Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports

Apple Music, Warren Buffett, Japanese stocks and NFL scoring

I discuss Apple Music, Warren Buffett, NFL scoring and more in today’s newsletter.

MEDIA: Apple Music

As Spotify grabs headlines for its music and audio subscription service, Apple Music also appears to be chugging along quite nicely.

Loup Ventures, which calls itself “a research-driven venture capital firm… investing in frontier tech companies” and includes Gene Munster, a former top-rated Wall Street analyst who covered Apple extensively, as a Managing Partner, has some interesting stats related to streaming music services.

The firm estimates that as of June Apple has 20% of the paid subscriber market share of global music streaming. That’s compared to 34% market share that Spotify had as of June, according to Loup Ventures.

Apple had 19% of the paid subs market in 2019, while Spotify had 35%, according to Loup Ventures estimates.

Pink's Bottom Line

While both Apple Music and Spotify have essentially maintained market share in 2020, Apple Music does appear to be holding its own versus Spotify.

I am curious if this trend continues, particularly as 5G phones from Apple are likely to hit the market in the next few months. I will watch to see as consumers upgrade to Apple 5G phones whether that means they also are buying more Apple services, like Apple Music.

MONEY: Buffett and Japan

A little over a week ago, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said it had accumulated roughly 5% stakes in five large Japanese companies, and the firm said it could boost those stakes even further.

Berkshire Hathaway is making those investments today on the backdrop of the weak performance of Japan's stock market since the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Nikkei 225, a Japanese market index, closed at a level of around 38,000 at the end of 1989. It currently stands at just north of 23,000 as of Tuesday trading in Tokyo.

Pink's Bottom Line

In a few years, it will be fascinating to see if Berkshire Hathaway got its investment timing right and generated a good return from putting money now into these five Japanese stocks.

It will also be fascinating to watch how the overall Japanese stock market fares in the coming years, and whether that market finally approaches levels from the late 1980s and early 1990s — and whether Berkshire Hathaway’s investment was a catalyst.

SPORTS: NFL Scoring

With the NFL season two days away from kickoff, expect to see some early rust from teams as all franchises had modified practice schedules and none played any preseason games.

I’m not sure whether those changes will impact scoring positively or negatively so I looked up the over-under for games this week to see what the oddsmakers are saying.

(Note: the over-under is the amount of points combined that oddsmakers expect two teams to score in a game. For example, the over-under on the Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs game Thursday is 54.5 points, according to the Fanduel Sportsbook.)

Pink's Bottom Line

The average over-under for all games in Week 1 of the NFL is 46.3, according to my quick calculations using data from Fanduel Sportsbook.

Last year, the average team scored 22.8 points per game, according to data from Pro Football Reference, implying the average total points scored per game last year was 45.6.

So, it appears that oddsmakers expect scoring to increase ever so slightly on average, at least for Week 1’s games, compared to last year.

If, however, you’re a Buffalo Bills or New York Jets fan, don’t expect a lot of offense. That over-under checks in at a meager 39.5 for this weekend’s game, according to Fanduel Sportsbook.

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Jeremy Pink is former CEO of Broadcast Sports International and a former CNBC executive in New York, London and Singapore. He currently serves as an advisor to companies in media, sports and financial tech.

The information contained in this communication is strictly for general informational and entertainment purposes and is not meant to be construed as financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. This communication is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. I am not a financial advisor or offering professional advice of any kind. Users should not act upon the content or information found within this communication without first seeking professional advice appropriate for their individual situation. Decisions based on information contained in this communication are the sole responsibility of the user, and use of this communication and its contents constitutes an explicit understanding and acceptance of the foregoing disclaimers.