Tag Archives: mat

Mom Survey: Upside For Netflix, Toy Makers, Disney In Media Trends

Netflix ( NFLX ) has a growing audience among kids, and there’s upside in merchandising for programming partners Dreamworks Animation, Walt Disney ( DIS ) and others, says a Piper Jaffray report on trends in family media and toy purchases. According to the Piper Jaffray survey of 428 mothers on media and consumer products, Netflix accounted for 19% of kids’ video viewing, up from 14% a year earlier. “We believe Dreamworks ‘ ( DWA ) massive output deal to Netflix positions the company right in the center of a paradigm shift in youth entertainment,” said Stan Meyers, a Piper Jaffray analyst. Netflix has been investing in kids’ programming , including deals with Disney and Dreamworks. Piper Jaffray has buy ratings on Dreamworks, Disney and toy-maker Hasbro ( HAS ). It rates Mattel ( MAT ) at neutral. UBS, meanwhile, initiated coverage on toy makers Thursday, rating Mattel a buy with a price point of 36. UBS rates Hasbro neutral. IBD’s Leisure Toys-Games group is ranked No. 47 out of 197 industry groups. Hasbro has a Composite Rating of 94 out of a possible 99, while Mattel’s CR is 87. According to the Piper Jaffray survey, frequent moviegoers spend $481 annually on toys, 90% more than the occasional moviegoers. Nearly 80% of mothers picked Disney and its Pixar unit as their most preferred brand when selecting a film for their child.

Apple iPhone To Be Dragged Into Virtual Reality Market

Apple ( AAPL ) hasn’t announced plans to join the virtual reality headset craze, but third-party hardware companies have designs on using the iPhone for VR products. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted Tuesday that third-party hardware firms would start selling VR products that use the iPhone as a display this fall. These devices would be much like the Samsung Gear VR headset, which uses Samsung smartphones as the display. IonVR, a privately held company specializing in third-party VR hardware, expects to have a headset in the fall that will will allow the iPhone to be used for VR and will cost between $100 and $200, Munster said. The iPhone already can be used with Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google Cardboard and Mattel ’s ( MAT ) View-Master, but those aren’t true VR experiences, he said. Virtual reality is much talked about as a hot new technology, and there are concerns that it could follow the boom and bust of 3D TV. Munster says that VR will not flop like 3D, in part because of the greater level of investment in VR and its cousin, augmented reality. Facebook ( FB ), which owns Oculus VR, is firmly committed to its success, he said. “On top of that, Apple, Google and Sony ( SNE ) are expected to all be making significant investments in VR/AR over the next five years,” he said. “We believe these investments will lay the groundwork for VR /AR becoming the next computing paradigm.” Sony is in one of the best positions to capitalize on VR, Munster said. “It has the content, distribution and user base (36 million PS4 consoles sold) to allow VR to grow rapidly,” Munster said. “We have also been impressed by Sony’s demos of ‘London Heist’ and ‘Walk The Wire,’ and the company has a slate of approximately 80 games which will be available at launch, which is expected late this year.” Oculus Rift is set to ship on March 28 in 20 countries, including the U.S. It will be available at select retailers in April. It will cost $599 and require a high-end PC with a graphics card. Bundles of the Oculus Rift headset and “Oculus-ready” PCs start at $1,499. Meanwhile, Samsung is promoting its smartphone-based Gear VR, which uses Oculus technology. Gear VR costs $99 and requires a newer Samsung Galaxy phone. Another VR headset, the HTC Vive, is due to go on sale April 5 and cost $799. Like the Oculus Rift, Vive requires a high-end PC with dedicated graphics processor. Vive is a collaboration between smartphone maker HTC and video game developer Valve.

Mattel Enters 3D Printing, 360-Degree Imagery With Autodesk, Google

Toymaker Mattel ( MAT ) is revitalizing a few of its analog brands with digital technology from companies such as Autodesk ( ADSK ) and Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google. At the Toy Fair 2016 conference in New York City, Mattel announced a ThingMaker home 3D printer and View-Master 360-degree image goggles . The annual toy fair, sponsored by the Toy Industry Association, opened Saturday and ended Tuesday. The original ThingMaker from Mattel debuted in the 1960s and allowed kids to mold their own rubbery creatures at home. The reimagined product uses 3D printing and was developed in partnership with Autodesk, a computer-aided design software firm. The ThingMaker 3D printing eco-system includes the ThingMaker 3D Printer and ThingMaker Design App. With the easy-to-use 3D printer, kids and families will be able to create and print plastic figures such as dolls, robots and dinosaurs, or wearable accessories like bracelets and necklaces. The ThingMaker 3D Printer will be available in the fall for $299.99, along with a variety of plastic-filament color options. Mattel also announced a collaboration with Google to update its View-Master for the modern age. The original View-Master debuted in 1939 and allowed kids to see 3D images by looking at pictures on swappable cardboard reels. The new View-Master works with Google Cardboard for an immersive surround-image experience. “Mattel’s new View-Master offers an easy-to-use and affordable platform that will enable users to take engaging field trips where they can explore famous places, landmarks, nature, planets and more in 360-degree ‘photospheres,’ ” Mattel said in a press release. “By pairing the View-Master’s ‘experience reel’ and app with an Android smartphone, kids will immediately experience an imaginative and interactive learning environment.” The experience reels will have themes such as nature, adventure destinations and science. The View-Master viewer and a sample experience reel will be available in the fall for $29.99. Mattel will sell packs containing four themed-experience reels for $14.99. The viewer and reels need to be paired with a smartphone and app.