Finance

App Annie reports that global consumer spending in the top 25 live streaming apps grew 57% YoY in 2021. Global time spent using live streaming apps grew 40% during the same period. It shows just how important live streaming has become to the creator economy as a whole. The top markets leading lifetime spending on Twitch include the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, France, Australia, South Korea, Italy, Mexico, and Spain.

Source: Twitch Surpasses $1 Billion In Global Consumer Spend on Creators

AT&T announced that its board has decided to spin off the telco’s interest in WarnerMedia — rather than structure the media conglom’s divestiture as a split-off. The transaction will spin off 100% of AT&T’s interest in WarnerMedia to AT&T’s existing shareholders in a pro-rata distribution, followed by the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery to form a new company, “Warner Bros. Discovery.”

Source: AT&T Sets Plan to Spin Off WarnerMedia in $43 Billion Deal

As Penguin Random House and the Department of Justice continue to prepare for an August trial in which PRH hopes to block the government’s effort to kill its acquisition of Simon & Schuster, professionals throughout the industry are finding themselves pulled into the legal fray.

Source: Publishers, Agencies Start Receiving Subpoenas as DoJ-PRH Case Ramps

Superficially, it seems odd that one low Netflix quarterly forecast would scare investors from the entire segment. But if Netflix growth is slowing, that may mean the world’s total addressable streaming market is significantly lower than previously expected. LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield told CNBC he still believes that number is “six, seven, or eight hundred million subscribers.” But it’s possible the number is actually far less.

Source: Streaming video no longer impresses investors, so media companies need a next act

There can be no doubt that Neil Young has yanked his music from Spotify on a point of principle. Nor that he’s fully prepared to sacrifice his earnings as a result. Yet he’s also just laid the groundwork to shatter erroneous music biz dogma that’s lain unquestioned for too many years. In fact, I suspect that Neil Young is about to prove that a swathe of established artists – namely prestige catalog artists – really don’t need Spotify to survive anymore.

Source: Neil Young’s Spotify exodus is a test case for artists who dare question music industry dogma.

Sweden-born fan funding platform Corite has raised $6.2 million in a private $CO token sale for its blockchain-based sister project, Corite CO. The new platform will allow $CO token holders to participate in blockchain fan funding and promotion, get early access to invest in music projects, in addition to earning rewards for “contributing and participating in the governance of the Corite ecosystem”, according to a media release.

Source: HITCO-backed fan funding firm Corite raises $6.2m in private token sale ahead of blockchain platform launch

Launched in July 2021, MContent is an eco-system that enables crowd funding of film production and capital-intensive content creators using Cryptocurrency and NFTs. Since July, the platform has now funded 11 prominent film projects across four continents of the World. The company has recently completed its Seed funding round at a valuation of over $10M raising almost $5M from prominent institutional investors in the UAE.

Source: The World’s 1st Blockchain & NFT Backed Film Crowd Funding Platform MContent Secures $5 Mn in Seed Round Led by Gargash Group & Other Investors

Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial cryptocurrency initiative is dead in the water amid resistance from the Federal Reserve — and Meta is looking to sell off its crypto assets altogether, according to a report. The Diem Association — a crypto project formerly known as Libra that has been backed by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — planned to issue a so-called stablecoin that would have been pegged to the US dollar.

Source: Meta to scrap cryptocurrency initiative amid clash with Fed: report

AT&T topped Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter of 2021, with WarnerMedia revenue gains driving top-line results — helped by strong growth of HBO Max — although the division’s operating income dropped 38% on higher costs. The company also announced that it expects the WarnerMedia spinoff and merger with Discovery to close in the second quarter (previously, it pegged the close for mid-2022).

Source: AT&T Tops Q4 Earnings Estimates, WarnerMedia Income Down 38% as Discovery Merger Expected to Close in Q2

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) plans to initiate antitrust proceedings against Spanish Authors society SGAE, for alleged “abuse of dominant position.” The investigation is being launched at the request of Unison, a Barcelona-based Independent Management Entity (IME) organization.

Source: Spanish competition authority to open antitrust case against authors society SGAE