an ad-free version for $4.99 minus the live local CBS programming. Viacom CBS told existing subscribers they will be automatically rolled over to Paramount+, and the limited-commercials plan will be discontinued later this year, replaced by the $4.99 service. CBS Sports touted the launch. Roku announced the service, hoping to steer its customers to Paramount+ through its platform. Sixteen original series will be offered this year, said ViacomCBS.

FuboTV executives say the over-the-top content provider should benefit from trends like cord cutting and consumers never signing up for pay TV in the first place. They said Tuesday that the company increased 2021 financial forecasts. There was a caution on Q1. The stock closed down 19% Wednesday to $34.14.

Target continued to ship online from stores as the coronavirus crisis wore on, which saves 40% of shipping from a warehouse, said Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan on a Tuesday call. Stores fulfilled more than 95% of sales in Q4, ended Jan. 30. Digital sales climbed 118% from the year-ago quarter. Same-day services jumped 202%, led by drive-up. Target is also testing new fulfillment capabilities. A robotic ship sorter in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, sorts goods, then robots “sequence inventory” so employees can quickly load pallets, the COO said. It’s working on sending stores what they need “before they even know it," he said: The system allowed ordering and restocking 25% faster last year. The next few quarters will be “cloudier” due to economic forces, said Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke. “We’re all battling COVID each and every day.” The stock closed down 6.8% Tuesday at $173.49.

Roku agreed to buy Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising unit, including its video automatic content recognition (ACR) and dynamic ad insertion (DAI) technologies, they said Monday: This will accelerate Roku’s launch of an end-to-end DAI solution with TV programmers. Their new partnership will integrate free Nielsen ad and content measurement products into Roku’s platform to advance the Nielsen One cross-media measurement solution, they said. Combining technologies will allow Roku to deliver the benefits of TV streaming advertising to traditional TV, said Louqman Parampath, Roku vice president-product management. The traditional TV ad market is worth tens of billions of dollars, he noted. Measurement of ads and content on Roku devices will “accelerate the path to a single, deduplicated cross-media currency,” said Scott Brown, Nielsen general manager-audience measurement. Bringing dynamic ad insertion to all forms of TV will help monetize the addressable market by “measuring smart TV as a currency, which Nielsen can do at scale,” he said. The transaction is expected to close in Q2. Roku expects 100 employees from Nielsen’s AVA business to join the company.

Best Buy tempered expectations after a 13% year-on-year sales increase, to $16.9 billion, in the quarter ended Feb. 1 (see Q4 materials here). The retailer didn’t give customary full fiscal year guidance because of pandemic uncertainties, but “planning assumptions” are for comparable sales of minus 2% to 1% higher, said Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas on a Thursday call. While demand for technology remains at “elevated levels,” uncertainty about administration of vaccines and shopping patterns makes predictions difficult, Bilunas said. Online sales grew 89.3% to $6.7 billion, said CEO Corie Barry. Headcount dropped 17% to 102,000, she said. Best Buy is partnering with Microsoft on healthcare initiatives, said Bilunas. Barry cited growing opportunities in 5G, beyond smartphones, noting customers can schedule consultations with a Best Buy adviser while shopping at Samsung.com. Shares closed down 9.3% at $102.94.

Online and non-store sales are expected to rise 18%-23% this year to up to $1.2 trillion, as many large and midsize retailers made significant investments in internet capabilities, the National Retail Federation forecast Wednesday. NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said some portion of non-store sales might fall off as people decide they want to go back into stores. Pending broad administration of COVID-19 vaccines, retail growth is forecast to surge 6.5-8.2% to up to $4.4 trillion, the highest growth since 2004, said CEO Matthew Shay on a call. Shay put the vaccine front and center when asked how NRF is engaging with the Biden administration and Congress. “All of the focus is on the vaccine and vaccine distribution,” the trade association boss said of retailers.