All eyes were on the social networking segment in week 23. Apple, Amazon, Google (Alphabet) and Facebook are apparently targeted for increased oversight in the US, from the FTC and the Department of Justice. Our consumer media index ended week 23 up 0.4 percent, lagging the S&P 500 (+4.4%). Snap, escaping the regulatory speculation, was the week's winner, up 17 percent, followed closely by Spotify (+12%). The week's biggest losers were AMC Entertainment (-10%) and RTL (-8.5%).
- Social networking. US regulators the FTC and the DoJ are working on increased oversight of social media, most notably Facebook and Alphabet's (-3.4%) Google, but Apple and Amazon as well. After weeks of rumours, Facebook (-2.3%) going into a new direction seemed to be closer to reality. It could be as early as this month that the company will unveil plans for a cryptocurrency, tied to a basket of real currencies. Meanwhile, Alphabet, through Google's GCP, acquired a data company and Twitter (+4.1%) bought an AI company.
- Broadcasting. Vivendi (+1.3%) raised EUR 2 billion for last week's M7 acquisition. A new entrant in Italy, Europa Way, planned a terrestrial broadcasting service on Mediaset's (+2.9%) platform. Mediaset denied rumours of buying out minority shareholders from its listed unit Mediaset Espana (+7.3%), but confirmed the creation of a new European holding company. The Berlusconi family aims to own 36 percent of the new holding, MediaforEurope, and control just over 50 percent of the votes. CBS (+0.3%) and Tegna (+2.4%) renewed their affiliation alliance.
- Streaming. AT&T's (+6.2%) upcoming streaming video service, through WarnerMedia, was detailed in the Wall Street Journal. If true, the new service would be coming in beta at the end of this year and would be priced just slightly over the HBO Now service of USD 15/month. SoundCloud (unlisted) expanded its SoundCloud Go+ music subscription to a few more countries, providing an alternative to Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and others. SoundCloud's service consists of the usual 30 million track portfolio from the majors, plus 170 million tracks form independent artists. Google provided details for its streaming gaming service, coming in November.
- Advertising. WPP's (+5.0%) GroupM issued its advertising market estimates for the US for 2020, growing an expected 8.2 percent, or 4.8 percent without political ads. RTL (-8.5%) and ProSiebenSat.1 Media (+3.6%) partnered on targeted video ads, through a new 50/50 joint venture company.
