Monthly Brandtech Blend – September 2022

Disney surpasses Netflix with 221Mn streaming subscribers

In the battle between the two giant streaming companies, Disney + and Netflix, it seems that Disney has now got the upper-hand, with over 221 million subscriptions to Netflix’s 220 subscribers – or has it? Though Disney exceeded the Wall Street analysts’ estimates with its 14 million plus additional streaming subscriptions in the last quarter while Netflix lost just under 1 million subscribers in the same period, we need to take into account that one company talks of subscriptions while the other counts its subscribers! If someone subscribes to a Disney bundle, this will count as 3 subscriptions; in Netflix’s case, there are no bundles so one subscriber is equivalent to one subscription.

As Disney + originally undercut Netflix when pricing its streamer service, Netflix is still making more money than its rival. With streaming subscriber growth is generally slowing down, streaming companies are faced with a challenge to increase their earnings. Both Disney + and Netflix are planning to introduce two subscription rates, one of which will include ads in order to keep the price down. The battle is not over!

Read more about it in thetechportal, TechStory and Variety. 

Amazon continues its expansion in the healthcare industry

To nobody’s surprise, Amazon’s expansion just keeps on growing!

Back in July, the company announced its plans to spend close to $4 billion to acquire One Medical, a chain of primary care organizations in the US, following its original move in the sector in 2018 with its purchase of PillPack, the online pharmacy. The big tech company also started offering Amazon Care last year.

Some may think it is somewhat an unusual move for a tech company to expand into the healthcare sector, but after entering the foods business with its acquisition of Whole Foods back in 2017, and its purchase of Hollywood studio MGM earlier this year, it ​isn’t so surprising that ​Amazon is now looking for new opportunities and venturing out in​to novel markets. But why this interest in the healthcare sector? It is a vast market facing major challenges, one of them being the poor consumer experience (an area ​of expertise for Amazon). And why specifically One Medical? Not only does it provide virtual medical services, but it also has a lot of data! – something Amazon could most definitely leverage.

Some critics have already called out the purchase arguing it puts privacy at risk, expanding Amazon’s database with the most intimate information about individuals.

Watch this space to see if this move will really disrupt and revolutionize the healthcare industry!

Read more about this latest acquisition in TechCrunch, The Guardian and The New York Times.

Meta injecting code into websites to track its users

According to an ex-Google engineer, Meta has been revisiting websites its users visit, allowing the tech giant to track their journey on the web once they’ve clicked links on its apps.

When users click on links on either Facebook or Instagram, they are automatically redirected to webpages in an “in-app” browser, instead of the web browser of their choice.

Instagram for instance is able to follow user interactions from text selections and screenshots as well as all form inputs such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Meta has responded to these allegations stating that inserting a tracking code respected users’ preferences on whether or not they authorized the apps to track them, and added that for purchases made through the in-app browser, the user must approve before any payment information is saved. 

Read more about this in The Guardian. 

Amazon is internally testing a TikTok-like feed in its app

Amazon is the latest tech company who hopes to emulate TikTok’s success by introducing a very similar social feed in its app, focusing on products. 

For now, its vertical photo and video feed, under the name Inspire, is being tested internally by company employees.

According to an AI company that analyzes apps, the so-called Inspire would allow its customers not only to like and share posts of products, but more importantly for Amazon customers to buy the products directly from the feed.

It is worth noting that at present recommendations for Amazon products on TikTok are hugely popular: its tag #amazonfinds clocking up over 25 billion views. No wonder Amazon is keen to attract some of TikTok’s followers! Who would not be envious of TikTok’s stats, the app the most downloaded in 2021, with about 2/3 of 13 to 17-year-olds using the app!

Read more about this news in TechCrunch and gadgetany.