Media Stocks Take A Hit; Kraft's Possible Review

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Down The Tubes

August has been a tough month for media stocks, and last week may have been worst of all. The WSJ’s Nathalie Tadena reports that Time Warner and Disney have been downgraded by Bernstein, and companies like Viacom, 21st Century Fox and even Netflix had crushing tumbles on the market. As linear TV disintegrates, analysts are calling for “a new framework to value the media sector.” And until that framework is in place, investors are hesitant to bet on which media sectors will regrow. Read on.

Krafting A New Plan

Sources tell Adweek that Kraft Foods Group is expected to put its media business up for review. If true, it’s another hit for incumbent agency Starcom, which has lately defended its accounts with Mars, Anheuser Busch InBev and Samsung. Kantar Media puts Kraft’s marketing spend (for clients like Oscar Mayer, Planters and Maxwell) at $513.8 million in the US last year. Relatedly, Kraft spinoff Mondelez launched a $1.5 billion global review in June. Read on.

Hear This

After its privacy policy update made waves late last week, Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek issued a blanket apology blog post to clear the air. Ek’s main message? Our bad. But! “This is not new,” wrote Ek in reference to data sharing with advertisers, rights holders and mobile networks. “Some Spotify subscribers sign up through their mobile provider, which means some information is shared with them by necessity. We also share some data with our partners who help us with marketing and advertising efforts, but this information is de-identified – your personal information is not shared with them. ” Read it.

Crossing The Stream

Four companies – Amazon, Apple, Google and Roku – own 86% of the streaming media device market. Roku led the pack with 34% of units sold in 2014. What’s notable is the lack of any traditional media or broadcast player in the category, as linear TV has transitioned rapidly to Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Google Chromecast. This market consolidation puts a huge barrier up for new entrants, and apparently all that remains now is to find out which of these four services can best leverage content and usage on behalf of advertisers. Read on at Broadband TV News.

Snapchat Winners Come And Go

Snapchat has repeatedly tinkered with its Discover content portal, and is apparently set to do so again. Mashable and Vox will be given their own Discover channels, according to Ad Age reporter Tim Peterson. It’s still unknown which of the current 10 publishers featured on the Discover product will be bounced to make room for them. More. Snapchat lets the brands on its Discover page do up to five sponsor takeovers per month, but revenues are still tiny. It made just $3 million in 2014, Gawker revealed last week.

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