Amazon, the other streaming juggernaut, offers its video and music services free to subscribers of Prime, which includes free, faster deliveries for purchases on the e-commerce side.

By Matthew J. Belvedere

Sourced from CNBC

By Austin Weinstein

For Snap Inc., hype matters. And for Wall Street analysts, as users go, so goes the hype.

Snap has fallen 8.1 percent over the past two trading days, the worst performer in the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index over the period. That’s come as analysts at Needham and Cowen sharply cut their outlooks for Snap, which has struggled to maintain user and advertising growth amid a battle for market share with Facebook Inc., which has repeatedly mimicked Snapchat’s app features.

Snap fell to $12.91 per share as of 1:36 p.m. in New York, down from its $14.05 closing price on Monday.

The slide began after disappointing user and advertising revenue growth led Cowen Inc. analyst John Blackledge to cut his revenue forecasts for the Los Angeles-based social network for the next six years. Blackledge, who rates Snap the equivalent of a sell, said that a Cowen survey suggested that users were spending less time on the app.

The drop continued Wednesday after Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin cut her forecast for Snap’s second quarter revenue by 15 percent, writing in a note to clients that her research showed a “dramatic slowdown of spending by brands on Snap.” Martin, who also rates the company the equivalent of a sell, said that big events in the first quarter, including the Grammy Awards, the Super Bowl and the NCAA finals, led to spending that won’t be repeated in the second.

The two-day move mirrors a 6.1 percent decline in February, when Snap plummeted after social media star Kylie Jenner tweeted that she hadn’t been using the app, partially due to an app redesign. Shares have been depressed since May after the company’s first quarter sales fell short of expectations, casting doubt on its long-term growth prospects.

The recent bearish calls by analysts add to a growing chorus surrounding Snap. The average price target among analysts has fallen 25 percent since late April, while only 6 of 34 analysts now rate the stock a buy, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Short-sellers are active, too, with 22.7 percent of the float sold short, up from 17.3 percent in early May, according to data from S3 Partners.

By Austin Weinstein

Sourced from Bloomberg

By Shareen Pathak

The influencer backlash has washed up on French shores.

The early days of the Cannes Lions festival saw some strong words against so-called influencers and influencer marketing from top chief marketing officers.

It began with Unilever CMO Keith Weed, who announced early Monday that the advertiser will not work with influencers who buy followers, and its brands will actively look to eradicate from its spend any influencers with fake followers, bots or any other fraudulent practices.

Weed also said Unilever would also prioritize vendor relationships where commitments were made to eradicate fraud.

Weed is also convening a meeting with the World Federation of Advertisers, Instagram and Edelman chief executive Richard Edelman to work on a project on bringing transparency to the influencer space.

“In February, I said we needed to rebuild trust back into our digital ecosystems and wider society,” Weed said. “One of the ways we can do that is to increase integrity and transparency in the influencer space. We need to address this through responsible content, responsible platforms and responsible infrastructure.”

Dan Salzman, the global head of media at HP, said he agreed in principle with Weed. HP works with influencers for its gaming business, and Salzman said the influencer backlash was inevitable. “Each category of marketing is going through a reckoning,” he said. “Three years ago, influencer marketing was growing in scale. Now, people are looking at it critically. It’s a natural shaking out.”

It’s also a shakeout that’s right on trend in a year where a reckoning seems to be the theme. Top marketers are pushing back on platform power, and questioning where their money is spent is en vogue as they look to wrest back control from platforms as well as agencies.

Speaking at The Economist’s “Wake Up with The Economist” session on Monday morning at the Cannes Lions Beach, eBay CMO Godert van Dedem said he will try “shift his influencer spend” toward eBay sellers — who he said are a bigger priority and more authentic for the eBay brand. “What I want us to do is give our sellers a voice, rather than influencers who happen to have a following that we use and pay for a post,” he said.

Samsung CMO Marc Mathieu, who recently worked with YouTuber Casey Neistat, said he did so for Newton’s “creativity,” not his influence. “I’d rather not just use influencers, but the people that use our products be the people we market,” said Mathieu. And Diageo CMO Syl Saller said that while the company works with celebrities, it is looking more critically at any influencer relationships that engage in shady practices like buying followers.

Influencer marketing, which seemingly burst on the scene a few years ago as Instagram — the preferred platform for so-called social stars — gained popularity, is attractive to marketers because it feels arguably more real than advertising. But authenticity can be faked: Anti-fraud company Sway Ops found that a single day’s worth of posts tagged #sponsored or #ad on Instagram contained over 50 percent fake engagements. Out of 118,007 comments studied by Sway Ops, only 20,942 were not made by bot followers.

It’s ironic that this backlash comes the same year that the Cannes Lions festival itself has announced for the first time the Social and Influencer Lions, a category meant to, in the organizers’ words, “celebrate creative social thinking.” The idea is to focus on reach and engagement. The jury, which is expected to announce a short list and winners Wednesday, will see if the campaign had any impact.

By Shareen Pathak

Sourced from DIGIDAY

Magazines Ireland calls on the Irish Government to urge the European Commission to reach an agreement on VAT rates applied to printed and digital magazines. In its pre-budget submission, the association is calling on Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohue to support a zero VAT rate on magazines. 

Ciaran Casey, Chairman, Magazines Ireland said “Magazines Ireland supports the Commission’s Proposal, released on 11 January 2018, amending Directive 2006/112 as regards rates of value added tax. The Proposal aims at replacing the current transitional regime into a harmonized system where all Member States would be granted equal freedom in setting VAT rates”.

“We believe that Irish magazines, both print and digital, should be zero rated. UK publishers operating in a VAT free environment have significant advantages over indigenous Irish publishers. Other European countries such as Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and France also enjoy zero or super-reduced rates”, continued Casey.
Grace Aungier, CEO, Magazines Ireland said “Magazines have an important role to play in educating and informing its audiences on a whole range of issues and in contributing to higher literacy levels in society. Ireland needs to maintain the indigenous character of Irish magazines and their role within our overall societal and cultural identity. A zero VAT rate on magazines would contribute to the wider availability of quality content which is vital for media diversity, literacy and for the personal development of all citizens”.

Ends

Magazines Ireland is the association of Irish magazine publishers and represents 39 Irish publishers who together produce over 185 magazine brands, both consumer and business to business titles in print and digital. CONTACT: Grace Aungier, Magazines Ireland, Tel  01 667 55 79 [email protected] www.magazinesireland.ie