Bye bye and welcome back to Week in Review. Last week I wrote about the possibility of a pending social media detente, this week I'm talking about a growing threat to Facebook biz.
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First of all, let me tell you how hard it was to resist Quibi writing this week, but those shots came very hot by the time the news came, and I've already written a few here. All I'm going to say, is that while Quibi had its own unique mobile issues, unless Apple changes course or dumps a lot of money buying content to fill its library, I think TV + is next on the board.
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- Lucas Matney (@lucasmtny) 21 October 2020
This week, I'm digging into another once-vilified startup, although this one has triggered quite a reversal in the past couple of years. Shooting, Snapchat creator, released a killer earnings report this week, and as a result, investors felt they could push the stock price up. Its market cap has nearly doubled since the beginning of September and it is clear that Wall Street actually believes Snap can significantly increase its footprint and challenge Facebook.
The company ended the week with a market cap just under $ 65 billion, still a far cry from Facebook's $ 811 billion, but looking a little better than it was in early 2019, when it was worth around a tenth. than what it is today. Suddenly, Snap has a new challenge, living up to high expectations.
The company shared that it delivered $ 679 million in reported revenue in the third quarter, representing a 52% year-over-year growth. The company currently has 249 million daily active users, up 4% from last quarter.
Facebook will report its Q3 earnings next week, but for the moment they are still in a different situation, even though their market cap is just about 12 times that of Snap, their quarterly earnings from Q2 have been about 28 times higher than those just reported by Snap. Meanwhile, Facebook has 1.79 billion daily activities, about 7 times the numbers of Snapchat.
Snap has spent a great deal of time proving the value of the features they have been pushing for years, but the next challenge for the company may be to diversify its future. The company has flirted with augmented reality for years, patiently waiting for the right time to expand its scope, but Snap hasn't had the luxury of diverting resources from efforts that don't send users back to its core product. Some of its biggest launches of 2020 have been embeddable mini apps for things like ordering movie tickets or small social games that bring even more social opportunities to chat.
Snap's laser lens here was obviously a big part of his recovery, but as expectations rise, so will he require society to move with more courage in extending his empire. I don't think Snapchat needs to buy Trader Joe or their ISP yet, but working to find their next platform will prevent the service from settling for Twitter-sized ambitions and give them a chance to find a more expansive future.
Trends of the week
The next few weeks are sure to be dominated by US election news, so enjoy the diversity of news out there as long as they last ...
Quibi is dead
Few companies that raised so much money have appeared dead enough like Quibi, Jeffrey Katzenberg's mobile video startup. This week, the company decided to close operations and close it. More here.
Pakistan unlocks TikTok
It seems that the cascading threat of TikTok country by country the bans have ceased for now. This week, TikTok was unblocked in Pakistan with the government warning the company it needed to actively monitor content or face a permanent ban. Read more here.
Facebook Dating arrives in Europe
Facebook Dating hasn't done much to unseat Tinder in the US, but the service hasn't even had a chance to test its luck in Europe due to some regulatory issues surrounding its privacy practices. Now, it appears that Facebook has landed in the tentative graces of regulatory bodies and has gotten the green light to launch the service in a number of European countries. Read more here.
Until next week,
Lucas M.