Rebecca Day

Paid account sharing could bring Netflix 15 million additional U.S. and Canadian paid sharers and a million new members, Cowen analyst John Blackledge wrote investors Wednesday, after its Tuesday announcement it will begin rolling out its Profile Transfer globally early next year to more broadly monetize account sharing.

Wedbush Securities’ concerns over FuboTV’s “cash burn” and its ability to raise capital to “extend its cash runway” were assuaged somewhat by Monday’s announcement that the virtual MVPD folded its Fubo Gaming subsidiary and ceased operation of its Fubo Sportsbook, effective immediately, analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Tuesday.

Chandra Holt stepped down as CEO of Conn’s and resigned from the board, effective immediately, the company announced Tuesday. Former CEO and current board member Norman Miller will be interim CEO, it said. Shares hit a 52-week low Tuesday at $6.22before closing 14.8% down at $6.91.

Companies wasted no time jumping on the new consumer hearing aid category Monday, the date the Food and Drug Administration’s rule establishing over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids as a regulatory category took effect. Best Buy and Walmart, looking to grow their health and wellness businesses, outlined their hearing aid efforts in Monday posts.

Netflix has an opportunity to limit churn in coming months by offering its ad-supported tier, which launches Nov. 3 in the U.S. (see 2210130058), to subscribers looking to quit the service, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Friday. Netflix reports Q3 earnings Tuesday.

Now that the Matter smart home connectivity specification has been released, the Matter logo will start appearing on product packaging and on e-commerce stores as soon as manufacturers secure certification for their Matter-enabled devices, Michelle Mindala-Freeman, Connectivity Standards Alliance global marketing head, emailed Consumer Electronics Daily last week, responding to questions after the long-awaited release of Matter 1.0 this month (see 2210040055).

Netflix’s much-anticipated ad-supported plan, dubbed Basic with Ads, will launch in the U.S. Nov. 3 at $6.99 a month, the streaming service said Thursday. Current monthly plans -- $9.99 for Basic, $15.49 for Standard and $19.99 for Premium -- “will not be impacted,” said Greg Peters, chief operating officer-chief product officer.

Voxx’s fiscal Q2 2023 revenue fell 12.2% to $125.7 million for the quarter ended Aug. 31, below expectations, due to continued chip shortages, inflationary pressure, shifts in consumer discretionary spending and retailer inventory cutbacks, said CEO Pat Lavelle on the company’s Wednesday earnings call. Shares fell 9.3% Wednesday, closing at $6.55.

Roku is branching out into smart home products, it said Wednesday, announcing a line of security cameras, video doorbells, lighting and plugs made by Wyze Labs that will be sold exclusively in nearly 3,500 Walmart stores beginning Monday.

Pivotal Research Group repeated a “sell” rating on Netflix's stock despite some analyst optimism (see 2210050031) over the streaming company’s upcoming ad-supported tier and anticipated resulting average revenue per user (ARPU) growth. Pivotal's view remains unchanged as "we see the move to offer an ad supported tier by the global streaming incumbent player as defensive not offensive” and “fraught” with risks to ARPU, technology and product perception, analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors Tuesday. An ad-supported tier won’t likely allow Netflix to return to annual subscriber growth, with Netflix nearly fully penetrated at about 80% of the U.S., counting piracy, Wlodarczak said. Pivotal sees a “significant ARPU risk of existing households churning down” to a “less attractive ad supported service” while making Netflix “dramatically more reliant on variable advertising spend." That could put ARPU at risk if advertising is lower than expected due to an “increasingly likely ’23 recession.” That Netflix’s peers are also moving to ad-supported offerings creates the potential for “too much inventory,” he added. An ad-supported version “taints the [Netflix] brand,” Wlodarczak said, saying the technology behind successful advertising delivery is difficult; Netflix’s original programming isn’t optimized for ad breaks, he said. An “underappreciated risk” is that Netflix management believes it can moderate content cost growth “when virtually all of their peers are accelerating investment in content particularly on exclusive sports rights which could ultimately hit NFLX subscriber growth or push the company to reaccelerate content investment spend,” Wlodarczak said. Netflix reports Q3 earnings Oct. 18.