COVID-19 hastened the trend away from pay TV, Needham analyst Laura Martin wrote Friday. Subscription-driven (SVOD) streaming services grew 20-50% faster than earlier estimates, said Martin, citing as drivers shelter-in-place, lack of live sports, shuttered cinemas and divisive news cycles. She cited a July Roku study saying 40% of cord-cutters say free or extended trials for streaming services encouraged them to cancel a traditional TV package. Because many streaming services drop entire new seasons on one day, they had more hours of nearly completed episodes ready. Needham estimates consumers signed up for two to four new SVOD streaming services, while free ad-driven (AVOD) users doubled. This era is driving more experimentation, including Universal’s multi-year 17-day theatrical window deal with AMC and Disney’s decision to release Mulan for $30 Sept. 4 (see report, Aug. 6 issue). The economic impact of widespread unemployment might negatively affect SVOD streaming services due to less disposable income; or, it could lead users to rotate sequentially among SVOD services rather than pay for multiple SVOD subscriptions simultaneously, Martin said.

Staples unveiled a “Working Well” campaign, positioning itself as the pandemic’s “move-forward resource for everything from social distancing in the workplace to productive Zoom calls at home.” It’s marketing common items like gloves, masks and hand sanitizer for a safe return to the physical office, plus clear partitions, air filtration products, and signs and social-distancing markers.

CTA’s Tech Tracker survey found 17% of U.S. homes canvassed Aug. 7-9 bought laptops that week, “as many families prepare to go back to school remotely,” said the association Thursday. That’s the highest percentage of laptop purchases recorded since CTA launched the biweekly tech-use survey at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, it said. “For many, going back to school in person isn’t an option,” said CTA Director-Research Lesley Rohrbaugh. The “collaboration” that technology enables “will be crucial for remote learning and social connection,” she said. High demand for telework and remote-learning connectivity tools sent Q2 laptop and tablet imports soaring by triple digits from Q1 (see 2008090002).

In Webex, Cisco has “the most trusted secure platform for remote collaboration for the enterprise,” said CEO Chuck Robbins on a fiscal Q4 investor call Wednesday. Webex had double-digit growth in the quarter, “as businesses, governments, educators and front-line workers everywhere have embraced remote work,” he said. “We expect this momentum to continue, as we have begun to see the conversion of free trials into paid subscriptions.” Many Cisco customers are delaying their purchasing decisions in certain areas, “while increasing spend in others until they have greater visibility and clarity on the timing and shape of the global economic recovery,” said Robbins. The COVID-19 pandemic has “triggered a massive and rapid shift to remote operations and automation to maximize personal safety.” The stock closed 11.2% lower Thursday at $42.72.

The Conference Board’s CEO confidence index had a 1-point uptick in Q3 to 45 points from the second quarter, it reported Thursday. A reading below 50 reflects more negative than positive responses. The board compiled the index in collaboration with The Business Council. About 38% of the CEOs canvassed expect to trim their workforces in the next 12 months, the survey found. With “uncertain economic conditions likely to persist,” more than a third also don't foresee raising pay in the next year, but 37% expressed little worry in attracting qualified talent, said the board: “Without substantial containment of COVID-19, widespread uncertainty will continue being the dominant cloud hanging over America’s CEO community.” CEOs remained pessimistic about current economic conditions, “though to a lesser extent than in the second quarter,” said the board. Nearly 90% said conditions were worse compared with six months earlier, down from 100% who said so in Q2. Only 8% said economic conditions were better. About three-quarters said conditions in their own industries were worse compared with six months earlier, down from 82% last quarter. About 17% said conditions were better in their own industries, up from 10% in Q2.

Local advertising spending in 2020 likely will be about $140.4 billion instead of the previously forecast $143.3 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic's economic fallout, BIA Advisory Services said Wednesday. That would be a 6.1% decline from 2019 spending, it said. Broadcast TV and radio advertising projections of $27.9 billion are down $500 million from its previous forecast, it said, while mobile advertising will likely total $24.3 billion, also a $500 million decline, and its online/interactive advertising projection is down $300 million to $20.6 billion, it said.

COVID-19 forced CTA to scrap New York’s Rainbow Room as the venue for its annual Consumer Tech Hall of Fame dinner in early November, emailed Cindy Stevens, senior director-publications. CTA “is currently planning to move ahead with the Hall of Fame dinner at this time but we are tracking the situation in NY closely,” she said Tuesday. “We plan to host it at the Metropolitan Pavilion with CES Unveiled to be held earlier in the day, and the dinner that evening.” CTA’s online calendar lists both events as “not yet announced.” New York state is in phase IV of its reopening plan, with social gatherings limited to groups of 50 people. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) continues to bar indoor dining at New York City restaurants. CTA canceled CES 2020 as a physical show, announcing July 28 it will hold it as an all-digital event in early January (see 2007280034).

Starting this week, visitors to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit must have their temperature taken using a contactless temperature kiosk at the 3rd Street NW entrance, the federal court said Tuesday. It said anyone with a fever of 100.1 or higher won't be allowed entry.

Retail landlord Simon Property Group took a $315 million hit to its Q2 operating profit from COVID-19 through “rent abatements” and a “higher provision for credit losses,” said CEO David Simon on a quarterly call Monday. The company runs about 200 malls and other retail properties in 37 states. “Given the lack of local, state and federal government support for our industry, we went out of our way to abate rent for thousands of local small businesses, entrepreneurs and restaurateurs and other retailers for the period they were closed,” said Simon. The company estimates 91% of its properties were “open and operating” through Aug. 9, he said. Reopened stores reported their June sales exceeded 80% of their 2019 volume, he said. Movie theaters, gyms and restaurants are the bulk of “remaining tenants” that are still closed due to “restrictive governmental orders limiting or prohibiting their operations,” he said. The Great Recession of 2008 “pales in comparison to what we're dealing with” in the pandemic, said Simon. The number of bankruptcies “in our sector” is “tremendous,” he said.

COVID-19 forced Mozilla into a restructuring that will eliminate 250 jobs, including the shutdown of operations in Taiwan, said CEO Mitchell Baker in a memo to employees Tuesday. Mozilla’s pre-pandemic plan for 2020 was “a year of change” by speeding the infusion of more “product value” in Firefox and “adjusting our finances to ensure financial stability over the long term,” she said. The pandemic “accelerated the need and magnified the depth for these changes,” said Baker. “Our pre-COVID plan is no longer workable. We have talked about the need for change -- including the likelihood of layoffs -- since the spring. Today these changes become real.” Mozilla’s “new focus” will be on product, technology, community and economics, blogged Baker: “Recognizing that the old model where everything was free has consequences, means we must explore a range of different business opportunities and alternate value exchanges.”