IP-UH-O:   Remember these words from a blog I posted in December’16, “If Spotify doesn’t complete a successful IPO in 2017 their business will be in trouble”.  Well it looks like storm clouds are on the horizon, as industry insiders are already starting to speculate that an IPO may now be pushed to 2018.  At the heart of the delay is Spotify’s inability to consummate long-term licensing deals with the major labels – for the past year they’ve been going month to month with the expired deals.  Without a secure and predictable licensing framework investors will be less likely to buy into an IPO, which could cause the delay.  On the other side of the problem is Spotify’s debt, which is speculated to be over $1B, and an annual cash burn rate of $200-300M.  And as icing on the cake, the most recent loans Spotify took out require that they offer huge discounts on the stock price to those investors when they do get to an IPO.  This clause makes investing in the IPO even less attractive for new investors who won’t get these discounts.  With limited funding options and growing debt it feels like Spotify is getting boxed into a dilemma of their own making.  (link)

FACEBOOK TV?:  The lines between traditional television and digital video are about to become even blurrier with Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that he wants FB to get into the video content game.  This makes me wonder if last Monday’s announcement that FB is now partnering with Nielsen to be included in their Digital Ad Ratings measurement is the setup move to eventually have TV-style ratings for their own programming.  Other digital publishers like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu already produce their own content, so this isn’t some crazy concept.  But to date there haven’t been examples of Social platforms also becoming video content hubs.  If Mr. Zuckerberg has his way, people won’t just go the FB to talk about shows they’re binging on, they’re actually watch the shows there too.  (link)

TRANSPARENCY “CALL TO ARMS”:  As I predicted last Tuesday, the digital media industry is already starting to feel the reverberations from P&G CMO Marc Pritchard’s challenge to the industry to clean up its act.  Other clients and agencies are starting to use the same language – emphasizing requirements like proving viewability and audience verification tagging.  Interestingly, this trend could impact the opposite ends of the industry in the same way.  On the top end, the duopoly of Facebook and Google are already feeling pressure to tear down their walled gardens of self-measurement.  And on the other side of the spectrum junked up ad networks will be forced to either provide transparency on ad/audience deliverables or be bounced off future buys.  Feels like snowball starting to roll down the top of a hill . . . lookout for the avalanche below!  (link)

Have a great Monday guys!