On today's episode, we discuss Amazon's Q2 performance of its retail business, some takeaways from its Prime offering, and where it stands on its physical stores strategy. We then talk about capitalizing on the subscription box trend, how buy-now-pay-later users are different from credit card users, and if malls really are within striking distance of 2019 traffic levels. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer director of forecasting at Insider Intelligence Cindy Liu.

The challenge: Theaters complained that the simultaneous release strategy hampered further success at the in-person box office. “Black Widow” lead actress Scarlett Johansson also filed a lawsuit against Disney in July, alleging that the strategy limited her compensation, which is partially tied to theatrical ticket sales, according to The New York Times.

For example, set-top boxes provide tremendous reporting granularity of linear audiences but cannot collect CTV viewing. And while CTV data can be tapped from automatic content recognition signals, the average smart TV manufacturer has only 1.1 TV sets per household versus closer to 3 TV sets represented by set-top boxes, according to Comcast Advertising’s Marcus.

Subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify have successfully transformed the way people engage with media, but retail subscriptions are yet to transform the way people shop. So far, retail subscription boxes have seen momentum within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) category—think companies like Blue Apron, Dollar Shave Club and Birchbox. Despite the waves these companies have made, are consumers actually ready to automate their purchases of everyday goods?

October 2020 YouGov data for media agency The Kite Factory showed that two-thirds of adults in Great Britain who had signed up to a new subscription service (including subscription boxes, as well as media streaming services) since the beginning of the pandemic came from the C2DE category.

How experiments with exclusive theatrical releases affects streaming subscriptions and box office revenues. Media companies that own content studios and streaming services are trying to strike a delicate balance between retaining content exclusively for their streamers and licensing to outside services. Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is an interesting case study in this regard.

We define linear addressable households as homes with a subscription to traditional pay TV services and a set-top box that allows for addressable TV advertising. The linear addressable TV household shrinkage is caused by the growing share of consumers who have left their cable and satellite TV packages.

We define these households as homes with a subscription to traditional pay TV services and with a set-top box that allows for addressable TV advertising. Behind this linear addressable TV household shrinkage is the growing share of consumers who have left their cable and satellite TV packages.

Subscription fatigue be damned. More than a third of Americans believe they will increase the number of subscription services they use in the next two years, but interest isn’t the same across all categories.

And contrary to past giving trends, 34% of respondents said they were interested in gifting subscription boxes for this year’s Mother’s Day. Brand Keys found that, when compared with last year, spending on greeting cards and flowers decreased to 96% and 88%, respectively. However, spending on spa services and gift cards will increase 11% and 5% year over year.

How FabFitFun Leverages Influencer Marketing to Bolster Subscriptions. Influencer marketing is an important part of the marketing mix for most companies, especially those in the retail space. Subscription box brand FabFitFun is one of many retailers investing in the space.

And subscription box retailer FabFitFun is also eyeing the emerging platform, according to Leslie Emmons Burthey, vice president of marketing for the company. "We're always testing, and we're definitely looking at TikTok [for that].".

We define linear addressable TV as targeted TV ads delivered on a home-by-home basis via cable and satellite boxes, including video-on-demand (VOD) content accessed through a pay TV login but excluding CTV and OTT. Linear programmatic TV ad spending will also grow this year with a 35.4% increase to $5.44 billion.

According to Brightback's Marion, expect to see a continued surge of new sign-ups for meal kits, box subscriptions and other delivery services possibly through the end of the year. “At some point, current restrictions will loosen, and these companies will see rapid customer churn,” he said. “The winners will be those that successfully retain the new customers they’ve gained this year.

Customers stick with subscriptions they believe are delivering consistent value for what they pay, and a subscription box that too often sends you items you don’t like quickly loses the perception of value. This is especially true in the apparel and accessories category. Subscription rental, however, eliminates that risk and could help explain why Rent the Runway is gaining traction.

Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD): OTT services that generate revenues by selling subscriptions to consumers. Examples include Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

The article detailed the experience of Ipsy (a cosmetics subscription box service) that used influencers to hawk its products on Instagram and YouTube, as well as several other companies that had negative experiences with influencers. “We scaled back paying for [influencer] posts,” said Matteo Del Vecchio, chief executive of Deconic (owner of jewelry retailer Alexis Bittar), in the article.

Addressable TV: Targeted TV ads delivered on a home-by-home basis via cable, satellite, and telco boxes. It includes both linear and video-on-demand (VOD) delivered in this way but excludes connected TV and OTT. Ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD): These services include free platforms like YouTube as well as those, like Hulu, that charge a subscription fee in addition to serving ads.