Join us on Twitter spaces for today’s Bulls, Bears & Blockchain show, where we’ll be tackling some of the most pressing topics in the financial world.
Be sure to join the conversation as we discuss:
- The Streaming Wars claim more casualties as Confused Consumers Complain – What happened to the Golden Girls???”
- Memorial Day Travel Recap – As predicted on B3, people took to the skies in droves as air travel reached pre-pandemic Memorial Day levels. What does this mean for the travel industry for the summer and the rest of 2023?
- FTX 2.0 launching soon? Court filing shows a reboot plan in the works.
Don’t miss out on this exciting discussion! Tune in to our live Twitter Spaces show today at 5:30 pm EST and join the conversation.
Let’s dive right in!
The Streaming Wars claim more casualties as Confused Consumers Complain – What happened to the Golden Girls???”
Streaming services are removing tons of movies and shows — it's not personal, it's strictly business https://t.co/uXR6QbGOqS
— CNBC (@CNBC) May 30, 2023
Consumers thought streaming would be forever, but library content is disappearing as studios seek to cut costs. Wall Street has turned up the heat on media companies, now focusing on if and when streaming will be profitable versus if they’re putting up big subscriber numbers. Removing content from streaming platforms is a way for streamers to avoid residual payments and licensing fees.
Consumers got used to Netflix cycling through titles, aware that as Hollywood studios launched their own streaming services, proprietary content would transition to a new platform. Even when Warner Bros. Discovery pulled content as part of planned tax write-offs tied to its merger, consumers seemed to accept the move as the cost of doing business.
However, as Disney is set to yank dozens of shows and films from Disney+ and Hulu, including “Willow,” “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” and “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” subscribers are suddenly faced with a new reality.
JUST IN: Netflix, $NFLX, to charge $8 per shared account in the US.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) May 23, 2023
After the initial bloom of new platforms and subscriber growth, aided by pandemic lockdowns and a surge of fresh content, the digital streaming industry has cooled. And Wall Street has turned up the heat on media companies, now focusing on if and when streaming will be profitable versus if those providers are putting up big subscriber numbers. The change came last year after Netflix reported its first subscriber loss in a decade.
“What is hitting their income statements is the amortization of content that’s already been made and released,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst at SVB MoffettNathanson. “Warner Bros. Discovery was the first one to figure this out, so we have to give credit where it’s due. They said they need to get their earnings up, so they started taking shows off the app. Disney is now doing that and we should expect Paramount to follow suit. And one day Netflix may even do the same thing.”
“From a consumer standpoint, what they want is they want to be able to always have access to their content,” said Dan Rayburn, a media and streaming analyst.
Removing content from platforms is a way for streamers to avoid residual payments and licensing fees.Even titles that are owned in-house must be licensed. That’s why NBCUniversal had to pay itself $500 million to stream Universal TV’s “The Office” on Peacock and Warner Bros. Discovery paid $425 million for the streaming rights to the WBTV-produced “Friends.” “The balance sheet must reflect that,” Katz said.
People took to the skies in droves as air travel reached pre-pandemic Memorial Day levels
Nearly 9.8 million people nationwide passed through airport security over the Memorial Day long weekend — roughly 300,000 more than in 2019. https://t.co/XvdEVBGd6w
— Axios (@axios) May 30, 2023
The TSA said it screened nearly 9.8 million people over the weekend. Friday’s screening total of more than 2.7 million people was a post-pandemic record, the agency said.
Airlines watch Memorial Day travel carefully to try to gauge summer demand; this weekend showed that consumers are willing to continue to shell out for trips despite persistent inflation and lofty food and housing costs weighing on household budgets. Airline executives have been upbeat about their carriers’ ability to operate reliably this summer and, as previously reported, have increased capacity – particularly for travel to Europe and Asia.
Home prices on the rise despite interest rate climb
US Home Prices Rose in March. The Fed has lost control here. pic.twitter.com/AhujidHMCB
— dmac (@dana_marlane) May 30, 2023
Steep competition in the housing market and low supply are heating up home prices again. Nationally, home prices in March were 0.7% higher than March 2022, S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices said Tuesday.
The 10-city composite, which includes the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas, dropped 0.8% year over year, compared with a 0.5% increase in the previous month. The 20-city composite, which includes Dallas-Fort Worth and the Detroit area, fell 1.1%, down from a 0.4% annual gain in the previous month.
Miami, Tampa, and Charlotte saw the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in March. Charlotte replaced Atlanta in third place. Compared with a year ago, 19 of 20 cities reported lower prices with only Chicago showing an increase at 0.4%.
Consumers are spending online despite sky-high prices, record credit card debt and wage stagflation. How is this possible and who are the beneficiaries?”
Four US public companies, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, are part of the $1 trillion market cap club, collectively making up 21% of the S&P 500. These “mega-cap” stocks have all seen over 30% growth year-to-date as of 5/17/23.
Online sales accounted for 16.4% of US retail sales in April 2023, nearly double the share of the sector in April 2013. Only “motor vehicles and part dealers” have a larger share than online, indicating that online sales are on track to become the leader in the retail sales segment.
FTX 2.0 launching soon? Court filing shows a reboot plan in the works.
Court documents revealed some plans FTX CEO John Ray III made for FTX 2.0, including Review 2.0 next steps summary, Review next steps and comment on FTX restart, Review and finalize 2.0 reboot of exchangematerial for distribution, Revew and comment on 2.0 bidder list and more. By… pic.twitter.com/zjjmFZ7wDG
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 23, 2023
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX’s revival plans could soon become reality. According to court filing documents, FTX’s new management had a series of meetings with creditors and debtors in the past month, reviewing plans for restarting the exchange and finalizing the material required for its rebooting as FTX 2.0.
The documents also suggest FTX could soon enter into a bidding process. Previous reports pointed out that a reboot could come as early as 2024, as the exchange has already recovered over $7 billion in assets.
Join us live today on Bulls, Bears & Blockchain
Join us for another great 🐂🐻⛓️ Twitter space today at 5:30pm EST. Bulls, Bears, & Blockchain with your host @robnelsonlive & market masters @jonnajarian @MXLESQ & @AlexMascioli cover TradFi, Crypto, & Web3, there’s nothing more comprehensive.https://t.co/bol57iTF07 pic.twitter.com/5tDHZYEaSk
— Revolution Radio @getRevRadio (@getrevradio) May 30, 2023
With so much at stake, it’s crucial to stay informed and involved in these discussions.
Join us today at 5:30 pm EST on our Twitter Spaces, where we’ll delve deeper into each topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with experts and make your voice heard in this critical conversation.
