Under The Hood
When Gary Numan sang, “Here in my car, I feel safest of all,” he didn’t know about the rapacious data collection practices of modern-day automakers.
Ars Technica reports that, late last week, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent letters to 14 car companies, including Ford, GM, Honda and Hyundai, asking pointed questions about their approach to data privacy.
Markey’s letter comes after a recent report from Mozilla, published in September, revealed that the majority of automakers – a whopping 84% – share and/or sell personal data with third parties, including data brokers.
As Markey put it, “Today, cars have effectively become smartphones on wheels.”
According to Mozilla, car manufacturers collect everything from real-time location, call logs and music listening habits to biometric data, such as a driver’s eye movements, blinks and heartbeat. Biometric information can be used to determine mood or mental health.
Some car brands even collect information about drivers’ “sex life,” whatever that means. 😳
The letters also note Mozilla could not confirm any of the car brands in its report meet its minimum standards for customer data security.
That’s a serious breakdown.
Trundle Bundles
Streaming companies have advertised and discounted like crazy the past few years.
Even for the likes of Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, the pace just can’t be sustained.
But the competition hasn’t abated, and ad-supported subscriptions aren’t pulling enough weight (yet, at least). Streamers like Netflix, Paramount+ and Disney+ are also good at self-promotion across owned-and-operated media. But, by definition, they need to reach new audiences, which means going outside the fortress.
The result has been more bundling. And media and entertainment companies are leaning on each other like exhausted boxers.
Any business with the marketing budgets and proper justification to the CFO/CEO can package ad-supported products together. (The “ad-supported” element helps ease the expense since costs can be partially recouped through inventory deals.)
Walmart+ incorporated a Paramount+ with ads subscription last year, followed by Instacart+ bundling Peacock with ads just last week.
Now, Variety reports, Verizon will package ad-supported versions of Netflix and Max (the Warner Bros. Discovery vehicle that used to be HBO). Verizon is covering a 40% discount on those services, which it buys wholesale and considers a customer acquisition cost.
One Stream To Rule Them All
Disney paid Comcast $8.6 billion for the remaining one-third share of Hulu last week. But Disney might be on the hook for more, The Information reports.
Hulu’s valuation was set at $27.5 billion in 2019. But there’s a fresh valuation process to determine Hulu’s current worth – and, if so, Disney will pay the difference.
Based on streaming and cable revenue growth, The Information estimates Hulu should be valued at around $45 billion, whereas Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says it’s closer to $60 billion.
Those estimates would put Disney out another $5 billion or $10 billion, respectively.
Disney CEO Bob Iger recently told CNBC he’s unconcerned about Hulu’s final price. But Disney is in cost-cutting mode, spending less on content, raising subscription prices and trying to offload some linear assets – even ABC.
At the same time, full ownership of Hulu will put Disney in a better position to monetize what everyone in the industry expects the company to eventually release, which is a single app bridging the entire content empire – not just the Disney Kingdom.
That new app, set for release in the springtime, enters beta testing this month for Disney bundle subscribers.
But Wait, There’s More!
Ousted propaganda scholar Joan Donovan accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta. [WaPo]
Not bowing to Meta: a media publishing group in Spain. It’s suing the company for collecting user data for advertising without consent, flouting European data-privacy regulations. [WSJ]
TikTok users in 20 more countries can now buy Ticketmaster tickets without leaving the app. [TechCrunch]
Spotify, UM and Magna are among the latest companies announcing layoffs. There have been a lot this year.
You’re Hired!
Publicis Creative names Susie Nam as CEO. [Ad Age]
Media agency Exverus hires Melissa Andraos as its SVP of media strategy. [release]
