Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Scroll down for the BBC's response to Iran, details on Vox's inaugural "Future Perfect 50" list, Netflix's soaring stock, Meghan Markle's Q&A with Variety, E. Jean Carroll's deposition of Donald Trump, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Snap Signal

CNN Photo Illustration/Richard Drew/AP

All eyes in Silicon Valley will be on Snap Inc. Thursday afternoon.

The company is the first Big Tech firm to report its quarterly earnings, which will come Thursday after the bell, serving as a general bellwether for the entire digital advertising industry.

Social media companies have been hit especially hard in recent months by inflation and economic uncertainty, given that digital ads are the easiest to hit pause on when companies want to slash costs.

Companies like Snap have also faced significant competition from TikTok and are still grappling with privacy changes implemented by Apple which has made it more difficult to track users and target them with greater precision.

When Snap reported Q2 earnings in July, and missed big, not only did its shares tank some 35%, but the company dragged down the entire tech sector with it, sinking industry titans such as Meta and Google.

Big Tech companies as a whole have done what they can to buckle their belts and prepare for a looming economic downturn, slashing costs on various projects. Snap in August announced it would lay off 20% of its employees.

In recent days, Snap's stock has risen slightly, but it has still yet to recover from the summer's tremendous fall. More broadly speaking, it has been a horrible performer in the Nasdaq this year.

And good news doesn't seem to be around the corner.

"When Snap reports its fiscal third-quarter results Thursday, analysts expect more of the same: Little good news, and a warning for other companies set to follow with their own earnings," MarketWatch's Jon Swartz summed up.

Swartz quoted analyst Brian White of Monness Crespi Hardt who said, "We believe the darkest days of this economic downturn are ahead of us."

Barclays analyst Ross Sandler said in a note earlier this month that its projections remain "unchanged that digital advertising growth is likely to remain well below normal sequential trends for the next several quarters as marketers adjust budgets to the new economic reality."

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CNN Photo Illustration/AFP/Getty Images

Tehran Targets the BBC: The BBC on Wednesday responded sharply to sanctions imposed on its Persian arm by the Iranian government, which targeted several UK institutions for "deliberate actions in support of terrorism, incitement of violence, and human rights violations." In a statement, BBC Persian, arguably the most influential Western news org covering Iran, said, "Our sole aim is to report the truth about events in Iran in an independent and impartial way. Millions in Iran rely on the information the BBC broadcasts. We will absolutely support our staff. We object to any action by the Iranian authorities aimed at targeting them, their families, and our journalism, in the strongest possible terms."

OFF THE WIRE

The top headline on The Guardian Wednesday evening captures the chaos in the UK: "Liz Truss's government on the brink." (Guardian)
One headline on CNN puts the situation into context: "Liz Truss is on track to become Britain's shortest-serving prime minister." (CNN)
Thursday's i front page: "Chaos at the heart of UK government." (Twitter)
The Mirror's two-word front page: "Utter chaos." (Twitter)

THE BUSINESS

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Netflix's Stock Soars: Netflix ended the day up more than 13% after it reported better-than-expected earnings Tuesday. The company's stock also received two big upgrades, one from JPMorgan and the other from Deutsche Bank. THR's Georg Szalai has a good round up here of what Wall Street analysts are saying after the streamer's earnings.

First in Reliable: Vox will announce Thursday its inaugural "Future Perfect 50" list, which I'm told is aimed at "highlighting visionaries who are making a difference and working to improve lives tomorrow." The list includes The NYT columnist Zeynep Tufekci and journalist Liu Hongqiao, among others. "We are thrilled to announce this list of scientists, philosophers, technologists, activists, and writers who are working to build a better future for humanity," said Vox Editor-In-Chief Swati Sharma, who added, "With this project, Vox wanted to highlight those who embody the question Future Perfect asks daily: How do we make the future a better place for everyone?"

IN THE INDUSTRY

Todd Spangler writes about Netflix and Disney+'s "dash for streaming ad cash." (Variety)
Is network-controlled prime time about to have an hour shaved off of it? Dade Hayes writes about why 10pm might soon be handed back to local stations. (Deadline)
"Rupert Murdoch has come out of hibernation": Anne Hyland reports on what analysts are saying of the potential Fox Corp.-News Corp. merger. (Sydney Morning Herald)
An activist group has asked the DOJ to reverse the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster. (THR)
The NY Times is canceling plans to launch an app for kids. (WSJ)
Kim Kardashian weighed in on Jake Tapper's cover story for The Atlantic, looking at C.J. Rice's prison sentence: "How could an innocent 17-year-old end up behind bars until he's 77 years old?" (Twitter)
Andrew Aoyama followed up on Tapper's report and looked at Rice's "narrow path to freedom." (The Atlantic)

MEDIA MOVES

CNN has announced the team that will compromise its new Guns in America beat. The group will be led by Josh Campbell and include Stephen Gutowski, Jennifer Mascia, and Abené Clayton. (AdWeek)
Audie Cornish's podcast for CNN Audio premieres Nov. 17. (Variety)
Andrew Ross Sorkin is debuting a streaming show called "Special Report" on NBC News Now. (Deadline)
Adolfo Flores joins WSJ as a national reporter based in Texas. (Twitter)
DC Films president Walter Hamada is departing the studio, becoming the fifth Warner Bros motion picture studio exec to leave since David Zaslav took the reins. (Deadline)

THE INFO WARS

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

E. Jean Carroll's lawyer said that they are "pleased" to have been "able to take Donald Trump's deposition" on Wednesday. (CNN)
"The world according to Fox": Jeremy Peters and Rachel Abrams look at Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and report that she is expected to be deposed soon in Dominion's $1.6B defamation suit. (NYT)
Lisa Lerer and Jazmine Ulloa report on how "direct political engagement has been falling away," in part due to "Republican hostility to the mainstream media." (NYT)
In a tense interview, Piers Morgan asked Kanye West, now known as Ye, whether he regrets his "Death Con 3" tweet about Jewish people. "Absolutely not," West said. (Mediaite)
"We may not yet have hit the nadir of the current debacle of Ye ... but Monday night's interview with Chris Cuomo certainly felt like some kind of bottom," Jon Caramanica writes. (NYT)
"This is so depressing," Howard Stern said summarizing the situation. "I mean, Kanye used to be fun crazy. Now he's like Hitler." (Mediaite)

THE VALLEY

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The TikTok Threat: U.S. users of TikTok "would still risk having personal data exposed to hacking and espionage by China even if the Biden administration forges a security agreement designed to spare the video platform from a total US ban," Bloomberg's Daniel Flatley reported Wednesday, citing former national security and other experts. "They built the whole system in China," one national security lawyer said. "Unless they're going to rebuild the system in the United States at great expense, sooner or later, when something goes wrong, there's going to turn out to be only one engineer who knows how to fix it. And he or she is likely to be in China."

TOO MANY TABS

Pinterest is also mimicking TikTok these days. (The Verge)
Microsoft wants to challenge Apple and Google's mobile dominance by building an Xbox mobile gaming store. (The Verge)
Ashley Gold writes that Meta's Giphy loss "widens the horizon for global regulatory efforts to rein in Big Tech companies." (Axios)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Ramona Rosales/Variety

Markle Speaks: Meghan Markle is on the cover of Variety's latest issue. Markle spoke about mourning the loss of Queen Elizabeth, saying she was "really grateful" she was able to be with her husband, Prince Harry, "to support him." Markle added, "What's so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts. Certainly, in terms of female leadership, she is the most shining example of what that looks like. I feel deep gratitude to have been able to spend time with her and get to know her. It's been a complicated time, but my husband, ever the optimist, said, 'Now she's reunited with her husband.'" Read the full Q&A here.

OFF STAGE

Kevin Spacey's defense lawyers have rested their case in the Anthony Rapp misconduct suit. (Deadline)
The Paul Haggis sexual misconduct trial started on Monday. (Variety)
CBS has renewed "East New York," "Fire Country," and "So Help Me Todd" for second seasons. (THR)
Adam Chitwood goes "inside the decade-long journey to bring Dwayne Johnson's DC anti-hero to the big screen." (The Wrap)