For Comcast and Viacom, It’s All About Content

The recently released results of most U.S. media companies offered optimistic views for the future and reflected an upbeat quarterly performance. The slowly recovering economy is driving negotiation of big deals within the industry. Comcast, for instance, is looking to purchase a controlling stake in NBC Universal from GE. News Corp and Scripps Network are also competing with each other to purchase the Travel Channel, and there are talks about Viacom and Real Networks restructuring Rhapsody America, their subscription-based online music channel. >>>

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A New App, But Sharply Lower Revenues At Autodesk

CAD market researchers expected the industry to sustain growth despite the recession. In an overall U.S. market of $5.2 billion in 2007, the industry was expected to grow 15% in 2008 and another 10% in 2009 to $6.6 billion, and to maintain a CAGR of 11% through 2012. However, Autodesk’s (NASDAQ:ADSK) most recent performance does not seem to indicate such high growth numbers. >>>

Disney And Time Warner Hopeful For 2010

A recent report estimates that previous quarter’s global ad spend fell 9.9% over the year. By region, North American spend fell 13% over the year, compared with a drop of 21% in Central and Eastern Europe; 11% in Africa, the Middle East and Western Europe; and 3% in Asia-Pacific. Only Latin American spend grew, at a mere 0.6%. And while ad spend is expected to improve in 2010, the numbers aren’t very encouraging. 2010 is expected to grow at a marginal 0.5% over the year. Analysts expect television, cinema, and outdoor advertising to lead the growth in 2010. It is little wonder that Disney and Time Warner, two media players that recently announced their results, still have depressed ad revenues. Even so, the two companies are seeing pockets of success and are directing a lot of their energies toward improving content. >>>

Priceline, Expedia Making Me Dizzy

The Travel Industry Association estimates that total travel spending in the United States has fallen to $712 billion in 2009 from $772 billion a year ago. Recovery is expected in 2010, with travel spending expected to grow 5% to $745.2 billion driven by improvement in leisure travel sales. By 2012, total travel spending is expected to rise to $866.5 billion. According to a Forrester research report, online leisure and business travel spending grew marginally from $111 billion in 2008 to $117 billion in 2009. But things are expected to improve with spending projected to rise to $158 billion by the year 2013. The recovery is already visible in the performance of the online travel stocks, which are rising high after the recent announcement of their quarterly results. Perhaps a bit too high! >>>

All Stars: Blue Nile, MercadoLibre, WebMD

The National Retail Federation recently announced its projections for the coming holiday season and predicted that overall holiday sales will fall by 1% over the year. In another report, Forrester Research estimated 8% growth in online holiday sales to $44.7 billion; growth will likely come at the expense of business at traditional brick-and-mortar stores. International pick-up in e-commerce is another big trend. The upbeat outlook is reflected in the results of online retailers such as Blue Nile and MercadoLibre. >>>

Indian Outsourcers: Cognizant Leads The Brigade

The $60 billion Indian IT industry is optimistic about the economic recovery, and the players have not only improved on their quarterly performance, but are also raising their outlook for the coming quarters. Analysts suggest that the recession in the United States has bottomed out and recovery is expected in 2010, which should translate to an outsourcing market growth of 4%-5%. Personally, I am somewhat skeptical about the recovery because the unemployment number sits at more than 30 million, which means that we’re having a jobless recovery of sorts, and this is very fragile. Nonetheless, prices and volumes are stabilizing for the outsourcing industry, resulting in revenue growth. Further, it looks as though the focus on operational efficiency parameters, especially utilization improvement, has enabled big players to improve margins despite the strengthening Indian rupee. >>>

Nokia Vs. Apple

Last month, Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the world’s biggest mobile phone maker with annual revenue of €50.7 billion, reported a bleak third quarter as it swung to a loss for the first time in its history. And in a dramatic turn of events, it is suing Apple for infringing on its patents. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

China Rising To The Solar Challenge

Earlier this year, the Obama government announced its federal-level energy policy to simulate demand for renewable energy. As a result, solar power is no longer the luxury it once was. In addition to federal programs, there are state incentives which together help reduce installation costs by 40% to 90%. >>>

Newspaper Industry Continues Steady Implosion

According to a recent report published by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, weekday newspaper circulation fell 11% and Sunday circulation 8% over the year. The San Francisco Chronicle was the worst hit newspaper, with circulation falling 26%, followed by USA Today’s 17% drop. Many analysts believe that even though the economy is picking up, advertising spend within print media will continue to decline till 2011 by as much as 25% of the peak spend in 2007. Ad revenues for the newspaper industry were lower by 17% last year and have already fallen 28% over the year in the current fiscal. Surely these are not good numbers for the newspaper industry. >>>

Netflix Leads Video Market Forward

According to a recent market report, the U.S. DVD and video sales and rental market was valued at $7.6 billion in 2008, of which brick-and-mortar stores claimed 69% of the revenue share. Mail-order companies such as Blockbuster and Netflix together commanded 24% of the market, while kiosks had a mere 6% share and online streaming or download options an even smaller 1%. The report predicts that by the end of 2011, stores will have only 47% of the market share while mail-order companies will have 31%. Both kiosks and online will grow rapidly to 17% and 5% respectively. Online DVD rental pioneer Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) will surely benefit from such growth. >>>