Twitter's Q2 ad revenue fell 8% Y-o-Y; Ad engagements rose 95% Y-o-Y

"In Q2, product contributions to Twitter’s engagement and audience growth continued to increase. Monthly active usage (MAU) increased 5% year-over-year [to 328m] and daily active usage (DAU) increased 12% yearover-year, marking the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
• Underlying business fundamentals also improved. We saw an improvement in the year-over-year growth rate for total revenue (relative to Q1), driven by accelerating year-over-year growth in our data products, continued strong growth in video with a very strong debut at the 2017 Digital Content NewFronts, and an improvement in the yearover-year growth rate for owned-and-operated (O&O) revenue.
• Finally, we achieved greater operating efficiency. Our GAAP net loss was $116 million. Excluding a $55 million cost-method investment impairment charge, we would have made progress toward GAAP profitability and further reduced our GAAP net loss. We also delivered better-than-expected adjusted EBITDA margins in Q2, despite the yearover-year decline in revenue.
Specifically, in Q2, we achieved the following results:
• Q2 revenue totaled $574 million, a decrease of 5% year-over-year.
• Advertising revenue totaled $489 million, a decrease of 8% year-over-year.
• Data licensing and other revenue totaled $85 million, an increase of 26% year-over-year.
• US revenue totaled $335 million, a decrease of 7% year-over-year.
• International revenue totaled $239 million, a decrease of 1% year-over-year.
• Total ad engagements increased 95% year-over-year.
• Cost per engagement (CPE) decreased 53% year-over-year."
Source:  Twitter's Q2 Letter to Shareholders, 27th July 2017

Facebook has 1.32bn daily active users; Mobile is 87% of ad revenue

"Daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.32 billion on average for June 2017, an increase of 17% year-over-year.
Monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.01 billion as of June 30, 2017, an increase of 17% year-over-year.
Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 87% of advertising revenue for the second quarter of 2017, up from approximately 84% of advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2016.
Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2017 were $1.44 billion.
Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $35.45 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2017.
Headcount – Headcount was 20,658 as of June 30, 2017, an increase of 43% year-over-year."

Source:  Facebook's Q2 2017 Earnings, released 26th July 2017

BBC Worldwide's profits rose 18% in 2016-7

"BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the Corporation – has revealed its financial results for 2016/17, showing an increase in both headline sales and headline profits, and sustaining cash returns to the BBC above £200 million (€226m) for a third successive year.
Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide and Director, Global, said: “By concentrating our efforts around core areas of growth and being bold in our transformation ambition, BBC Worldwide has delivered another strong year of results. Ever-closer relationships with producers, driving excellent content, along with acute customer focus, creative deal-making and strategic partnerships, are together enabling us to navigate the rapid shifts in the markets where we operate.
[...]
Headline sales of £1.0599 billion [€1.1977bn] (2015/16: £1.0294bn) and headline profit of £157.3 million (2015/16: £133.8m) were up 3.0 per cent and 17.6 per cent respectively. Organic headline profit growth was 6.4 per cent and all four regional segments reported growth in headline profit. These results reflect good Content Sales, with sales to SVoD services remaining buoyant; an excellent performance from Branded Services, including the UKTV and BBC AMERICA channel JVs; and beneficial foreign exchange movements.
Strong demand from VoD clients helped BBC Worldwide pass its internal revenue target of £400 million in content sales one year early, at £422.4 million (2015/16: £384.2m), up 9.9 per cent, maintaining its position as the leading global distributor outside the US studios."
Source:  Advanced Television, 19th July 2017

Netflix has 104m members; over 50% are outside the US

"Our quarterly guidance is our internal forecast at the time we report and we strive for accuracy. In Q2, we underestimated the popularity of our strong slate of content which led to higher-than-expected acquisition across all major territories. As a result, global net adds totaled a Q2-record 5.2 million (vs. forecast of 3.2m) [to a total of 103.95m members] and increased 5% sequentially, bucking historical seasonal patterns. For the first six months of 2017, net adds are up 21% year-on-year to 10.2m. Our Q3 guidance assumes much of this momentum will continue but we are cognizant of the lessons of prior quarters when we over-forecasted and there was lumpiness in net adds, likely due to demand being pulled forward (into Q2 in this case).
Domestic net additions of 1.1m represented the highest level of Q2 net adds since the second quarter of 2011. For Q3’17, we project that we will add 0.75m US members, compared with 0.37m in Q3’16, which was impacted by un-grandfathering.
Our international segment now accounts for 50.1% of our total membership base. International revenue rose 57% year over year, excluding a -$23 million impact from foreign exchange, while international ASP grew 10% year over year on a F/X neutral basis. International contribution profit of -$13 million vs. -$69 million was better than our -$28 million forecast due primarily to higher-than-forecasted paid members."

Source:  Netflix' Q2 2017 Shareholder letter, 17th July 2017

Note - the figure of 104m is total members - paid members is 99.04m

Students and other 'pre family' adults in the UK watch nearly 3 hours of non-broadcast video per day

Source:  Ofcom's Public Service Broadcasting Annual Report 2017, 7th July 2017
Full pdf here

TV screen time in the UK is constant, but live viewing is falling

Source:  Ofcom's Public Service Broadcasting Annual Report 2017, 7th July 2017
Full pdf here

Watching on-demand television is increasingly popular in the UK, especially among younger viewers

"Television viewing is changing, but the PSBs remain at the heart of the overall audience experience
The television landscape is changing; people are increasingly viewing content in a variety of different ways, both on the television set and on other devices. Young adults are watching a substantial amount of non-PSB content, and behavioural changes are happening not just in this group, but among those up to the age of 45.
Despite the changes in the ways in which people watch television, overall viewing on the TV set is resilient; each week 85% of people in the UK who have a TV in their household watch PSB channels. Public service broadcasters remain at the heart of the UK’s television viewing experience.
There is a widening gap between the viewing habits of the youngest and oldest audiences
Individuals in the UK watched 3 hours 32 minutes of measured broadcast TV on a TV set in 2016. This is 4 minutes a day (2%) less than in 2015. However, there are big differences between age groups, and these gaps are widening. Viewers aged 65+ watched an average of 5 hours 44 minutes in 2016, just three minutes less than in 2012; in contrast, 16-24 year olds watched an average of 1 hour 54 minutes in 2016, 43 minutes less than in 2012.
Between 2015 and 2016, average daily viewing among children and 16-24 year olds each fell by 10 minutes, whereas viewing by over-64s increased by 2 minutes.
Watching on-demand television is increasingly popular, especially among younger viewers
Measurements of broadcast television viewing and reach are based on the official industry BARB data, which measures the viewing of scheduled TV programmes on TV sets, and includes time-shifted viewing of these programmes. However, a substantial amount of viewing is not covered by BARB, and this type of viewing is highest among younger people. GfK survey data estimate that there are large daily amounts of time of non-broadcast viewing of video/TV content, especially among viewers in the pre-family life stage, who watch an average of about 2.5 hours per day of non-broadcast content, on any device."
Source:  Ofcom's Public Service Broadcasting Annual Report 2017, 7th July 2017
Full pdf here

Netflix gets more viewing time in the US than Amazon, hulu and YouTube combined

"A ComScore report has revealed that Netflix gets more viewing time in the US than rivals Amazon, Hulu and YouTube combined.
The data shows Netflix holds a 40 per cent share of total viewing hours of an OTT service, with YouTube ranking second place with 18 per cent, Hulu third with 14 per cent and Amazon Video at 7 per cent – a combined 39 per cent.
The report also notes that Netflix’s prime viewing hours are in-line with what many expect from traditional TV consumption — 8pm to 11pm. Additionally, people watch Netflix for an average of one hour and forty minutes a day per household. Netflix is the standard TV choiec in 54 per cent of US homes."

Source:  Advanced Television, 6th July 2017

Google Home is 6x more likely to be able to answer a question that Amazon Alexa

"New York-based 360i has developed software to determine how well Google Home and Amazon Alexa execute exchanges with human beings. The initial results from the agency, which is part of Dentsu Aegis Network, are intriguing.
So far, Google Home is six times more likely to answer your question than Amazon Alexa. It’s relatively surprising, considering that RBC Capital Markets projects Alexa will drive $10 billion of revenue to Amazon by 2020—not to mention the artificial intelligence-based system currently owns 70 percent of the voice market.
360i’s proprietary software asked both devices 3,000 questions to come to the figure. While Amazon Alexa has shown considerable strength in retail search during the agency’s research, Google won the day thanks to its unmatched search abilities."

Source:  AdWeek, 23rd June 2017

The most missed media device in the UK by age, 2017

Source:  Ofcom's Media Use & Attitudes survey, June 2017
Pdf here