Hulu’s content investments will spur subscriber growth, says a Nomura Securities research report, which values Hulu at $8.5 billion, based on a comparison with on-demand video leader Netflix (NFLX). Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente also speculates that Netflix could join Hulu in providing an advertising-supported video-on-demand service. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, however, this week shot down speculation that Netflix plans to add advertising to
Facebook (FB) can turn WhatsApp and its mobile messenger service into bigger moneymakers by borrowing strategies from Chinese Internet companies, especially Tencent Holdings (TCEHY), says a Morgan Stanley research report. Tencent, a rival of Alibaba Group (BABA), has generated new revenue sources from WeChat, a mobile messaging app known as Weixin in China. Tencent has grown gaming revenue and has partnered with e-commerce companies by leveraging
Anyone expecting Apple’s (AAPL) new subscription streaming music service to be a big sales and profit generator will be sorely disappointed, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research report Wednesday. Next week, Apple is widely expected to unveil a new music service based on Beats Music, which it acquired last August when it bought headphone maker Beats Electronics. Beats Music has about 300,000 paying subscribers vs. 15 million at rival Spotify. “With the $10 per month expected price for the new streaming service, even if Apple were to grow its paying streaming music subscriber base to match Spotify’s 15 million (which we view as highly unlikely), it would add less than 1% to revenue in 2016,” Munster said. “In other words, an Apple music streaming will benefit the iPhone user experience, but not benefit the company in any meaningful way financially.” The Apple music service is part of…