Maximizing Profit: TV Ads, Subscriptions, and Data

Digital Ad Revenue Surpasses TV For The First Time Ever!

- Announcement of the release of Episode 4 of the Rich and Read podcast

- Information about where to listen to the podcast

- Introduction of the Patreon for the podcast and its benefits

Body:

- Discussion of the YouTube ad pocalypse and its effects on content creators

- Explanation of YouTube's new strict policies for placing ads on videos

- Importance of Patreon for content creators affected by the ad pocalypse

- Good news for content creators: digital ad revenue has surpassed TV ad revenue for the first time ever

- Explanation of the significance of this milestone

- Breakdown of the increase in digital ad revenue, with mobile devices being a significant driving force

- Importance of controversial and edgy content for YouTube and other video sharing sites

- Warning to YouTube about the dangers of limiting controversial content and the potential consequences for their ad revenue

- Hopeful message that someone will figure out a way to solve the ad pocalypse problem and allow controversial content to thrive on YouTube

- Reminder of the importance of controversial and edgy content for the success of YouTube and other video sharing sites

- Closing statement from Rich of Review Tech USA

Meta to devote 20% of funds to the Metaverse in 2023

- Mark Zuckerberg's spending on the metaverse

- Possibility of deprioritizing metaverse streams in 2023

Main Points:

- Meta's reality Labs on track to lose 13 billion dollars in 2022

- Admission of limit on percentage of spending is a huge tell

- Facebook's focus on core technologies, including AI content discovery

- Meta's professional ad organization stabilizes them for 2023

- Refocusing on core technologies can bring back investors

- TikTok spin off could be a tailwind for meta

- TikTok's link to parent company bite dance makes spin off difficult

- Reels is a strong competitor to TikTok

- Snap is well positioned with the same demographic as TikTok

- Bipartisan issue of change in how TikTok operates in the US

- Snap and meta are the two main benefactors

- 2023 will see significant action taken

- Snap and meta are well positioned for success

Monetising personal digital data sparks interest in the Den 🐉 Dragons’ Den - BBC

- Sam Jones, founder of Generate, seeks £60,000 in exchange for 10% equity.

- The advertising industry is built on exploiting user data.

- Generate offers users a choice between privacy mode and earning mode.

- Earning mode allows users to share their data with Generate in exchange for points that can be redeemed for rewards.

Revenue Model:

- Generate empowers users to control their data and earn from it.

- Companies and advertisers pay to show users relevant advertising based on their interests.

- Generate expects to drive at least £5-£10 per user per month.

- Generate gives 80% of the revenue back to the user and takes a 20% cut.

Competition:

- A US company rewards users with cryptocurrency.

- There is a huge opportunity in the data monetization space.

- Google could potentially develop a similar system, but Generate offers a unique value proposition.

Investor Offers:

- Peter and Tej offer all £60,000 for 10% equity.

- Jenny and Touker offer all £60,000 for 5% equity each and free office space.

- Sam accepts Peter and Tej's offer, but offers to split the deal with Jenny and Touker at 5% each with free office space included.

- Generate offers a solution to the issue of data exploitation in the advertising industry.

- The company's revenue model empowers users to earn from their data and takes a 20% cut of the revenue.

- Generate faces competition from a US company but offers a unique value proposition.

- Peter and Tej offer all £60,000 for 10% equity, and Jenny and Touker offer all £60,000 for 5% equity each and free office space.

- Sam accepts Peter and Tej's offer but offers to split the deal with Jenny and Touker at 5% each with free office space included.

How Instagram And Facebook Make Money

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are used by more than 2 billion people every day, which is more than a quarter of the world's population. Despite privacy scandals and backlash, Facebook is still growing and generated a total revenue of $55.8 billion in 2018. But how does Facebook make money without charging users for its services? Is the company selling personal information to advertisers and foreign governments?

How does Facebook make money?

Facebook has relied on advertising for revenue since its inception. About 99% of Facebook's revenue came from advertising in 2018. There are about 7 million advertisers on Facebook, and the ads that users see are highly targeted. Advertisers can pick the kind of audience they want to reach, and Facebook provides them with a near guarantee that they won't waste their time or money. Facebook ads are targeted, which means each ad is specifically for the user. Companies only want to pay to show ads to people who are likely to buy their products, and Facebook can provide that information using the data that users voluntarily provide.

Why do advertisers use Facebook?

Advertisers use Facebook because of the targeting that the company offers. Facebook has a ton of data on its users, and that's valuable to advertisers, especially those on a budget who want to make sure they're reaching users who could realistically turn into customers. This has led to digital advertising surpassing traditional advertising for the first time this year.

How does Facebook know who you are and what you're interested in?

Facebook gathers almost as much information as it needs just by what users do on its family of apps. Users input basic information like age, location, and education on their profile, but they also like pages, join groups, RSVP to events, and share their location. Facebook is able to package all this information and harvest it to try to figure out what kind of person the user is and what they're most interested in. Facebook can also get data on users from other websites they visit through the Facebook Pixel. Based on this information, Facebook forms an advertising profile for each user, putting them into certain groups that advertisers can pick and choose from when buying ads on Facebook.

What are the concerns about Facebook's advertising business?

Facebook has been criticized for its heavy-handedness in its ad targeting tools. Pregnant women who have had miscarriages have criticized the company for continuing to show them baby product ads. The Trump administration recently charged Facebook with discrimination in its advertising practices for housing. Facebook has pledged to reform its system to prevent this type of discrimination. Just as ads can influence consumers to buy products, they can also influence voting behavior. In the Cambridge Analytica scandal, 87 million Facebook users had their data stolen to help influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Can users avoid personalized targeted ads?

It's nearly impossible to opt out of Facebook altogether. Even if users delete Facebook, the company still has their data if they use Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger. Users can adjust the categories that Facebook has determined they're interested in by going into their settings, but it's still challenging to avoid ads on Facebook.

What could affect the outlook for Facebook's advertising business?

Many people have become concerned about too much use of social media, and Apple introduced Screen Time to help users crack down on how much time they're spending on social media and their phones. The EU has put into place some pretty onerous regulations for companies that are doing business on the internet, and it's not beyond imagining that that could occur in other places, especially the United States. Another factor that could hurt Facebook's advertising revenue is of its own making. This is a new feature called Clear History that the company said is going to roll out to users in 2019. The less data that Facebook has on users, the less ability the company has to target ads to them with precision.

Despite data breaches, lawsuits, and regulations, Facebook continues to lure advertisers, and while user growth has slowed, it is still growing. The company has found itself in hot water on more than one occasion for its heavy-handedness in its ad targeting tools, and it has pledged to reform its system to prevent discrimination. Facebook is starting to change its advertising strategy by placing an emphasis on its stories product. Mark Zuckerberg recently announced a new vision for the company, raising questions for investors on how targeted advertising products will work if users aren't posting publicly.

The real reason tickets are so pricey (it's not TicketMaster)

Selling concert tickets is not an easy task, especially when it comes to popular artists like Taylor Swift. TicketMaster, the dominant player in the industry, has faced criticism for high service fees, cryptic error messages, and limited availability of tickets. However, the real problem lies not with TicketMaster's monopoly but with the complex economics of live music events.

The science of pricing is a well-established discipline that seeks to find the right price for a product. However, concerts are different from other products, as they are an experience that is highly emotionally charged and unique. Therefore, the right price for a concert ticket cannot be determined by traditional pricing models. The only way to determine the true value of a ticket is through an auction, which is not feasible for artists who want to maintain their image and fan base.

To balance the competing interests of making money and cultivating goodwill, artists artificially price their tickets below market value, which creates opportunities for scalpers to buy low and sell high. Moreover, artists withhold their best seats and sell them directly to brokers who sell them at inflated prices. This creates a situation where the artists can have their cake and eat it too, as they protect their image with affordable primary ticket sales while profiting off far more expensive secondary sales.

TicketMaster's dominance in the industry is due to its exclusive contracts with the vast majority of large desirable venues. However, what critics of the company often miss is that TicketMaster has become so big because it promised to make concert venues more money. The company did this with service fees, which are shared between TicketMaster, the venue, promoter, and/or artist. The vast majority of TicketMaster's customers love the company, but we are not its customers. We are just collateral damage caught in a web of intermediaries fighting to capture the value of live music.

The only absolute, unbreakable monopoly in the industry is the artist. The top 1% of artists negotiate from a position of extraordinary strength, and they determine ticket prices, fees, presale requirements, and whether or not to use dynamic pricing. Therefore, if anyone can negotiate on behalf of all of us, it's the artist. While TicketMaster is not an innocent scapegoat, calling for the breakup of the company is not an effective solution. The real hope lies with the artist, who can set better terms that benefit everyone.

In conclusion, the economics of live music events are complex and unique. TicketMaster's dominance in the industry is due to its promise to make concert venues more money. While the company has faced criticism for high service fees and limited availability of tickets, the real problem lies with the artificial pricing of tickets by artists and the complex contracts they negotiate. The only hope for change lies with the artist, who can negotiate better terms that benefit everyone.

VIZIO TV IPO - $VZIO $2 Billion in 2020 Revenue and Making Money - Under $20 EP 110

- Arlo Knows IPOs and Specs discusses the upcoming Vizio IPO

- Vizio IPO set to launch on March 25, 2021

Financials:

- Vizio IPO set between $21 and $23 per share

- Net income of $103.2 million on revenue of $2.04 billion in 2020

- Ticker symbol is set to be VZIO

- Gross profit increasing twofold in the past couple of years

- Net income and comprehensive income total of $102 million and $103 million, respectively

- Price to sales is 1.98 and earnings per share is 55 cents

- Net free cash flow is $30 million

- Revenue growth rate is 11.2%

SmartCast:

- Vizio's SmartCast provides access to most major streaming services

- Vizio generates revenue from advertising on its home screen and within some free content

- SmartCast accounts jumped 61% last year to 12.2 million users

Final thoughts:

- Vizio's sales of over 7 million TVs a year and $2 billion in revenue for those devices make it a good buy

- SmartCast and its growing number of subscribers are also promising

- Other streams of revenue, such as subscription sales to Netflix, are also coming up through SmartCast

- Arlo Knows IPOs and Specs may buy a few shares and encourages viewers to share their thoughts in the comments.