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Aug 2, 2024, 1:09:10 AM8/2/24

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YAHOO FINANCE: Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann (NFLX) spoke on Netflix's fourth-quarter conference call stating "we are not interested in some of the bigger linear assets that may or may not be available." The company recently announced a massive deal with TKO (TKO) to become the streaming home of WWE RAW, showing continued investment in content over companies.

DeBevoise states: "The other streamers have pulled back on content and marketing spend. They're having to rationalize their technology spend... Netflix doesn't have those issues. They've built that technology stack. It's in the right place. It's at the right cost level. They are profitable... They can go after those subs and those shows, and they can find the right ways to invest and really drive subscribers. "

BRAD SMITH: Netflix posting a big jump in subscribers for the fourth quarter, proving that it's still the big winner amidst stiffer competition. So what is next? Consolidation has been a trending topic within the industry over the last several months, after reports of talks between Paramount and Warner Brothers-Discovery. When asked about M&A in their earnings call, Netflix's CFO made it clear about a space that they are not interested in.

SPENCER NEUMANN: We're not interested in some of the big linear assets that may or may not be available. We also noticed that-- noted that in the letter. And so I think that's how you should think about our-- what's out there to go after.

BRAD SMITH: So for more on the future of streaming and the entire space, we've got Marc DeBevoise, who is the Brightcove CEO joining us here in studio. Marc, great to see you. I mean, when you hear comments like that on the call, does it mean that Netflix perhaps is prioritizing its attention elsewhere in order to deploy capital, make strategic, maybe not acquisitions of linear, but elsewhere, whether that be content or some smaller player?

MARC DEBEVOISE: I think they realize that they can-- not effectively run the table, but run a tremendously successful and still growing business by really just acquiring content and content rights in the right bundles and the right packages. You saw the deal yesterday that they announced with the WWE.

That's a really big, broad bet on how they can amplify their ad business, in my opinion. They're going after a much larger audience per event in that regard. And that's going to help them drive sponsorships, drive bigger reach for their ad business, rather than so much frequency that they get from delivering sort of series and scripted series.

And you saw them peel back their investment in scripted series last year a bit. Interestingly, you saw their traffic go down a little bit, but subscribers go up, right? And you saw that strong finish to the year. I think that's tremendous for them, and gives them a lot of confidence that this strategy of going after content rather than full companies is probably the right answer for them.

MARC DEBEVOISE: Yeah, I mean, I think, look, the other streamers have pulled back on content and marketing spend. They're having to rationalize their technology spend. That's effectively what Brightcove does for many of these companies. We help them solve that technology cost problem.

And Netflix doesn't have those issues, right? They don't-- they've built that technology stack. It's in the right place. It's at the right cost level. They are profitable. So they can now swing for those pullbacks that the other companies are having in content and marketing. They can go after those subs, they can go after those shows, and they can find the right ways to invest and really drive subscribers.

MARC DEBEVOISE: Yeah, I mean, I think it's really interesting. You saw it subtly in there in their earnings call that they're going to raise price on the more premium subs with no ads, and keep that price low for the ad tier. When I was running Paramount Plus or CBS All Access, we had a significant lift from that ad-- you know, that ad supported tier. You could get dollars and dollars per sub by delivering those ads.

So when you see that $5, $9, $10 lower price point, it should be adding 50%, 60% of that in ad dollars on a typical basis. So you start to see like-- they may be agnostic as to where the subscriber goes, because they're making just as much money on that ad tier as they are effectively on some of those lower end premium tiers.

This is a newbie question in R. I am downloading yahoo finance monthly stock price data using R where the ticker names are read from a text file. I am using a loop to read the ticker names to download the data and putting them in a list. My problem is some ticker names may not be correct thus my code stops when it encounters this case. I want the following.

As per question 2, I want the variable names for the first element of the list to be "MSFTopen", "MSFThigh", "MSFTlow", and "MSFTclose". Is there a better to way to do it apart from using a combination of loop and paste() function.

This also a little late...If you want to grab data with just R's base functions without dealing with any add-on packages, just use the function read.csv(URL), where the URL is a string pointing to the right place at Yahoo. The data will be pulled in as a dataframe, and you will need to convert the 'Date' from a string to a Date type in order for any plots to look nice. Simple code snippet is below.

Both services have their pluses and minuses but ultimately each offers a great live TV streaming experience. In general, it's a choice between having the biggest streaming bundle for the least amount of money, or being able to watch the greatest number of top channels. Hulu has an excellent selection of channels and not only adds a gigantic catalog of on-demand shows and movies but also includes the Disney Bundle -- Disney Plus and ESPN Plus -- for the $70 price, and as a result is our current Editors' Choice. Meanwhile, after an $8 price hike, YouTube TV still offers the most of the top 100 of any service, though it will be close as Hulu will soon add both PBS and Magnolia.

Hulu's greatest assets are the integration of a full complement of live TV channels with a massive catalog of on-demand content, and all for the one price. Hulu's channel count is solid, including some must-have programming. Its $70 price includes the ad-supported versions of Disney Plus and ESPN Plus, and there are even higher-priced choices for people who don't want to watch ads. If you want the most bang for buck, Hulu Plus Live Tv is where the smart money is.

With an excellent channel selection, easy-to-use interface and excellent cloud DVR, YouTube TV is an excellent cable TV replacement. It offers a $20 4K upgrade, but the downside is there isn't much to watch at present. If you don't mind paying a bit more than the Sling TVs of the world, YouTube TV offers a great live TV streaming experience.

The biggest difference comes down to channels. Comparing the total channel counts from our big list of the top 100 channels on every service, YouTube TV comes out on top with 77 from that list, closely followed by Hulu with 75. That total doesn't include every channel the services carry, just the ones in the top 100 as determined by the editors at CNET, but it still provides a good indication.

Both services offer all four of the major local channels -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- in most areas of the country, and both also carry local affiliates from The CW and MyTV. In the coming months Hulu is due to join YouTube TV in carrying PBS local stations.

Neither service offers many regional sports networks after both YouTube TV and Hulu dropped them in 2020. Beyond RSNs, however, YouTube TV has an advantage in national sports networks, with NBA TV available as part of its base package. Though YouTube TV used to have MLB Network as well, it dropped the channel earlier this year. YouTube users can pay another $11 to get the "Sports Plus" add-on that also includes Fox College Sports, GolTV, NFL RedZone and Fox Soccer Plus. In addition, users also have exclusive access to the NFL Sunday Ticket for an added $349. Meanwhile, Hulu users can sign up for a $10 package which includes NFL RedZone, Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, MAVTV Motorsports Network, TVG and TVG2.

Premium channels like HBO, Starz and Showtime are also available for extra fees, and Hulu has two optional channel packages. One is an add-on for $8 per month with 17 channels including MTV Classic, CNBC World, the Cooking Channel and Science, and the other is a Spanish-language package with seven channels for $5. YouTube TV doesn't have any other additional channel packages, although you can add individual channels like Shudder and CuriosityStream for additional fees.

YouTube TV: In general the YouTube TV interface is easier to use, and not just to people used to using regular YouTube. If you're using the desktop or app versions, Google's streamer offers a streamlined structure -- even if it's not as pretty as Hulu.

Hulu Plus Live TV: If it was all a matter of which interface is more fun, then Hulu would take it. Hulu's look is brighter, and though it lacks YouTube's comprehensive search, it's still relatively easy to drill down into the kind of content you want to watch.

The difference in the number of simultaneous streams is worth noting, especially for families and other households who watch a lot of TV. YouTube TV lets you stream to three different devices -- say, the living room TV, a bedroom TV and a tablet -- at the same time, while Hulu lets you stream to two. Pay Hulu a hefty $10 extra per month and it will upgrade your number of streams to unlimited. On the other hand, the only real reason to pay for the $20 4K upgrade on YouTube is to also get unlimited streams.

YouTube TV has rightly earned accolades for its excellent cloud DVR but Hulu closed the gap with an upgrade in 2022. Both now have unlimited storage and let you fast-forward through commercials in recorded content, so while we still consider YouTube TV's DVR the gold standard, Hulu's is very good too.