In a recent media release, Walt Disney Company (DIS) revealed that it chose Google Ad Manager as its new digital advertising handler for an undisclosed amount, after sidelining its previous handler, Comcast's FreeWheel. Under this multiyear and multimillion-dollar deal, Disney is set to move all of its digital brands and properties worldwide — including Disney, ABC, ESPN, Freeform, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars — to Google’s advertising platform. With Google Ad Manager serving as DIS’s principal ad-technology platform, it will bring Disney’s entire global digital video and display business across multiple channels, including live streaming and direct-to-consumer content offerings, under one platform. This consolidation should allow Disney to standardize its ad-technology under one global platform.It will also allow them to build a cutting-edge video experience and refine the way ads are stitched into live video, so that there’s a more seamless viewing experience

Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox are being sued by Malaysia’s casino & hotel company Genting Malaysia Bhd for abandoning a Fox World theme park deal.The park was scheduled to open its gates next year, with Genting having invested around $750 million in the project. Disney is in the process of acquiring Fox's entertainment assets. In the lawsuit filed on Monday, Genting indicates that it is Disney that apparently wants to distance itself from a gambling company in order to avoid risking its “family-friendly” brand image.

On Tuesday morning, 21st Century Fox is launching its new online video streaming platform called Fox Nation. With a focus on  entertainment and political opinion, the streaming service apparently promises to offer content in addition to what viewers get on its decades-old cable TV channel Fox News. Fox Nation will have upto 30 hours of new programming per week, and will also stock archives of Fox’s radio programs.The streaming platform has also lined up live shows such as 'UN-PC' with hosts Britt McHenry and Tyrus, 'Liberty Files with Judge Napolitano', and 'Reality Check with David Webb'. The launch of Fox Nation seems to be 21st Century Fox’s attempt at expanding its footprints in the rapidly growing online streaming industry.

The escalating trade war between China and the U.S. spurred concerns for the impending deal between Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox. But with Chinese regulators finally approving Walt Disney's $71.3 billion acquisition of nearly all 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets, the most important hurdle for the blockbuster deal has been cleared. With the news hitting the market, shares of Disney rose nearly 1% while shares of Fox rose 3%. Although the deal still needs regulatory approval from several other nations, this unconditional Chinese approval is the biggest stepping stone towards successful execution of the deal amidst ongoing geopolitical tensions. With the deal expected to be complete within the first half of 2019, it would transform the entertainment landscape as it gives Disney access to key film brands such as Avatar and X-Men, as well as some of the big TV hits such as “Atlanta,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and “American Horror Story.” Furthermore, it wou

In the second quarter, Netflix reported lower-than-expected subscriber growth and took a share price hit almost immediately, as investors worried about the company's strategy and future. But now, after a strong third-quarter earnings report, investor concerns took a back seat as it became evident that the company's 'original content' strategy was finally paying off. The main concern for the company in Q2 was related to subscriber growth, which grew by only 5.15 million -- missing its own estimate of 6.2 million.But in Q3, this it was adequately addressed as the company added nearly 7.0 million subscribers against an estimate of 5.0 million. Focusing on original content proved beneficial for Netflix, as it’s expected to help the company save big on licensing costs over the long term.

On Monday, Netflix announced that it will issue new debt of $2 billion. As the online video-streaming giant continues to up the ante on content (up to $8 billion could be spent on content this year) amidst prolonged cash outflows, the company seems to be relying on even more debt to for its operations.This year’s interest costs (excluding those on the latest debt issue) has climbed to $291 million from $238 million of full year 2018. However, Netflix chief financial officer David Wells tried to sprinkle some hope for investors during the third-quarter earnings call with analysts where he said, “Netflix is approaching a point where the growth in operating profit is going to grow faster than our growth in content cash spend, and that’s really going to drive the free cash flow towards improvement – it will eventually break even,” and added that he projects a “material improvement” in cash flow by 2020.  

Netflix hopes to add another 9.4 million subscribers in the last part of this year. On Tuesday, CEO Reed Hastings attributed the discrepancy between the company's subscriber estimates and its actual figures to a "forecasting" issue.Nevertheless, Netflix's third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) beat estimates, at 89 cents versus the 68 cents forecast by analysts. The company's growth/marketing strategies for the international market seems to be paying off big time.

Netflix (NFLX) reported its latest quarter subscriber and user growth numbers had far outweighed Wall Street's expectations. The company known for hits such as Stranger Things and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, brought on 6.96 million total new streamers, which beat its own guidance of 5 million for the quarter.Streaming revenue grew 36% year-over-year, while global users hit 130 million paid and 137 million total members.

A Citigroup analysis upgrades its recommendation on Netflix . The online video-streaming company’s more than -15% plunge in stock price over the past three months is potentially an attractive buying opportunity for investors, according to Citi’s analyst Mark May  who raised his rating from “Neutral” to “Buy” for Netflix stock. May also mentioned in a note that the previous "Neutral" rating for Netflix was based to some extent on its high valuations;  the recent decline in the broader market has made Netflix stock prices more reasonable.He further added that the firm's  free cash flow burn is likely to taper off by 2018-end, and that he expects the free cash flow to turn positive in 2020 or 2021.  

"In light of the premium Comcast has agreed to pay for Sky, we and Disney have decided to sell 21CF's existing 39% holding in Sky to Comcast," Fox announced." Comcast’s final bid for Sky was £17.28 ($22.65) per share – which is  25% higher than its previous offer of £14.75 ($19.43) per share.  

Comcast Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc.’s  race to acquire Sky Plc.will be settled in a one-day auction to be held this Saturday. Fox and Comcast will place their respective bids for Europe’s pay-TV behemoth, starting at 5 p.m. on Sept. 21 in London in an auction conducted by Britain’s Takeover Panel.

How to choose the best used-car dealer selling used cars online, travel sites, food delivery, home goods?As of August 21st, 2018 the largest holdings are Carvana (6.84%), ETSY (4.56%), Wayfair (4.53%), IAC Interactive (4.28%), etc.

Ending speculations, Netflix announces that it will not include commercials in episodes and movies. A spokesperson of the video streaming company said that the platform is testing the concept of adding “personalized recommendations” – versus commercial ads – in between an episode or movie, and the viewer even has the option to skip them. Netflix wants to study whether or not these promotional videos would help subscribers get useful suggestions.

According to a Bloomberg report, people who are familiar with the situation (but wished not to be named since the talks are still private) said that the e-commerce giant is interested in buying Landmark from Wagner/Cuban Cos. After online streaming of movies/TV series and music, Amazon might now be eyeing a ‘physical’ presence in the media business.Landmark Theaters is largely focused on art-house/ independent and foreign films and owns more than 50 theaters in 27 markets

Facebook will broadcast La Liga matches in India for free. By signing a deal with Spain's top soccer league, Facebook could be elbowing its way into the sports steaming services market, thereby potentially competing against traditional broadcasters (such as Fox's Star India’s network of over 60 television channels that brings sports, entertainment, and news to Indian viewers). The social networking giant will broadcast 380 first division La Liga matches a year in India and some of the latter’s neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The company, however, said that it collaborates with credit card firms and banks to provide customer chats and account management services. 

MoviePass popular service owned by Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. traded on Nasdaq under HMNY lost 60% of it’s stock price in just one day.This happened just 3 days after the company announced a reversed 250 to 1 stock split when the price of the stock became $16 a share, but quickly dropped to below a dollar in just 3 days.   MoviePass is experiencing financial problems because they don’t generate enough revenue to cover their costs of taking 3,000,000 subscribers to the movies for free while receiving from them just $10/month.

Revenues came in at $711 million which was above estimates of $696.2 million, but monthly active users fell short of expectations by about 3 million. Much like Facebook, Twitter is dealing with increased public scrutiny about malicious use of its platform to spread misinformation, and it has led the company to spend a great deal more on security and resources to fix the problem.Rising expenditures led Twitter to adjust forward looking expectations, adjusting their EBITDA between $215 million and $235 million down from higher estimates last quarter. 

21st Century Fox has accepted Walt Disney Co.’s offer to acquire its entertainment assets. The $71.3 billion deal marks one of the biggest mergers ever in the U.S. entertainment industry.Disney has already agreed to divest Fox’s 22 regional sports networks that compete with its own ESPN, and therefore fulfilled the U.S. Justice Department’s condition for the acquisition’s approval. Disney’s first bid for Fox's assets came in December at $52.4 billion.

Though Comcast lost this battle, they did succeed in making Disney go $20 billion higher than they would have originally, which could constrain Disney's ability for future acquisitions.  And that's key.Fox already owns 39% of Sky, and in their bidding war with Comcast they are valuing Sky at $32.5 billion while Comcast has valuation pegged at $34 billion.