Scripps Interactive

Posted on October 16, 2016 by amsortal

By Ryan Lannum & Aaron Sortal

[1] Scripps Interactive Network Logo

Brief History [1]

Scripps Networks Interactive began in 1878 when Edward W. Scripps founded The Penny Press in Cleveland, Ohio. Jump forward a 100 years and Scripps Networks Interactive began buying and building cable television systems, making it one of America’s largest cable operators, which was later sold to Comcast. In the 1990s, Scripps Network Interactive began building their media network. After the purchase of Cinetel Productions, a Knoxville-based cable creator, it launched HGTV in 1994.

[1] Source: WBIR-TV 10 Knoxville / Scripps Network Interactive

After the launch of HGTV, Scripps Networks started more lifestyle networks including: Food Network (1997), DIY Network (1999), Fine Living Network (2002), Great American Country (2004), and Travel Channel (2009). The organization describes itself as a “niche broadband [of] channels that extend the core brands’ presence on the Internet with advertiser-supported, on-demand content” (Scripps Networks Interactive).

In 2007, the board of directors decided to split The E.W. Scripps Company into two publicly-traded companies. One of the organizations would concentrate on national television lifestyle brands and the other focus on innovative and enduring local media businesses.

Financials

Stock er-er the last 5 years [2]

Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. has done very well financially the last few years. At the end of 2015, Scripps’ revenue totaled $3.02 billion, with a total net income of $606.83 million [2]. This is a great increase from the previous years, as its 2014 net income totaled 545.28 million, and its 2013 net income totaled $505.07 million. Their total net incomes are increasing at a steady rate, and will likely continue in the coming years. While their stock price is lower than it was five years ago, it being at $70.06 now and 76.50 then, it has increased greatly in the past year, with the price being only $59.04 in November of 2015.

In the fall of 2016, Scripps Networks reported a 6.6 percent increase in advertising revenues, which totaled to a $477.5 million in advertising revenue during the quarter [3]. This jump in advertising revenue also added to five of the six networks having a ratings boost. Focusing on ads that connect to the demographics that watch their channels resulted in tremendous success both in viewership and in revenue. The need for advertising revenue caused a major problem when it came to a subscription video on demand service deal with Netflix.

Netflix Deal Not Renewed for a New Season

Netflix Desktop [4]

During the fall of 2016, Burton Jablin, Scripps Networks Interactive’s COO, announced the organization would not be renewing its digital distribution deal with Netflix on the company’s quarterly earnings conference call [5]. This isn’t the first-time Scripps Networks Interactive has ended a subscription video on demand deal with a media distributor [6]. In February 2013, Scripps Networks Interactive had a deal with Amazon. That deal ended in March 2014. This prompted the Netflix and Scripps Networks Interactive deal that ended this past November. According to a Variety.com article, Scripps Networks could have lost about $11 million of licensing revenue from Amazon [6]. Unlike the deal with Amazon, the CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive, Kenneth Lowe, commented on the company’s decision to leave Netflix. Lowe stated that a major reason for leaving Netflix was the loss of advertising dollars [7], which brought-in roughly $445 million dollars in revenue during the last quarter [3]. Jablin said in a Variety.com article: “In the end, it really is not the kind of dual-revenue model that best monetizes our content over the long term” (Spangler). [8] Over the past couple of months, Netflix has removed content from its database because the company wanted to create room for its original content. All of Scripps Network’s shows will not be removed until the end of the year [7]. Some of the shows that are being removed are: “Cupcake Wars,” “Chopped,” and “Man v. Food.”

AT&T Long-Term Distribution Agreement

http://www.csc.com/global_alliances/alliances/112505-at_t

AT&T Logo [9]

In September of 2016, Scripps Interactive reached a deal with AT&T, in which they agreed for a continuation of distribution of Scripps Networks for DIRECTV [10]. This deal will be made for multiple years, ensuring that DIRECTV will continue its widespread distribution of the Scripps Network channels. They also agreed to include Scripps Networks on DIRECTV’s streaming service, DIRECTV NOW. Programs on channels such as HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Great American Country, and Cooking Channel are included to be distributed through this deal.

As DIRECTV has over 20 percent of the market share of cable providers in the US, this deal will assist in allowing Scripps Networks’ programs to be distributed to as many people as possible [11]. DIRECTV is also expected to grow in market share in the next decade, so this deal will continue the great relationship Scripps has with AT&T. With DIRECTV NOW launching at the end of November, it will also allow people whom prefer to stream their content the chance to view Scripps Network shows [12]. The portability of DIRECTV NOW will allow its customers to view Scripps Network shows at anywhere at any time, which will increase the flexibility and make it more likely that the shows will be viewed a lot more often than before. DIRECTV NOW is also a lot cheaper alternative to established cable packages, so the low cost may also bring in a lot more viewers, in which can increase Scripps’ revenue and exposure.

DirecTV NOW Informational Video [13]

Pluto TV Financing

Pluto TV Logo [14]

Pluto TV is a television platform launched in 2014, which is solely internet-based [14]. They play content from over 75 different partners, including NBC, Bloomberg, Sky News, and Paramount Pictures [15]. The format is basically the same as a television network, as the programs are played in different time slots, as opposed to letting the viewer decide what they want to watch whenever they want to watch it.

In October of 2016, Scripps Networks participated in a $30 financing round, which was led by ProSiebenSat.1. With this participation, this will allow Pluto TV to air a great amount of Scripps’ content, giving more exposure and potential revenue as a result. Pluto TV is also available for free, so even people without cable can have access to Scripps’ content. With this plus the AT&T deal involving DIRECTV NOW, it can definitely be shown that Scripps Networks is investing a lot of money into online streaming services, as they can see the market for internet-based content is growing every year. If regular cable tv ends up being less popular and streaming services become the most used service to access television, Scripps will be ahead of the change and be able to retain and potentially gain a lot of revenue for the future.

Pluto TV Advertisement[16]

Sources

[1] Scripps Networks Interactive. “ History.” History | Scripps Networks Interactive, www.scrippsnetworksinteractive.com/our-company/history/.

[2] “SNI Income Statement – YahooFinance.” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, finance.yahoo.com/quote/SNI/financials?p=SNI.

[3] Littleton, Cynthia. “HGTV, Advertising Gains Power Scripps Networks Interactive’s Q3 Earnings.” Variety, 7 Nov. 2016, variety.com/2016/tv/news/scripps-networks-interactive-q3-hgtv-travel-channel-1201911392/. [3] Littleton, Cynthia. “HGTV, Advertising Gains Power Scripps Networks Interactive’s Q3 Earnings.” Variety, 7 Nov. 2016, variety.com/2016/tv/news/scripps-networks-interactive-q3-hgtv-travel-channel-1201911392/.

[4] Sebastian. “How to Watch Netflix While Abroad .” TigerVPN Blog, 4 May 2016, blog.tigervpn.com/howtowatchnetflixwhileabroad/.

[5] Szalai, Georg. “Scripps Networks Won’t Renew Netflix Deal, CEO Says ‘We’Re Big Enough.’” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2016, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/scripps-networks-wont-renew-netflix-deal-ceo-says-were-big-944709.

[6] Spangler, Todd. “Amazon Drops Discovery and Scripps Shows, with Scripps the Bigger Loser.” Variety, 26 Mar. 2014, variety.com/2014/digital/news/amazon-drops-discovery-and-scripps-shows-with-scripps-the-bigger-loser-1201147369/.

[7] Faulkner, Trisha. “Netflix Loses Scripps Networks Interactive Contract: Say Goodbye To HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, And More.” The Inquisitr News, 12 Nov. 2016, www.inquisitr.com/3709928/netflix-loses-scripps-networks-interactive-contract/.

[8] Spangler, Todd. “Netflix Losing Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel Shows at End of 2016.” Variety, 9 Nov. 2016, variety.com/2016/digital/news/netflix-scripps-food-network-hgtv-travel-channel-shows-1201913874/.

[9] “AT&T.” Computer Sciences Corporation, CSC, www.csc.com/global_alliances/alliances/112505-at_t.

[10] “Scripps Networks Interactive, AT&T Sign Long-Term Multi-Platform Distribution Agreement.” Nasdaq GlobeNewswire , GlobeNewswire, 22 Sept. 2016, globenewswire.com/news-release/2016/09/22/873822/0/en/Scripps-Networks-Interactive-AT-T-Sign-Long-Term-Multi-Platform-Distribution-Agreement.html.

[11] Munson, Ben. “Top 9 Cable, Satellite and Telco Pay-TV Operators in Q1: Ranking Comcast to TWC to Charter to Cablevision.” FierceCable, 11 May 2016, www.fiercecable.com/special-report/top-9-cable-satellite-and-telco-pay-tv-operators-q1-ranking-comcast-to-twc-to.

[12] Rogowsky, Mark. “Is DirecTV Now The Video Service Cord Cutters Have Been Waiting For?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 29 Nov. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2016/11/29/is-directv-now-the-video-service-cord-cutters-have-been-waiting-for/#7781ae8330ef.

[13] CNET. “DirecTV Now Offers 100 Channels of Live TV Starting at $35 a Month.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 Nov. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=040r9p0oijk.

[14] “What Is Pluto Tv?” Pluto TV, Pluto TV, corporate.pluto.tv/.

[15] Pham, Alex. “Pluto TV Lands $30M Financing From Scripps Networks And ProSiebenSat.1.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 Oct. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/alexpham/2016/10/12/pluto-tv-lands-30-million-financing-from-scripps-networks-and-prosiebensat-1/#16d668db4e3f.

[16] PlutoTV. “Pluto.TV: Watch What’s Possible.” YouTube, Pluto TV, 31 Mar. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=atNBbc6ofiE.

IAC

Posted on December 1, 2014 by jypirogo

by Jacob Pirogovsky

IAC began in 1986 and was originally called the Silver King Broadcasting Company and was owned by the Home Shopping Network. Later in 1992, it became its own publicly traded company. The company went through a series of name changes from USA Networks, Inc. to USA Interactive, before finally changing it to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July of 2004. Since that time IAC/InterActiveCrop has been acquiring a variety of companies in a very wide array of different fields. They divide their holdings into four main groups: Search and Applications, The Match Group, Media, and eCommerce. Each of these groups has a plethora of companies, as seen in the image below, all of which influence the decisions and finances of InterActiveCorp as a whole.

All 4 segments broken up, with revenue information. SOURCE: Berkeley Investment Group

This period* has seen a lot of changes for IAC, as well as its subsidiaries. One major one was that Bonnie Hammer, the chairman for NBCUniversal Cable was appointed to the board of IAC in September by IAC’s CEO Barry Diller, who says “She’s a superb businesswoman, programmer and brand builder.” With her expertise in the television industry, she will be able to give the company insight into growing audiences and as a very influential social activist she will be able to attract some positive press for IAC, especially in light of the drama surrounding Tinder’s executives.

In early September a court case was settled between one of Tinder’s co-founders, Justin Mateen, and an early employee, Whitney Wolfe, who accused Mateen of sexual harassment. IAC reached a settlement with Wolfe so that it wouldn’t go to trial, but

2 of Tinder’s Co-Founder’s – Sean Rad (left) and Justin Mateen (right). SOURCE: Forbes

everything was deemed confidential so much of what happened is unknown to the public. Mateen left the company after being suspended in July. Now, in November Tinder’s co-founder and CEO Sean Rad has been forced to step down by IAC. The news came to him while he was at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in October, where he was about to announce that Tinder was going to monetize. Both of these things have big implications for Tinder and IAC. The app has grown 600% in the last year and has 30 million users who collectively check out 1.2 billion other users. With the new premium model, revenue predictions for 2015 are about $150 million. Rad, who will remain on the board of Tinder, is working with Matt Cohler, a partner at Benchmark and a newcomer to the Tinder board, to find a new CEO for the company.

SOURCE: Forbes

In terms of other finances, IAC released a third quarter earnings report for 2014 at the end of October. According to Yahoo! Finance, the company earned about $30 million more than analysts had predicted for this quarter. Overall, it has had 3% growth in the last year. In The Match Group, revenue increased by 12% and in the eCommerce segment, HomeAdvisor’s revenue grew 20%, with an overall growth of 14% in the segment. In the third quarter Search & Applications decreased 3% in the last year. Meanwhile, in the Media segment of IAC, Vimeo revenue increased by 30% and now has more than 530,000 subscribers; however, overall the Media revenue went down 1% in the last year.

IAC’s stock over the past year on the NASDAQ. SOURCE: Bloomberg Markets

Very recently in early November, Mindspark (an IAC subsidiary) acquired Apalon, a company that develops applications for Apple and Google Play, and whose apps have had more than 100 million downloads in the past year. “The combination of Apalon’s world-class mobile app development skills with Mindspark’s proven ability to distribute digital applications at scale is a huge differentiator and strategic advantage in the marketplace,” said Eric Esterlis, co-president of Mindspark. The two companies will complement each other and will help fight the decrease in revenue in the Search and Application segment of IAC.

SOURCE: About.com

Another revenue booster for that segment is the redesign of About.com’s website. The site hadn’t been redesigned since 2007, so the re-launch of the site in September has had some profound effects on users. On average they stayed on the site 24% longer and viewed 18% more articles than before the redesign. Additionally, the previous design was built to come up higher in Google searches to increase cost-per-click ad revenue; however, because Google’s algorithm is always changing and to decrease dependency on this type of ad, the site is now making more deals with advertisers to sponsor different sections of the site.

In the eCommerce segment, the EVP and CFO of Shoebuy.com, John Foristall was selected as an honoree “40 Under 40” award, which is given out annually by the Boston Business Journal to people who have made a major impact in their field. In addition, the company partnered with Rodgers and Hamerstein’s Cinderella to launch a limited collection of special occasion footwear inspired by the show. The cooperation helped increase the overall revenue of the segment.

In the media segment, Aereo, an online streaming service that offered live and recorded programs, filed for bankruptcy protection in November, after losing a major court case. The company was said to have violated programming copyright protections, according to a Supreme Court decision. The startup was beginning to revolutionize broadcast TV viewing, and even though it ended up failing, it will most likely lead to future attempts of a similar service.

SOURCE: Bloomberg WEST

Up until the past few years, Vimeo, another one of IAC’s media holdings, was having a hard time figuring out how to monetize, other than through subscription users. Now through Vimeo On Demand, their on demand platform, they have an additional revenue stream. In October, they made deals with two big YouTube producers, Phil DeFranco and the Orchard online network, which put their content onto Vimeo as well. Additionally, Vimeo just had their first original series, “High Maintenance,” premiere in November. According to Indiewire, the show is the future for web series and indie television. The series directors were in ongoing talks with FX to bring the show to cable, but ended up cancelling because they didn’t want to lose creative control. In light of that they made a deal with Vimeo for the financing. As Vimeo caters more towards industry professionals, the high production value show has found the perfect home and will bring more revenue to the site. Even though the show has always been on Vimeo, they are now promoting it; and they have given the series it’s own channel and have begun charging 1.99 per episode. This doesn’t seem to be a deterrent because according to Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor, “High Maintenance” made more money in the first two days after it released and charged for episodes than it would have made with YouTube ad sales over the past two years.

High Maintenance // Stevie from Janky Clown Productions on Vimeo.

Overall, IAC/InterActiveCorp has had a very busy semester with lots of acquisitions and new deals being made to stay up to date in today’s ever changing fast-paced media driven world. As the year comes to an end, Ask.com recently released the top searches of 2014, marking a comeback in the struggling site. Looking ahead, in all four sectors of the company, IAC plans to maintain and increase its status as the 13th largest network in the world.

*a period from August 25th – December 1st 2014

KEY EXECUTIVES:
Barry Diller – Chairman & Senior Executive
Victor Kaufman – Vice Chairman
Jeff Kip – Executive VP & CFO
Greg Blatt – Chairman, The Match Group

Address:
555 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 1-212-314-7300
Company URL: iac.com

Sources:

Forbes.com: Tinder harassment settlement, Tinder monetizing/new CEO
Variety.com: Bonnie Hammer story
Tvbythenumbers: Hammer’s social activism information
IAC.com: Q3 report, Brand homepages, executives, Press Releases
Yahoo! Finance: IAC financial information
Bloomberg.com: Aereo story, Vimeo’s new content
IndieWire.com: High Maintenance information
The Hollywood Reporter.com: Vimeo On Demand information
Fastcompany.com: About.com redesign

Images/Video:

-Forbes.com: Tinder Co-Founders, Sean Rad Interview
-Bloomberg.com: Aereo Interview, IAC Stock Chart
-Berkeley Investment Group: IAC breakdown chart
-About.com: Website redesign
-Vimeo.com: High Maintenance episode

Yahoo

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Samantha Ho

By Sam Ho

Yahoo Logo [1]

701 1st Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Phone: (408) 349-3300

Company Profile

As the world’s largest start up company, Yahoo is a global technology corporation that started as a simple search engine and has grown into a web portal at the global forefront of highly personalized, “daily habit” products and services. Whether through the Yahoo home page or their own personalized page, affectionately named My Yahoo, 800 million monthly users in 60 countries around the world have access to weather, mail, sports, finance, games, and many more powered through Yahoo services.[2]

Key Executives [3]

Marissa Mayer, CEO, President, and Director

David Filo, Co-Founder and Chief Yahoo

Ken Goldman, Chief Financial Officer

Kathy Savitt, Chief Marketing Officer

History

Founded in 1994 by two Stanford PhD candidates, David Filo and Jerry Yang, Yahoo initially began as a website, titled Jerry and Dave’s Guide to the World Wide Web, that listed David and Jerry’s favorite internet sites. After gaining heavy popularity, the two discovered that their little guide could become a successful business and renamed it. The web directory continued to change in the 1990s and diversified into a web portal to provide eager users with the services of Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Games, and Yahoo! Groups.[4] Adding weather, sports, and finance to the mix, the web portal became the center of daily habits. In 2005, it acquired the popular photo sharing service Flickr and its 1 million loyal and consistent users.[5] In 2013, it continued to expand its reach towards more active online users by buying the famous blogging site, Tumblr, for $1.1 billion.[6] Specializing in search, content, and communication tools, Yahoo is standing its ground at the forefront of technology.

1996 Yahoo Homepage [7]

2013 Yahoo Homepage [8]

Financial Snapshot

Publicly traded since 1995, Yahoo‘s stock (YHOO) is currently up 0.08% since its previous

Yahoo Financial Chart [10]

close at $36.38. [9] On April 15th, 2014, the Yahoo! Inc. reported its first quarter 2014 results in accordance with a live stream online. While the company’s stock has performed exceedingly well at the markets over the past two years, its revenues have failed to gain traction. The GAAP revenue for the quarter was $1.13 million, down 1% from the Q1 2013. The company’s quarterly GAAP net earnings also dropped by 20 percent to $312 million. Net earnings per share for the quarter were $0.29, down 17 percent.

Despite its poor marks compared to its Q1 2013 results, Yahoo made smaller successes in its display and search ad revenues, which make up 12.4% and 14.2% of its value respectively. Compared to the first quarter of 2013, its Q1 2014 GAAP display revenue of $453 million remained consistent because of the 7% increase in Number of Ads Sold. With Paid Clicks increased approximately by 6% and the Price-per-Click increased by about 8%, the 2014 GAAP search revenue of $445 million experienced a successful 5 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2013. [11]

Making Changes

CEO Marissa Mayer at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show [12]

The Comeback Kid: With 13 years of employment at Google, including the title of first female engineer at the company, it was only right for Marissa Mayer to set her sights on Yahoo. Named Yahoo CEO, President, and Director in July 2012, Mayer has been determined to lead Yahoo out of its 3rd place spot and into a place at the forefront of technology.[3] With about two years as evidence, she is well on her way after rolling out a new homepage, redesigning Yahoo Mail and saving Flickr from near death. As she continues to orchestrate more acquisitions for the company, such as her biggest move yet to buy Tumblr, Marissa Mayer is breaking Yahoo records and making strong steps towards modernizing the pioneer portal.[13]

Yahoo Advertising: Starting in 2014, Yahoo wants to place itself at the center of the online ad ecosystem with its latest creations: Yahoo Advertising and Yahoo Ad Manager. Launching under a new unifying brand, the idea of Yahoo Advertising aims to simplify a fragmented market. Buyers will be able to automatically buy across Yahoo’s various channels, including the Web, video, mobile, and Tumblr, all in a central interface called Yahoo Ad Manager. [12] Tapping into the

Yahoo Gemini – Mobile and Native Ads [14]

ever-growing 430 million mobile Yahoo users, Yahoo Gemini, a function within Yahoo Ad Manager, will be the first of its kind to combine mobile search and native advertising in one accessible solution.[14] The successful future of this new system is evident in the digital ads within Yahoo’s newly launched digital magazines, Yahoo Food and Yahoo Tech. Instead of a simple box in the corner, the native ads of each site are integrated and authentic, allowing consumers to treat each promoted brand as informative content. Yahoo’s belief that “storytelling aids brand retention” embodies the new shift towards fully integrated marketing and a push towards more successful ad sales. [15]

Yahoo Screen on Roku [18]

Yahoo Screen: Rivaling competitors such as Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube, Yahoo‘s video streaming service, Yahoo Screen, combines over 70 original web shows and a diverse array of content from partners such as Saturday Night Live, The Onion, GQ, ABC News, and Vogue.[16] In mid April 2014, Yahoo and Vevo announced that they will be expanding their partnership through a deal that will bring Vevo’s videos, live concert events, and other original programming to the Yahoo site. [17] In addition to new content, Yahoo Screen has been expanding the source through which its content is viewed. In 2013, the video streaming service launched its own mobile app for Apple iOS devices and soon followed that decision with its launch on the Apple TV. During its first quarter in 2014, Yahoo Screen launched its own channel on another home TV box, called Roku. Providing a new variety of content to eager users and new ways to receive their desired entertainment, Yahoo is slowly pushing its way into online video with much more focus and quality. [16]

The Future of Yahoo

Yahoo Smart TV [22]

As Yahoo works to repair and reorganize within its own systems, Marissa Mayer and the company are looking to journey outside of Yahoo‘s own boundaries, finding a place within Television. Yahoo is in talks to acquire News Distribution Network Inc., which could make Local TV news a big part of the online landscape.[19] In addition, Yahoo is rumored to have interest in producing its own TV content in competition with Netflix original programming.[20] Combined with its latest creation, Yahoo Smart TV, Yahoo hopes to bring its sphere of influence to the Televised world.

Yahoo Buys Aviate [23]

In many ways for the company’s CEO, mobile is the future. Delivering her first keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2014, Mayer started with an exciting announcement that Yahoo had acquired Aviate. With the technology to customize the Android’s smartphone home screen based on personal information, the company is looking towards its future in the mobile industry. While Apple owns the iOS mobile operating system and Google owns Android, Aviate could be Yahoo’s golden ticket. [21]

Sources

[1] Yahoo Logo RT: 19 April 2014

[2] Yahoo Corporate Information RT: 16 April 2014

[3] Yahoo Executive Team RT: 16 April 2014

[4] Silicon Valley Historical Association: Yahoo! Inc. From 2008. RT: 17 April 2014

[5] “Flickr At 10: 1M Photos Shared Per Day, 170% Increase Since Making 1TB Free”. From 10 Feb 2014. RT: 18 April 2014

[6] “Yahoo buys Tumblr, promises to not ‘screw it up'”. From 20 May 2013. RT: 17 April 2014

[7] 1996 Yahoo Homepage Image. RT: 19 April 2014

[8] “Yahoo’s new homepage is a good first step” From 20 Feb 2013. RT: 17 April 2014

[9] YHOO Profile. RT: 19 April 2014

[10] “Yahoo sales sag with mixed results in ads” From 15 April 2014. RT: 18 April 2014

[11] Yahoo Reports First Quarter 2014 Results. RT: 19 April 2014