Tech Crunch reports: “Roku plans to be a billion-dollar company in 2019, the company said on Thursday as part of its announcement of strong earnings. The company beat analyst estimates and reported strong growth in active users and streaming hours with earnings of $0.05 per share, compared with the $0.03 analysts had estimated.”
Hypebot reports: “Spotify is aggressively re-positioning itself as a destination for all things audio. Following its recent purchase of podcasters Gimlet and Anchor Media for $340 million, the streamer has added a ‘Word’ category to make it easier for users to find the growing collections of poetry, guided meditations, audiobooks, language lessons and short stories on the platform.”
The Verge reports: “Samsung’s Gear VR is one of the most popular virtual reality headsets, but recently, its future has seemed uncertain. Samsung didn’t mention the mobile headset during this week’s Unpacked event, and it hasn’t significantly updated the hardware since 2017. Despite this, the company said that all four of its new Galaxy S10 phone models will work with the Gear VR, using an adapter that ships with the headset.”
Variety reports: “All bets are on for the Action Network, the sports-wagering content and analytics roll-up formed by Peter Chernin’s Chernin Group. The company closed $17.5 million in Series B funding led by Fertitta Capital, the investment firm of former UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.”
Forbes reports: “Star Wars: Project Porg uses the Magic Leap One head-mounted display to overlay realistic digital imagery onto your real world environment, providing a unique, personal interactive experience.Star Wars: Project Porg was developed in conjunction with ILMxLAB, part of Disney’s Lucasfilm group.”
Tech Crunch reports: “Facebook will end its unpaid market research programs and proactively take its Onavo VPN app off the Google Play store in the wake of backlash following TechCrunch’s investigation about Onavo code being used in a Facebook Research app the sucked up data about teens.”
Variety reports: “Chinese video streaming firm iQIYI lost over $1.3 billion in 2018, as revenues and subscriber numbers ballooned. The deepening losses reflected ever higher spending on original content production. The company operates a hybrid model of free-to-use, ad-supported content and paid-for subscriptions.”
Gamesindustry.biz reports: “NetEase earned almost $6 billion from online games in 2018, up 11% over the prior year despite the impact of China’s freeze on new game licenses. The Chinese publisher’s total revenue for 2018 was ¥67.2 billion ($9.8 billion), an increase of 24% over the prior year.”
Variety reports: “Netflix is spending more on content than rivals by billions — and its customers continue to give Netflix’s original programming higher marks than the rest of the field. As of Feb. 7, 2019, Netflix customers gave the streamer’s original content a score of 81 out of 100, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.”
Hypebot reports: “While many may believe that major labels have one foot in the grave, some recent revenue figures out from Universal Music Group tell a different and far more lucrative story, with UMG raking in over 7.1 billion over the past year, thanks to major artists like Drake, Taylor Swift, and Post Malone.”
