Honda Creates Cars—and Content
What’s Going On: Buckle up, folks. Honda is getting into the con- tent business, committing millions of dollars, readying the launch of its own YouTube music channel. Honda Stage will feature exclusive online content including recorded performances from live events and concerts. Honda is partnering with Live Nation, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, Sean “Diddy” Combs Revolt Studio, Vevo, and You- Tube for this venture. How It Can Affect You: Content creation is a major way to build
a brand these days. It’s certainly a new outlet for automakers that are accustomed to more traditional options like sponsoring concerts or a musician or band’s tour. This kind of endeavor takes things to a brand new level. The effort is definitely a gamble, but the pay-off could be huge if Honda is successful in its ultimate goal to sell more cars to younger drivers.
Nothing But Net What’s Going On: Don’t leave home without it.
No, we’re not referencing that old American Express card commercial. We’re talking about our obsession with the Internet and our constant need to have it— both at home and on the go. According to consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, consumers will spend more than $174 billion on Internet access in 2018. The amount of money spent on digitally delivered enter- tainment—movies, music, and video games—doesn’t come close to the amount spent on Internet access. How It Can Affect You: Good news all around for the mobile electronics industry. Consumers relying on mobile access are only expected to increase and remain vital which is encour- aging news for mobile electronics manufac- turers and retailers.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, four years from now, 86 percent of the U.S. population is projected to have mobile service, compared with 85.6 percent with home broadband. Not surprisingly, streaming music is also gaining more ground. Backing that, eMarketer tallies that consumers, on average, are spending 55 minutes with digital video daily—up from six minutes four years ago. All of this points to the world of mobile advertising and digital ads booming, too.
Ready, Set, Spend What’s Going On: Consumers are feeling better about taking out their wallets and spending on technology, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The CEA Index of Consumer Technology Expec- tations (ICTE), which measures consumer expectations about technology spending, increased by 0.5 points in May to reach 88.2. According to Shawn DuBravac, CEA’s chief economist, the difficult first quarter isn’t dragging on indefinitely. In a previous report, he said, “Consumer appe- tite for tech is slowly improving.” How It Can Affect You: According to a research firm, NPD Group, sales really haven’t moved in any major way from about $145 billion in three of the last four years. There is some improvement, but retailers are still seeing the fallout from a tough winter coupled with other maladies that are preventing the kind of bigger turnaround many would like to see. Both Best Buy and Sears said their weak quarterly results are based on the fact that shoppers aren’t shelling out for consumer electronics. These stores have repeatedly tweaked their product mixes and revamped floor plans. To address the decline in consumer electronics sales, Eddie Lampert, CEO of Sears and Kmart, said in a prerecorded call that the company is moving away from selling TVs and embracing the “con- nected living” concept.
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