Need to Know – The latest US media & marketing news: Microsoft set for subscription revenue boost, Tesla battery grabs $800m in first week and Google reveals driverless car accident stats
Morning all, here’s a glimpse at all the media and marketing news you should know today.
Need to Know – The latest US media & marketing news
1. Microsoft's new love of subscriptions could bring in up to 80 per cent more revenue per customer, claims Business Insider. The computing company believes that customers who choose Office 365 are more likely to buy more Microsoft services, and more likely to install Office everywhere in their business.
2. Tesla's battery took orders worth around $800m in its first week, writes Bloomberg. The Powerwall product uses electricity generated from solar panels to power users homes in the evening, and fortifies homes against power outages by providing a backup electricity supply.
3. Google has revealed that its self-driving cars have been involved in 11 accidents since the company began testing the technology six years ago, reports the International Business Times. Chris Urmson, the firm's director of self-driving cars, wrote that all 11 collisions were minor with no injuries and happened over 1.7m miles of testing.
4. Pinterest plans to its latest round of funding on international growth plans and making its Pins more "actionable", says Business Insider. The online scrapbook firm's co-founder, Evan Sharp, said it will be "prioritizing Brazil this year" whilst also making the platform "feel very regionally focused".
5. Warner Music Group has said that in the last quarter streaming music revenue has eclipsed download revenue, claims Recode. Streaming revenue from the company’s recorded music unit, generated by companies like Spotify and YouTube, has grown by 33 per cent.
6. Verizon has agreed a deal to buy AOL for $4.4 bn, asserts the Verge. The American mobile behemoth described the move as a "significant step in building digital and video platforms to drive future growth".
7. Google has shut down its Map Maker service after a series of cringeworthy oversights allowed vandalism, including an image of a Google Android robot urinating on the Apple logo, notes the Guardian. The tech giant said it had been moderating all user-generated edits to try to prevent the pranks, but couldn't keep up.
8. Dish has lost 134,000 pay-TV subscribers in the first quarter of the year, writes the Wall Street Journal. The network's fledging customer numbers are thought to be largely due to disputes with several major TV programmers.
9. And NBC has pulled a Facebook post, after it slotted in ad for Subway, says Adweek. The broadcaster posted a video which featured a spot for the fast food chain, then swiftly removed it as it didn't conform to the social network's guidelines for video content.
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