Connect with us

Published

on

Rafael Henrique | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Amazon has become a growing threat to digital ad incumbents Meta and Google, attracting billions of dollars a quarter from brands that are trying to reach the masses of consumers who swarm to the site on a daily basis.

But it’s no longer just about digital ad dollars, and Amazon’s inaugural presence at this year’s Upfronts events is the clearest indication that the e-commerce giant is prepared to take on traditional media.

On Tuesday, Amazon gave its first presentation during the Upfronts, an annual advertising sales event featuring media heavyweights like Disney and Comcast‘s NBCUniversal. Amazon’s Prime Video and other streamers would historically be featured at Newfronts, which is digital media’s take on Upfronts. But internet video platforms have had a bigger presence on the main stage as Netflix and Google’s YouTube joined the party in recent years.

Amazon is making a fresh pitch to the ad industry as it nears a critical turning point. Advertisers continue to spend more on digital than linear TV. This year, they’re projected to spend roughly $18.8 billion on traditional TV ads during Upfronts, an increase of 1% from a year earlier, according to eMarketer. By contrast, digital advertising during Upfronts and Newfronts is forecast to grow 32% to about $16.5 billon this year.

More ad-supported streaming platforms have also entered the ring, providing advertisers yet another alternative to traditional TV, where viewing has shrunk. Amazon announced it would begin showing ads on its Prime Video streaming service in January, adding to its stable of ad offerings like free streaming TV service Freevee, and Twitch, its livestreaming site popular among gamers.

The company stands to generate up to $3 billion in U.S. ad revenue this year from an estimated 58 million households who will see commercials in Prime Video content, TD Cowen analysts wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. The firm has a buy rating on Amazon’s stock.

“When I joined Amazon nearly four years ago, the No. 1 question all of you asked was, ‘When are you going to show ads on Prime Video?'” Alan Moss, Amazon’s vice president of global ad sales, said onstage. “Well, at Amazon we like to deliver for our customers. By introducing ads on Prime Video, we’ve created the largest ad-supported premium streaming service in the world.”

The company said its ad-supported streaming content now reaches 175 million U.S. viewers every month, up from more than 120 million in 2021. It also disclosed that Prime Video counts 200 million global customers, 115 million of whom are in the U.S.

Amazon’s advertising business still primarily makes money from charging brands to promote their products across its properties in a variety of ways, from sponsored listings on its website to ad spots on Fire TV streaming devices. Revenue in the ad business climbed 24% in the first quarter to $11.8 billion.

Amazon has also spent billions on live sports programming in a bid to attract more streaming viewers and ad dollars. The company recently reaffirmed its commitment to live sports, snagging the exclusive rights to a National Football League playoff game next season.

Amazon executives on Tuesday tried to win over advertisers with a packed programming slate, and a cavalcade of celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal to tout new original content. The company also emphasized its “billions of customer signals” that allow brands to target ads.

Paul Kotas, who runs Amazon’s ad business, said the company “made a big bet” 18 years ago when it first rolled out ads on its website. He showed how the business has evolved to include digital video ads on Prime Video.

“We’ve been working towards this moment for years, and that’s why being here on stage today means so much,” Kotas said. “And of course, at Amazon, we’re never done innovating.”

— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman contributed to this report.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

WATCH: Advertising volume won’t go down, it’ll just shift

Advertising volume will shift between streaming players, says Propagate's Ben Silverman

Continue Reading

Technology

TikTok signs agreement to create new U.S. joint venture, memo says

Published

on

By

TikTok signs agreement to create new U.S. joint venture, memo says

Samuel Boivin | Nurphoto | Getty Images

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees on Thursday that the company’s U.S. operations will be housed in a new joint venture.

The entity is named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, according to a memo sent by Chew and obtained by CNBC. As part of the joint venture, Chew said the company has signed agreements with the three managing investors: Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. He said that the deal’s “closing date” is Jan. 22.

Under a national security law, which the Supreme Court upheld in January, China-based ByteDance was required to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face an effective ban in the country. In September, President Donald Trump signed an executive order approving a proposed deal that would keep TikTok operational in the U.S. by meeting the requirements of a law originally signed by former President Joe Biden.

Chew noted that the new TikTok joint venture would be “majority owned by American investors, governed by a new seven-member majority-American board of directors, and subject to terms that protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security.”

The U.S. joint venture will be 50% held by a consortium of new investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX with 15% each. Just over 30% will be held by affiliates of certain existing investors of ByteDance, and 19.9% will be retained by ByteDance, the memo said.

The TikTok chief said the entity will be responsible for protecting U.S. data, ensuring the security of its prized algorithm, content moderation and “software assurance.” He added that the joint venture will “have the exclusive right and authority to provide assurances that content, software, and data for American users is secure.”

In addition to being an investor, Oracle will serve as the “trusted security partner” in charge of auditing and validating that it complies with “agreed upon National Security Terms,” the memo said. Sensitive U.S. data will be stored in Oracle’s U.S.-based cloud computing data centers, Chew wrote.

The new TikTok entity will also be tasked with retraining the video app’s core content recommendation algorithm “on U.S. user data to ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation,” the memo said.

Chew noted that TikTok global U.S. entities “will manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing.”

Under Trump’s executive order in September, the attorney general was blocked from enforcing the national security law for a 120-day period in order to “permit the contemplated divestiture to be completed,” allowing the deal to finalize by Jan 23.

WATCH: TikTok signs deal for sale of U.S. unit to joint venture

TikTok signs deal for sale of its U.S. unit to joint venture

Continue Reading

Technology

Google and Nvidia VC arms back vibe coding startup Lovable at $6.6 billion valuation

Published

on

By

Google and Nvidia VC arms back vibe coding startup Lovable at .6 billion valuation

The VC arms of Google and Nvidia have invested in Swedish vibe coding startup Lovable’s $330 million Series B at a $6.6 billion valuation, the company announced on Thursday.

The news confirms an earlier story from CNBC, which reported on Tuesday that Lovable had raised at that valuation, trebling its valuation from its previous round in July, and that the investors included U.S. VC firms Accel and Khosla Ventures.

CapitalG, one of Google’s VC divisions, and Menlo Ventures led the round. Alongside Accel and Khosla, Nvidia venture arm NVentures, actor Gwyneth Paltrow’s VC firm Kinship Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Databricks Ventures, Atlassian Ventures, T.Capital, Hubspot Ventures, DST Global, EQT Global, Creandum and Evantic also participated.

The fresh funds take Lovable’s total raised in 2025 to over $500 million.

"Everyone can be a developer of software," says Lovable CEO

“Lovable has done something rare: built a product that enterprises and founders both love,” said Laela Sturdy, managing partner at CapitalG in a statement accompanying the announcement.

“The demand we’re seeing from Fortune 500 companies signals a fundamental shift in how software gets built.”

Lovable’s platform uses AI models from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic to help users build apps and websites using text prompts, without technical knowledge of coding.

The startup reported $200 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in November, just under a year after achieving $1 million in ARR for the first time. It was founded in 2023 by Anton Osika and Fabian Hedin.

Vibe coding startups have seen big interest from VCs in recent times, as investors bet on their promise of drastically reducing the time it takes to create software and apps.

In the U.S., Anysphere, which created coding tool Cursor, raised $2.3 billion at a $29.3 billion valuation in November. In September, Replit hit a $3 billion price tag after picking up $250 million and Vercel closed a $300 million round at a $9.3 billion valuation.

The rise of AI 'vibe coding'

Continue Reading

Technology

Micron stock pops 15% as AI memory demand soars: ‘We are more than sold out’

Published

on

By

Micron stock pops 15% as AI memory demand soars: 'We are more than sold out'

The Micron logo is seen displayed at the 8th China International Import Expo.

Sheldon Cooper | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Micron Technology‘s stock jumped 15% after the company signaled robust demand for its memory chips and blew away fiscal first-quarter estimates.

During an earnings call with analysts, Micron, which makes memory storage used for computers and artificial intelligence servers, said data center needs have fueled greater demand for its products.

Micron said it expects the total addressable market for high-bandwidth memory to hit $100 billion by 2028, growing at a 40% compounded annual growth rate. Management also upped its capital expenditures guidance to $20 billion from $18 billion.

“We are more than sold out,” said business chief Sumit Sadana. “We have a significant amount of unmet demand in our models and this is just consistent with an environment where the demand is substantially higher than supply for the foreseeable future.

Micron topped Wall Street estimates for the fiscal first quarter and issued blowout guidance.

Read more CNBC tech news

The company reported adjusted earnings of $4.78 per share on $13.64 billion in revenue, surpassing LSEG estimates for earnings of $3.95 per share and $12.84 billion in sales.

Revenues in the current quarter are expected to hit about $18.70 billion, blowing past the $14.20 billion expected by LSEG. Adjusted earnings are forecast to reach $8.42, versus expectations of $4.78 per share.

JPMorgan upped its price target on the stock following the results, citing the favorable pricing setup, while Bank of America upgraded shares to a buy rating.

Morgan Stanley called the results the best revenue and net income upside in the “history of the U.S. semis industry” outside of Nvidia.

“If AI keeps growing as we expect, we believe that the next 12 months are going to have broader coat tails to the AI trade than just the processor names and memory would be the biggest beneficiary,” analysts wrote.

WATCH: Micron shares spike on better-than-expected quarterly results

Micron shares spike on better-than-expected quarterly results
Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

Micron year-to-date stock chart.

Continue Reading

Trending