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Fubo TV is bringing in more subscribers and revenue but still losing loads of money. Ahead of its proposed Hulu + Live TV merger, the broadcast streaming service increased its subscriber count by about four percent in Q4 2024 and its quarterly revenue by eight percent from a year earlier. And hey, it only lost about $41 million in the quarter, so things aren't too shabby! The streaming service ended Q4 with 1.676 million paid subscribers. That's up from 1.61 million in Q3 and 1.45 million in Q2, so the company is doing something right in attracting new customers. Its total revenue has also grown: nearly $1.59 billion for the year (up 19 percent from 2023) and $433.8 million for the quarter (up eight percent from Q4 2023). Not too shabby! But Fubo is losing boatloads of money just less than before. It posted a net loss of nearly $178 million for the year, more than enough to ruin most individuals and small- or medium-sized businesses. But since this is corporate America, things are looking up there, champ! That's because Fubo improved its losses by over $115 million from a year earlier. The company is headed for some big changes. Pending shareholder and regulatory approval, Disney will buy a 70 percent stake in the company and merge it with Hulu + Live TV. The deal would create a new entity to manage the two brands, although the plan is for them to continue as separate services (at least at first). Fubo is arguably the best live TV service for sports, but it still has some notable missing pieces. For starters, you won't find any Warner Bros. Discovery content. That means subscribers will miss out on a bunch of NBA games (before TNT's deal with the league expires at the end of the season) and MLB games on TBS. It also recently increased its prices, with the cheapest plan coming in at $85, slightly more than YouTube TV. Like the traditional cable it's gunning to replace, live streaming TV is increasingly an expensive hot mess.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/fubo-grows-its-subscribers-and-revenue-as-disney-deal-looms-183344157.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
We've published our review of the new "budget" iPhone 16e, but if the savings there don't feel like quite the bargain you were looking for, there are a few consolation deals on other Apple gear along with a handful of sales on more tech we currently recommend. The spotlight deal highlights the lowest price yet on a four-pack of Apple AirTags (now $65 at Amazon). We also noticed Amazon is still running a deal that tosses in a free $200 gift card with the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (we gave the new phone an 89 in our review). Other deals include a discounted Anker charger, a hefty coupon on our favorite budget cordless vacuum and more. Here are the best deals from this week that you can still get today. Spotlight deal Apple 2024 MacBook Air M3 for $899 at B&H Photo ($200 off): The next generation of the MacBook Air with an M4 chip is likely on the horizon. But there's little chance it'll be $200 off. The nice thing about most Apple gear is it tends to be relatively long-lived. So if you don't need the latest model, this deal could be one to snag. We gave the 13-inch model a high score of 90 in our review and named it the best laptop you can buy. Note that the discount applies to the Air model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in the Midnight colorway. Also at Amazon. Apple Pencil Pro for $99 at Amazon ($30 off): If you have a newer iPad and want a compatible Apple Pencil to go along with it, take a gander at this deal, which is $30 off and about $10 more than the record low. The Pro stylus allows for squeeze-based gestures, haptic feedback, pressure sensitivity and the ability to sense when the stylus is rolled to change the orientation of pen and brush tools. Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget Apple Watch Series 10 for $329 at Amazon ($70 off): This is the same deal we've seen for a few months now, but if you missed it the other times we mentioned it, here's another chance to save $70 on Apple's latest generation flagship smartwatch. It's currently our favorite smartwatch overall and we gave it a positive review when it came out back in September of last year. It has a thinner design this time, but a larger screen. The health tracking features are great and it's an ideal companion for an iPhone. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with a $200 Amazon gift card for $1,300 at Amazon ($200 off): When Samsung's latest premium phone came out this January, Amazon offered a free $200 gift card for pre-orders. The same deal is still going strong, so if you were holding out to see what the reviews said (we gave it a score of 89) before you bought it, then you still have a chance to get the same deal. If you shop at Amazon regularly, you might consider the $200 gift card akin to free money. Anker Soundcore 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker for $38 at Amazon ($17 off): It's not an all-time low, but still a pretty cheap price on a Bluetooth speaker. We recommend two Anker Soundcore speakers in our guide to portable speakers and this is the budget version of those. The 12-watt speaker isn't the most powerful, but you do get 24 hours of battery life on a charge and it's waterproof. For less than $40 it could be a good option for a knockaround speaker you don't have to worry too much about. Anker Anker USB-C Nano 65W charger for $30 at Amazon ($26 off): We've seen this price again and again over the past few months, but it since one can never have enough wall chargers on hand, we'll mention it again. This is the larger version of the Nano charger we recommend in our fast charger guide and should serve you well for speedy refills on your laptop, smartphone and tablets. Reolink Altas PT Ultra 4K solar security camera for $139 at Reolink ($71 off): In our newly published guide to security cameras, the Reolink Atlas earned the honor of best camera with solar power. We like the big battery, affordable solar panel and hi-res video quality. Also at Amazon with a clickable coupon. Rad Power Bikes RadCity 5 Plus plus battery for $1,499 at Rad Power ($699 off): The ebike company's bestselling commuter model with a 14 Ah battery is selling for $1,499, which is $699 off. The battery is $499 on its own, so this is still $200 less than buying the bike on it's own at full price. The deal will run through March 12 and you'll see the full discount when you add both the battery and bike to your cart. Here at Engadget, we've tried out a few Rad Power bikes and found them to strike a good balance between quality and affordability. Valentina Palladino for Engadget Tineco Pure ONE S11 cordless vacuum for $199 at Amazon ($100 off): The budget pick from our guide to the best cordless stick vacs is currently on sale for $100 off. It's relatively lightweight, easy to use and the suction is great for the price. It also has a feature that adjusts the suction to accommodate the amount of dirt it encounters. Crucial X9 Pro (1TB) for $70 at Amazon ($31 off): We've seen this deal a few times in recent months on one of our favorite portable SSDs. It's not the absolute fastest model but quick enough for most needs at a reasonable price. We also appreciate the rugged design and the fact that it stays cool with extended use. Also at B&H and Best Buy. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget ASUS ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme) for $450 at Best Buy ($200 off): This is the original ROG Ally that came out in mid-2023. It's not as powerful or ergonomic as the newer ROG Ally X, and we still think Valve's Steam Deck is he best gaming handheld overall. But this is cheaper than either of those models with similar capacites and it can play games from Steam, the Epic Games Store or the Xbox app. This deal ties the all-time low for the model with an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip. ThermoWorks Thermapen One for $79 at ThermoWorks ($30 off): We recommend the Thermapen One in our guide to the best grilling gear. It reads temperatures quickly and accurately and has an easy-to-read display. This isn't the lowest price we've ever tracked, but this Engadget-exclusive deal marks the lowest price we could find in the last few months. Every day, Engadget editors hunt down the best discounts on the tech we recommend. See them all on our deals page. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-four-apple-airtags-for-a-new-low-of-65-plus-the-rest-of-this-weeks-best-tech-deals-173011789.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
The only surprise in Amazons reveal of Alexa+ this week was the price. With inflation rampant and many more impactful subscription services to choose from, $20 per month is an absolutely bonkers price for an as-yet unproven AI chatbot. Recall that Alexa has historically not cost anything as long as you've had hardware to run it. The same goes for Google Assistant (and now the basic version of Gemini) as well as Apples Siri. Theyve always been tools to enhance hardware, not the product itself. What's stranger is that $20 per month, which I will reiterate is bonkers, is essentially fake the equivalent of an inflated MSRP. And the reason I know that is because a whole-ass subscription to Prime costs $5 a month less, and includes Alexa+. You can read this one of two ways. Amazon thinks Alexa+ is worth more on its own than the entirety of Prime. Or, the ridiculous pricing is an artificial speedbump to steer people into Amazon's ecosystem while also encouraging them to buy some Echo hardware while theyre at it. Somehow a company accused in the US and Europe of deceptively separating customers from their money hasn't tried this trick yet. In a vacuum, $20 for Alexa+ does line up with some other premium AI services OpenAIs ChatGPT Plus and the Google One Gemini Advanced plan both cost the same. And Amazon is doing something at least a little different by letting a generative AI voice assistant loose on your smart home, just as it did with the original Alexa. And I do find the option to build a library of uploaded documents within Alexa+'s memory intriguing, much as I'd prefer anyone but Amazon be the one storing that info. But despite some potentially useful features, its impossible to recommend spending that kind of money on Alexa+ now, given that Amazon predictably flubbed some demos in its presentation and hardly let any journalists at its event really test it out. I dont think Amazon is expecting a ton of sign-ups at that $20 monthly price. Besides prodding more people to sign up for Prime, this wild price for Alexa+ telegraphs a move to jack up the cost of Prime sooner than later. Its been just over two years since Amazon increased Primes price, so were certainly due for another gouging. Of course, the company will point to Primes increased value over that time, and to be fair you do get a lot your dollar at this point assuming that you want to continue spending more cash at Amazon. And Alexa+, with its built-in ability to make a grocery list and order it through Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods, slots nicely into that framework. Vanilla Alexa's propensity to order regular, non-perishable goods from Amazon sometimes without users intending it will of course carry over. My recommendation? Given the economy, just back the hell away from this entirely. There are plenty of services that are more entertaining or useful for your money. Googles Gemini Advanced plan comes with 2TB of Drive storage and a handful of other perks. Or you could sign up for Xbox Game Pass. Or blow your money on a couple video-streaming services and let the #content wash over you as we slide into the abyss. At least those options arent a portal to handing Amazon more of your hard-earned cash.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/20-a-month-for-an-ai-chatbot-in-this-economy-150021310.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
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