Tag Archives: googl

Amazon, Apple, Google Not Serious Threat To PayPal: Analyst

PayPal ( PYPL ), now untied from its prior owner eBay ( EBAY ), does not face a serious competitive threat in the near future, an analyst said Wednesday. At the Electronic Payments Summit in New York, panelists were “generally bullish” on the San Jose, Calif.-based company’s chances at holding on to its market share, according to a research note from Jefferies analyst Jason Kupferberg. The analyst cites the company’s installed base of 185 million consumers and 13 million merchants. “This represents a competitive advantage, which is reinforced by new products such as One Touch and Venmo,” Kupferberg wrote. “While some large merchants are still somewhat ambivalent about the benefits of PayPal, one panelist highlighted a 14% online sales increase for a big merchant once they implemented PayPal.” Kupferberg also wrote that large merchants are generally reluctant to have more than two checkout buttons or digital wallets available for shoppers because returns “diminish beyond that number.” Competitors in payments , such as e-commerce leader  Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and digital cash register and payments processor Square ( SQ ), have been aiming for a greater foothold in payments. Amazon has been at it for some time, but with little to show for it, according to Wedbush analyst Gil Luria. For its part, Square announced last week that it was adding Web checkout capabilities to its array of features, which is likely a direct challenge to PayPal’s payments platform. Also at the payments summit, Kupferberg wrote that 10% mobile wallet penetration of U.S. in-store payments could be five years away. Firms such as Apple ( AAPL ) and Alphabet ( GOOGL ) unit Google, among others, have developed such technology . PayPal stock was up more than 1%, near 39, in midday trading on the stock market today . PayPal is an IBD Leaderboard stock and has an IBD Composite Rating of 93, where 99 is the highest. Shares are below a 40.03 entry but just above an earlier entry at 38.62.

Facebook Expands Live Broadcasting Features, Opening Door For Ads

Facebook ( FB ) is bolstering its Live streaming video platform, which should provide more space for advertising to fuel revenue growth. Facebook Live is a platform for mobile-device users to broadcast live video streams on the world’s largest social network. Facebook recently expanded the Live feature to all users, following an exclusive arrangement with celebrities and other public figures. “People are letting their friends discover their hobbies. Parents are using it to share moments in their kids’ lives with their extended families. Athletes are giving people a window into their training. Chefs are bringing their fans into their kitchen,” wrote Fidji Simo, Facebook product management director, in a blog post . The new features include the ability to broadcast only to select groups, such as family. Users can also schedule a live broadcast through Facebook’s Events tab or send out invitations for people to watch. Other features include the ability to add filters that could, for instance, broadcast in black and white. Viewers can also add emoticons to the video feed in order to give a sense of how they feel at different points in the video. There’s also a page dedicated to live broadcasts that people can search. Facebook also rolled out tools that allow broadcasters to see how many people are watching their videos, either live or archived, when they watch and for how long. The tools could be especially valuable for business owners and advertisers. Facebook did not say if it would place advertising on the video feeds but didn’t rule it out. Historically, Facebook has introduced new ad-free platforms, then gradually inserted ads down the road. Speculation is rising that Facebook will open its Messenger chat service to content publishers and ads, creating a multibillion-dollar revenue opportunity and posing a growing threat to Alphabet ( GOOGL ). Facebook Live is comparable to the Twitter ( TWTR ) Periscope app, which launched last year and has logged more than 100 million broadcasts. Twitter has integrated Periscope into the Twitter app feed. The new Live features will be rolled out on the Apple ( AAPL ) iOS and Alphabet Android over the coming weeks. “We’ve been humbled by all the amazing and creative ways that people have used Facebook Live so far, and we’re committed to creating the best experience for everyone who wants to create, watch and interact with live videos on Facebook,” Simo wrote. Facebook stock was up 1% in midday trading on the stock market today , near 113.

Mobile Drives Continued Rise Of Programmatic Digital Display Ads

Mobile is driving programmatic advertising growth, with mobile accounting for more than two-thirds of all programmatic digital display-ad spending this year, says eMarketer in a report on Tuesday. Facebook ( FB ), Alphabet ( GOOGL )‘s Google-owned YouTube, LinkedIn ( LNKD ) and others are helping to drive the trend. Ad sales conducted by machines rather than ad salespeople — so-called programmatic ads — take less time to execute and cost advertisers less, which accounts for their popularity with advertisers though it tends to lower revenue for online-ad platforms. U.S. programmatic digital display-ad spending is projected to rise to $27.4 billion in 2017, up 24%, said eMarketer. But that growth rate is declining from a projected 39% this year and 53% in 2015, the research group said. This year, however, mobile programmatic spending will reach $15.45 billion in the U.S., representing 69% of all programmatic digital display-ad spending. That’s up from 60% in 2015 and 46% in 2014. For programmatic mobile video ads, 2017 is expected to mark a tipping point as mobile surpasses desktop for the first time. By 2017, programmatic mobile video ad spending will reach $3.89 billion, representing just over half of total programmatic ad spending in the U.S. But on desktop, programmatic video-ad spending will reach $3.73 billion next year, falling to 49% of total programmatic digital display-ad spending in the U.S., said eMarketer. Last year, professional social networking site LinkedIn ( LNKD ) reported that its move toward programmatic ad sales had dragged down its revenue growth. Rapid adoption of programmatic ads last year also hit crowdsourced online-review site Yelp ( YELP ) and Web portal Yahoo ( YHOO ). Yahoo, however, points to the long-term potential of such ads and has invested in them heavily, including through its $640 million purchase of BrightRoll, a leading provider of programmatic video ads, in 2014. Yahoo has implemented broad cuts throughout company as it strives to spark growth and mulls selling part of the company, and in January it let go at least five managers who were working on Brightroll , according to the Wall Street Journal. Last month, in a letter charging the current board of Yahoo with failing to deliver results for its shareholders, activist investor Starboard Value announced that it wants to sweep out all of the ailing Web company’s nine directors and replace them with its own slate during Yahoo’s 2016 shareholder meeting. Yahoo stock was down nearly 2% in afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 36. Facebook stock was flat, while shares of Alphabet, Yelp and LinkedIn were down a fraction. Image provided by Shutterstock .