Weekly Recap: Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports
Top items and takeaways from this week's newsletter
Here are the top items and takeaways from this week’s newsletter. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.
MEDIA
Newspapers continued to struggle with layoffs last year, according to data from the Pew Research Center. However, layoffs in news organizations weren’t confined only to traditional newspapers, according to Pew’s data — large digital news publications also suffered layoffs. It appears that the economic impact of the pandemic took its toll on newsrooms — both traditional and digital — last year.
This past weekend’s box office revenue totaled $20 million, down 23.2% from the prior weekend, according to data from Box Office Mojo. Those are the lowest weekend box office revenue numbers since mid-April — that’s notable as we are now in the crucial Memorial Day weekend for the nation’s theaters and cinemas. With many theaters and cinemas around the country now open and with the release of potential blockbusters The Quiet Place II and Cruella this weekend, we should have a good gauge of the strength of the recovery in the movie business very soon.
The Knight Foundation this week published results from a report called NewsLens 2020: How Americans Process the News. Notably, news consumers rated a news source more highly if it was politically sympathetic to their views rather than adversarial with them. However, the actual overall news diet was only slightly partisan — with 36% of consumption from politically sympathetic sources, 31% from adversarial sources and 33% from neutral ones. Here are some implications from the findings of this report.
MONEY
Nearly three out of every four consumers expect higher prices when they shop at dealerships for new vehicles, according to a survey from Kelley Blue Book conducted in late April. Microchip shortages around the world have caused delays in the manufacturing of new cars, and that has caused limited inventory of new vehicles. However, as automakers overcome those microchip shortages, manufacturing should increase once again, which should alleviate some pricing pressure on consumers — perhaps as soon as the end of the year.
Home prices continued their inexorable climb upwards, according to the release this week of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, a leading gauge of home prices in the United States. According to that index, home prices jumped 13.2% in March compared to a year ago, following a 12% year-over-year increase in February. (Note: March data is the most current data for this index.) However, if interest rates do begin to climb, which has become a real possibility due to inflationary pressures in the country, mortgage rates would also begin to increase, which could create some headwinds for the housing market.
The American consumer remained confident in May, according to the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index released Tuesday. That index posted a reading of 117.2 in May, down slightly from a level 117.5 in April. Importantly, though, consumer expectations for the short-term outlook for business, income and labor market conditions fell in May compared to April. Here’s what all of that that data means.
SPORTS
The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers have lost the first two games of their first round playoff series to the Dallas Mavericks — game three is later tonight. If the Clippers do lose this series, then the team would have underperformed expectations for the past two seasons. While there clearly still is plenty of time for the Clippers to rebound and win this series against the Mavericks, the Clippers could face upheaval this offseason if they don’t make it out of the first round.
The US Open tennis tournament won’t use line judges in this year’s tournament as the professional tennis tours announced Monday that the US Open — and seven other American tournaments — will use electronic line-calling for all matches. During the pandemic, some tennis tournaments began opting for electronic line-calling in favor of line judges largely for safety reasons. As such, it’s another sign that pandemic impacts just about everything, including the adoption of automated line-calling in professional tennis.
If you look at the standings in major league baseball, two divisions stand out the most — the American League East and the National League West. In the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees all have some of the best records in the league and they are all vying for the division lead. It’s the same story in the NL West where the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers are all battling for the top spot in the division. Before the season began, the Yankees and the Dodgers were the favorites to meet in the World Series. Despite the tough competition for both teams this season, I still expect that we will see the Dodgers play the Yankees in the fall classic.
Jeremy Pink is currently COO of Geniecast, a leading virtual content and experience company. He is the former CEO of private-equity backed Broadcast Sports International where he helped lead the company to a successful sale and exit during his tenure there. He is also a former CNBC television executive in New York, London and Singapore.
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.
(Newsletter Editor: Karina Pink)