Yahoo May Not Sell Its Core Biz; Advertisers Pay Big For Sponsored Snapchat Filters

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Ya-Who?

After months of negotiations, Yahoo still may not sell its core business. At least that’s the prediction of SunTrust analyst Robert Peck: “We think it is quite possible that bid prices could actually have declined during the past month. … At some price level, the board may feel it is better to simply spin off the core to shareholders in a taxable transaction.” Yahoo’s core business, once valued at $10 billion, has revenue falling at a double-digit rate. Ad buys are expected to drop 30% this year. Bidders are also wary of some Yahoo contracts, like an arrangement to pay Mozilla $1 billion through 2019, even if it’s irrelevant to the deal. More at Business Insider.

Premium Price Tag

Advertisers are shelling out big bucks for Snapchat’s sponsored lenses. In the past five weeks, 14 brands have bought lenses lasting 24 hours or longer, including six film studios and three major beauty brands. “The typical lens in a day gets a couple million of uses,” said Elias Plishner, EVP of digital marketing for Sony Pictures, in an Adweek interview. “The real value however is not the number of times it’s being used, but the number of people who view content created by Snapchat users with the lens, which could be in the tens of millions.” Advertisers are jumping on the offer well in advance, banking on the chance for a viral hit and the steeply rising price tag to make the reserved buy look prescient anyway. More.

Damn, ’Mon

Practically overnight, Pokémon GO became simultaneously the most downloaded app and the top-grossing app, which only Clash of Clans could boast before as noted by the tech blog Stratechery. It’s the first augmented reality mobile game to see smashing success, and so naturally has marketers salivating despite a lack of paid media. One multi-franchise owner of a major commercial coffee chain, speaking off the record, said his stores at train stations (which have “PokeStops” in the game) have seen “an obvious, staggering boost in foot traffic” generated by store managers setting up a user just to continuously drop “lure modules” (which attract virtual Pokémon and real people).

Step To The Line

The Japanese messaging app Line hits the New York Stock Exchange this week, and its $1.1 billion expected value could be “2016’s largest tech IPO,” writes Jon Russell at TechCrunch. Line grossed more than $1 billion last year, but it’s still unprofitable. Ninety percent of revenue comes from Japan, while 25% is from paid stickers and 60% from in-app game purchases, which Western consumers tend to do via app stores. Of course, maybe Line won’t be the biggest tech IPO of the year [AdExchanger coverage]. You never know.

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