Amazon previewed Prime Day offers Thursday ahead of the 48-hour event that begins Monday at 3 a.m. EDT in what the e-commerce company said would include 2 million deals in 20 countries. It encouraged Prime members to shop early because “deals could sell out fast.” Shoppers should “check back often” for new deals that launch over the course of the event. Amazon is looking to add to its 200-million global member base by offering a 30-day free trial to nonmembers.
Rebecca Day
Rebecca Day, Senior editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2010. She’s a longtime CE industry veteran who has also written about consumer tech for Popular Mechanics, Residential Tech Today, CE Pro and others. You can follow Day on Instagram and Twitter: @rebday
It's a “robust time of growth for the music business,” said Warner Music Group Chief Financial Officer Eric Levin on a Monday investor call, saying that the company's advertising streaming platforms business is “starting to reach renewed growth similar to subscription streaming” following negative impact from COVID-19. Streaming is close to 60% of company revenue, he said.
“The jury’s still out” on whether streaming is a good business model compared with linear TV, said MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson on the virtual StreamTV Show Tuesday. Nathanson cited steep investments that streaming market leader Netflix has had to spend on content to maintain its subscriber base, and now competing media companies going direct to consumer “have to spend to catch up.”
About a million NextGenTV sets have been sold to date since inception, with an installed base of up to 4 million possible by year-end, Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle told Consumer Electronics Daily Monday. “This really is the year of awareness” for NextGen TV, she said.
Newegg kicked off its FantasTech presale Monday, the latest e-tailer to hop onto Amazon’s Prime Day (June 21-22) draft. Featured Newegg sales include a Klipsch K-100SW 10-inch powered subwoofer for $139 (vs. $169 at Amazon Monday) through Sunday, a Polk Audio TL1600 home theater system ($169 vs. $199) and a Samsung M7 32-inch UHD smart monitor ($249 vs. $349). Newegg’s presale segues into the “official” FantasTech Sale June 21-23. Best Buy’s The Bigger Deal Savings Event ends June 22 with “limited quantities.” An Apple “event” at Best Buy Monday showed savings up to $400 on select iMacs, $50 off an iPhone SE, $200 off iPhone 12 mini, a $350 Best Buy gift card with select iPad trade-in, and savings up $240 on a Series 6 Apple Watch with trade in of a Series 1 or newer model. Target added a day to Deal Days stretching the busy shopping week from June 20-22. The retailer is touting same-day fulfillment, no membership fee required and a 5% discount on digital Target gift cards online Wednesday-Saturday. Walmart has a day’s jump on Amazon, starting Deals for Days on Sunday. “Sneak peaks” on the website Monday included a Hisense Roku TV for $178 from $228, an HP laptop at $159 from $179, and an iHome robot vac for $299, from $599. Amazon’s 48-hour Prime Day event will generate sales of $11.8 billion worldwide, said eMarketer Friday. Amazon's Prime Day growth will slow to 19% vs. 43% last year and 68% in 2019, but it's projected to exceed October's Prime Day by $2 billion, it said.
The consumer tech industry must do a better job of explaining HDR's benefits to consumers, said Tom Doherty, Home Technology Specialists of America director-new technology initiatives, on a Tuesday HDR ecosystem webinar. Consumers are benefiting from the brightness and color gamut improvements made possible by HDR streaming content and TVs, but the industry needs to “do something to increase awareness” so customers ask about the technology “and we can point them in the right direction,” said Doherty.
Apple TV+ leads over-the-top streaming services in monthly active churn rate at 15.6%, said Verimatrix Product Management Director Sebastian Braun on a Wednesday Parks Associates webinar. NBCUniversal’s Peacock (not including the free tier) was second at 9.5%, followed by Showtime (8.8%), Starz (8.4%), HBO Max (6.7%), CBS All Access (5.9%), Hulu (5.2%), Disney+ (4.3%) and Netflix (2.5%).
Buoyed by a more “resilient economy” than expected at its February forecast, plus higher COVID-19 vaccination rates and government stimulus, the National Retail Federation upped its 2021 forecast on Wednesday to $4.44 trillion-$4.56 trillion, for 10.5%-13.5% sales growth. The trade association forecast 6.5%-8.2% growth to $4.3 trillion-$4.4 trillion in February (see 2102240038).
Roku will continue to invest “proportionally” in content with the scale and growth of The Roku Channel, which doubled in viewership in Q1 vs. the year-ago quarter, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden on a Monday investor call. Viewership on the channel grew twice as fast as the overall platform, he said.
Productivity, video-calling advances, Spatial Audio and shared entertainment experiences were headliners at Apple’s virtual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote announcing new features of the upcoming iOS 15 Monday. Apple Senior Vice President-Software Engineering Craig Federighi opened the event, highlighting features designed to help users stay connected in new ways.