Rebecca Day

CEDIA Expo parent company Emerald has held over 20 in-person trade shows, conferences and other events this year with 30%-70% of pre-COVID-19 attendance levels, said the events company Monday. “As expected, COVID-related issues such as international travel restrictions and date postponements for many Company events have impacted attendance,” it said. A spokesperson told us Monday CEDIA Expo 2021, Sept. 1-3 in Indianapolis, in early summer was on track to draw 10,000 attendees: "When the delta variant came through this year -- we had about 30%-50% of those originally registered attendees come to the show in person." Emerald said last week (see 2109130046) the custom installation industry’s annual trade event drew 82 exhibitors, down from more than 250 that were expected, after concerns about the COVID-19 delta variant caused numerous exhibitor and attendee cancellations. CEDIA Expo had 1,400 verified attendees: 35% first-timers and 58% integrators; 14 countries were represented. Emerald is scheduled to stage “dozens” of events in coming months and looks to return to a full slate in 2022, it said Monday. On its August earnings call, the company (see 2107300061) said it canceled 108 events due to the pandemic, 94 scheduled for 2020, representing $230.6 million of 2019 revenue, and 14 scheduled for this year, representing $71.2 million of revenue. It submitted $167 million in insurance claims for 2020 canceled events and received $121.1 million: $89.2 million last year, $31.9 million this year. It submitted an additional $52.9 million in claims for events not held in first-half 2021 (see 2104300064).

Lack of foundry capacity is hampering growth in an “exploding” IoT market, Silicon Labs President Matt Johnson told us Wednesday. The challenge to increase chipmaking capacity is exacerbated by the long lead times required for fabrication plants, Johnson said. Demand has been increasing and capacity hasn’t grown at the same pace, he said. “Assuming there’s not a macro shift in demand, we’re looking at least a couple of years here of demand-supply imbalance.” It's not just the pandemic: The volatile supply chain phenomenon is the result of several years of demand and supply imbalance, Johnson said. “It’s hard to order anything right now and have it not be delayed,” he said, calling the situation “painful” for semiconductor companies. Johnson becomes CEO when Tyson Tuttle steps down Jan. 1; see our report here.

TCL appears to be making the new Amazon Fire TV, we were told. The e-commerce giant unveiled the products Thursday and they include hands-free Alexa voice control via built-in mics. “It is common for TCL to provide both components and assembly for our branded TV competitors,” a spokesperson emailed. “However, the OEM side of our business operates with confidentiality agreements.” Amazon works with “a variety of suppliers and partners to source and build devices,” it emailed. The company also beefed up its Fire TV streaming media stick with new Alexa voice features, more power and a quad-core processor.

Shorter attention spans, competition for entertainment time share and continually rising rights fees are ongoing challenges as the TV sports world straddles traditional pay-TV and over-the-top video models, said panelists on a Thursday FierceVideo webcast on TV monetization in the sports industry.

Consumers are overloaded with content, and it has become difficult to manage, said TiVo executives on a Thursday webcast for the company’s biannual video trends report, based on a Q2 survey of 4,500 respondents 18 and older in the U.S. and Canada.

Universal Electronics Inc. is the latest tech company hit by the chip crunch, affecting order fulfillment of Nevo Butler, UEI’s white-label, voice-enabled smart home and entertainment control hub. Shortages affected shipments for a major European telco, CEO Paul Arling told investors Thursday. Q2 revenue was $150.5 million, vs. $153.1 million in the 2020 quarter. Guidance for Q3 is a year-over-year rise. Meanwhile, platforms like Apple TV Video Partner Program are the future for all types of MVPDs, which “now understand that the consumer wants that combination of everything they want to watch,” Arling said. Subscribers want local sports, reality TV programing and to binge-watch a favorite show streamed on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu -- “or name your favorite service.” Larger MVPDs can build platforms, he said, citing Comcast’s X1, which Cox adopted. Medium- to smaller-sized MVPDs “probably will find it better to borrow one of the other industry platforms,” he said, naming Android and TiVo in addition to Apple. Broadband operators are increasingly introducing IP-only or streaming set-top boxes, Arling said, citing Comcast Flex, DirecTV Stream and TiVo Stream. See Q2 materials here and here and our report on the company's Roku patent fight 2108060032. UEI stock closed up 7.4 Friday at $48.03.

Universal Electronics Inc. got a favorable initial determination in an International Trade Commission patent infringement case against Roku. UEI CEO Paul Arling said the ITC judge recommended issuing a limited exclusion and cease and desist order. The finding is under review by commissioners, with a final determination, “including the issuance of the limited exclusion and cease and desist orders,” expected by Nov. 10, he told investors Thursday. See Q2 materials here and here and our report 2108060033. Roku didn't comment Friday. Arling said LG, Microsoft and Samsung license UEI’s IP. The patents involve QuickSet, he said. UEI stock closed up 7.4 Friday at $48.03.

Roku Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden set expectations for “tough” year-on-year comparisons in second-half 2021, on the company's quarterly call Wednesday, after COVID-19 pandemic-driven “outperformance” in 2020. Q2 revenue increased 81% year on year to $645 million, it reported, crediting “exceptional performance in platform monetization.” (See Q2 materials). Player unit sales were little changed after the 2020 demand spike. Tight component supplies and shipping constraints increased costs faster than expected across consumer electronics, executives said, saying the company “insulated consumers” from higher player unit costs. Higher costs are an industrywide issue affecting smart TVs, too, Louden said. Management said higher out-of-home entertainment engagement was competition, as consumers "sought increased out-of-home entertainment activities" after being pent up in Q2 2020 during lockdowns. That led to a decline in viewing hours, it said. The stock closed down 4% to $403.48 Thursday.

CEO Jon Kirchner highlighted Xperi's media IP business on a Q2 call. (See Q2 materials here.) He called it a top strategic growth area as its pay-TV business declines along with industry trends. Revenue in that segment fell 9% year on year to $54 million, Kirchner said Tuesday. IP licensing revenue was $101.8 million, media IP revenue up 40% as Comcast, Fox, Google and others renewed and/or expanded licenses. Total Xperi sales fell 4.7% to $222.3 million.

Q2 was a “transition period” for Amazon customers home less amid fewer COVID-19 restrictions, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told investors (See Q2 materials here.). Prime members continued to spend more at Amazon, but their “spend moderated” vs. the peak of the pandemic, he said. Since May, Amazon’s year-on-year growth rate, excluding Prime Day, slowed to the mid-teens, from 35%-40% at the height of the pandemic, Olsavsky said: The Q3 guidance of 10%-16% “reflects an expected continuation of this trend.” The e-commerce company’s sales were “softer than expected” at $113 billion, Cowen analyst John Blackledge wrote investors Friday. “Higher consumer mobility” affected e-commerce demand, he said. New CEO Andy Jassy wasn't on Thursday's call. Nor was founder Jeff Bezos, who stepped down as CEO July 5 and became executive chairman. It's Bezos' regular practice to skip quarterly calls. Amazon shares closed down 7.6% to $3,327.59 on Friday.