Year: 2018

Amazon Prime Day is over, and what a ride it was this year. Widespread technical glitches in the first hours of Amazon’s massive annual Prime Day promotion cost the e-commerce giant an estimated $1.2 million a minute, according to One Click Retail founder Spencer Millerberg.

The total loss is difficult to nail down, in part because the exact span of the outage varied. But the data analytics firm says the outage, which included a broken landing page and links that sent potential customers to an error page, appeared to be concentrated on the East and West coasts of the U.S. for about 75 minutes. That puts Amazon’s loss in sales at about $90 million, an estimate One Click Retail based on 1P sales from 2017.

Another estimate from discount site Lovethesales.com put Amazon’s loss at more than $99 million, Bloomberg reported.

And yet, Amazon contends that these massive glitches didn’t dampen the day.

Amazon doesn’t disclose Prime Day sales figures. But the company issued statements Tuesday and Wednesday with glowing Prime Day sales stats. Here’s one nugget: Prime Day sales in the U.S. grew faster than last year within the first 10 hours of the annual sales promotion.

Amazon said Wednesday that sales this Prime Day surpassed Cyber Monday, Black Friday and the previous Prime Day, when comparing 36-hour periods. Prime members globally purchased more than 100 million products during this year’s Prime Day event. Small and medium-sized businesses made out, as well, with sales exceeding $1 billion this Prime Day, according to Amazon.

Insights from algorithmic commerce startup Feedvisor fill in a few of the gaps. Feedvisor estimated spending skyrocketed 89 percent in the first 12 hours of the event compared with the same period last year, Bloomberg reported. 

There are a few explanations behind the jump in sales. The company extended Prime Day from 30 to 36 hours this year. And it added four more countries, including Australia.

But there may be other reasons for the increase in sales, including, in a weird twist, the outage itself. One Click Retail contends that the extra media coverage of the outage appears to have helped Amazon.

The company also found that deal volume doubled in Italy, Japan, Mexico and Spain and that 84 percent of brands extended their discount to more than one item, compared to just 67 percent last year.

We are in the era of peak TV. Hundreds of expensive, scripted television shows are splayed across streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Netflix itself is now expected to spend $13 billion on original content this year. And yet, these networks can struggle to reach viewers outside of the core adult market.

That’s where Brat hopes to make its mark. The LA-based production studio and media company makes scripted dramas such as Chicken Girls on platforms like YouTube targeting a purely teen audience. And unlike Netflix, Brat is built from the ground up to keep production costs low: Rob Fishman, co-founder of Brat, says that “We are spending in the hundreds of thousand of dollars for every season” for their shows, instead of what can be seven figures an episode in the Netflix world.

Wide distribution to a young audience and that cost effectiveness has proven to be a compelling elixir for investors, who handed the company $30 million in capital. The fundraise was led by Anchorage Capital, and comes just a few months after the company’s previous $10 million fundraise last year.

For Fishman and his co-founder Darren Lachtman, this is familiar terrain. They previously founded Niche, an influencer marketing platform that matched social media stars to brands which sold to Twitter for a rumored $50 million. Now, they want to empower those very same influencers to build their own brands.

Fishman says the key question for Brat is “How do we become a youth culture brand.” The teens today are increasingly getting their content from vloggers on YouTube, the most popular of which can have millions of subscribers. Those videos are authentic, real, and cheap, but this talent has no outlet to push the quality of their content up a rung. “Besides Netflix, no one is making TV for the internet,” Fishman explained.

Brat wants to create a middle ground for video content, a space where teens can watch some of their favorite vloggers, but with production values and creativity that is more attuned to a classic Hollywood production studio rather than a bedroom. With Chicken Girls, the studio started with 4 minute scripted shows, but has steadily increased its length over the first season, ending with a season finale of 22 minutes. Season two is now underway. Fishman says that the show received “10 million views over a half an hour.”

The challenge is to push quality higher while keeping expenses low. “When you watch us film, it’s 20-person crews … this looks like a set, but we are doing it for 1/100th the cost,” Fishman explained. Even with a laser-focus on efficiency though, Brat has to differentiate through superior content. “The minute we make something that could be seen on one of these Vlogger channels, what is special for us? What’s distinctive?” Fishman noted. “That is the question that motivates us across everything we do – what are we doing that no one else is doing?”

The studio also takes its inspiration from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As it pulls in talent from the vlogging world with each unique show, it places them all in the same “high school universe” so that viewers can start with familiarity with the launch of each show. The model also helps to organically circulate viewership across its shows.

Ultimately, the company is targeting this Gen Z demographic for its spending power. Fishman says that the Gen Z crowd has spending power in the tens of billions, but advertisers struggle to reach them. Cable advertising is still tens of billions itself, and he believes there is an opportunity to migrate some of that spend to online video with the right level of quality and targeted demo.

It’s an ambitious play, and now with an ambitious production budget, the race is on to become the defining brand for a rising group of Gen Zers.

Today, at its Texas launch facility, Blue Origin preformed its most critical test to date. It preformed a live separation test of its crew capsule from the rocket booster and everything preformed as expected. The crew capsule fired its escape motor at the right time, sending the capsule higher than it ever has gone before. This successful test is a huge milestone for Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, which previously stated, if the test went well could put the rocket company in position to become operation by the end of the year.

Today’s test was the ninth launch for Blue Origin and the third for the New Shepard rocket used in this test — over 20,000 people tuned into Blue Origin’s YouTube live stream to watch the test.  Both the capsule and booster are designed to be reused.

The duration of the launch lasts around two and half minutes, at which point the engine cuts off. The capsule is designed to coast into space, while the booster drops back down, kicking in the landing gear and rocket-powered breaking system to land on the ground, unscathed. The capsule, meanwhile, using a pair of parachutes to coast back to Earth. From the looks of this morning’s video, things went precisely according to plan, with an ideal landing on both counts.

 

 

 

It’s not easy for budget-conscious founders to part with cold, hard cash. Or for time-strapped investors to push a to-do item higher up the priority list. But do it you must if you plan to attend Disrupt San Francisco 2018 on September 5-7 (and if you aren’t planning to go, you have some splainin’ to do).

On July 25, the prices go up on passes to Disrupt SF 2018, and while these three program-packed days provide outstanding value at any price, there’s just no reason to pay more if you don’t have to. Go buy your passes today and — depending on the type of pass you purchase — you can save up to $1,200 for your trouble.

Let’s talk about experience and the content you can expect at Disrupt SF 2018. First, we’ve moved to seriously comfortable digs over at Moscone Center West, which also triples the amount of our floor space. There’s plenty of room for the 10,000 attendees — plus more than 1,200 startups and exhibitors you’ll find showcasing an amazing array of tech in Startup Alley. This huge, vibrant exhibit hall is the pulse of Disrupt and a veritable vortex of networking, collaboration and opportunity.

And when you’re exploring Startup Alley, don’t forget to swing by and check out the 50+ startups that earned a Tech Crunch Top Pick designation. We chose five companies to represent each of these 12 category tracks: AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Biotech, Fintech, Gaming, Healthtech, Privacy/Security, Space, Mobility, Retail or Robotics. It’s a phenomenal cohort, indeed.

Of course, Disrupt events always feature tech glitterati, business titans, fearless founders and leading investors, and Disrupt SF 2018 is no exception. Our stellar roster of speakers includes, among many others, Sophia Amoruso, CEO, GirlBoss; Roelof Botha, partner, Sequoia Capital; and Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO, Dropbox. You can take a look at the full lineup of speakers here.

It’s not Disrupt without Startup Battlefield, the premier startup competition and hands-down the best platform from which to launch an early-stage company to the world. In keeping with the bigger, better, bolder nature of DSF ’18, we’ve doubled the prize money, and this year’s champion will claim $100,000 in non-equity cash. Startup Battlefield is always a wild ride, and given the stakes, you do not want to miss this one.

Startup Battlefield isn’t the only Disrupt event to get the super-size treatment. We upped the ante on the hackathon, too by making it a Virtual Hackathon open to anyone anywhere in the world. Thousands of the world’s best hackers, developers and programmers are hard at work. Come to Disrupt and see what tech magic they’ve conjured. Who knows, you might just witness The Next Big Thing.

We’re still just scratching the surface of Disrupt. Enjoy interactive workshops and Q&A Sessions, find the founder/investor of your dreams with CrunchMatch, our easy-peasy networking platform, collect swag and, whatever you do, don’t miss the after party.

Disrupt San Francisco 2018 takes place on September 5-7 at Moscone Center West. The price increase goes into effect on July 25 at 5 p.m. PST. Don’t miss your chance to get the best price possible. Buy your tickets today.

It’s not easy for budget-conscious founders to part with cold, hard cash. Or for time-strapped investors to push a to-do item higher up the priority list. But do it you must if you plan to attend Disrupt San Francisco 2018 on September 5-7 (and if you aren’t planning to go, you have some splainin’ to do).

On July 25, the prices go up on passes to Disrupt SF 2018, and while these three program-packed days provide outstanding value at any price, there’s just no reason to pay more if you don’t have to. Go buy your passes today and — depending on the type of pass you purchase — you can save up to $1,200 for your trouble.

Let’s talk about experience and the content you can expect at Disrupt SF 2018. First, we’ve moved to seriously comfortable digs over at Moscone Center West, which also triples the amount of our floor space. There’s plenty of room for the 10,000 attendees — plus more than 1,200 startups and exhibitors you’ll find showcasing an amazing array of tech in Startup Alley. This huge, vibrant exhibit hall is the pulse of Disrupt and a veritable vortex of networking, collaboration and opportunity.

And when you’re exploring Startup Alley, don’t forget to swing by and check out the 50+ startups that earned a Tech Crunch Top Pick designation. We chose five companies to represent each of these 12 category tracks: AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Biotech, Fintech, Gaming, Healthtech, Privacy/Security, Space, Mobility, Retail or Robotics. It’s a phenomenal cohort, indeed.

Of course, Disrupt events always feature tech glitterati, business titans, fearless founders and leading investors, and Disrupt SF 2018 is no exception. Our stellar roster of speakers includes, among many others, Sophia Amoruso, CEO, GirlBoss; Roelof Botha, partner, Sequoia Capital; and Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO, Dropbox. You can take a look at the full lineup of speakers here.

It’s not Disrupt without Startup Battlefield, the premier startup competition and hands-down the best platform from which to launch an early-stage company to the world. In keeping with the bigger, better, bolder nature of DSF ’18, we’ve doubled the prize money, and this year’s champion will claim $100,000 in non-equity cash. Startup Battlefield is always a wild ride, and given the stakes, you do not want to miss this one.

Startup Battlefield isn’t the only Disrupt event to get the super-size treatment. We upped the ante on the hackathon, too by making it a Virtual Hackathon open to anyone anywhere in the world. Thousands of the world’s best hackers, developers and programmers are hard at work. Come to Disrupt and see what tech magic they’ve conjured. Who knows, you might just witness The Next Big Thing.

We’re still just scratching the surface of Disrupt. Enjoy interactive workshops and Q&A Sessions, find the founder/investor of your dreams with CrunchMatch, our easy-peasy networking platform, collect swag and, whatever you do, don’t miss the after party.

Disrupt San Francisco 2018 takes place on September 5-7 at Moscone Center West. The price increase goes into effect on July 25 at 5 p.m. PST. Don’t miss your chance to get the best price possible. Buy your tickets today.

The launch is scheduled for 11:00 am EDT on July 18, 2018.

Blue Origin is about to preform a critical rocket test. For the first time Jeff Bezos’ rocket company will send send its New Shepard rocket to its red line at the edge of space and then fire the escape motor on the capsule that will carry passengers. If this test goes well, Blue Origin’s New Shepard program could become operational as early as this year.

This is the ninth mission for the New Shepard program and the third time this reusable rocket was used.

About 20 seconds (and 100 feet) after the New Shepard booster and the crew capsule separates, the motor on the capsule will fire with 70k foot pounds of thrust, sending the capsule 50,000 km higher than it has gone before. After the motor fires, parachutes will hopefully deploy allowing the capsule to return safely to solid ground. Separately, the booster will hopefully return to Earth and land so it can be reused again.

Inside the capsule is a crash dummy loaded with instruments to measure the forces of the rocket launch. Bezos dubbed the dummy “Mannequin Skywalker” because even the richest man in modern history is a nerd. Mannequin Skywalker will experience around 3Gs during the launch, a Blue Origin representative said.

The launch is scheduled for 11:00 am EDT on July 18, 2018.

Blue Origin is about to preform a critical rocket test. For the first time Jeff Bezos’ rocket company will send send its New Shepard rocket to its red line at the edge of space and then fire the escape motor on the capsule that will carry passengers. If this test goes well, Blue Origin’s New Shepard program could become operational as early as this year.

This is the ninth mission for the New Shepard program and the third time this reusable rocket was used.

About 20 seconds (and 100 feet) after the New Shepard booster and the crew capsule separates, the motor on the capsule will fire with 70k foot pounds of thrust, sending the capsule 50,000 km higher than it has gone before. After the motor fires, parachutes will hopefully deploy allowing the capsule to return safely to solid ground. Separately, the booster will hopefully return to Earth and land so it can be reused again.

Inside the capsule is a crash dummy loaded with instruments to measure the forces of the rocket launch. Bezos dubbed the dummy “Mannequin Skywalker” because even the richest man in modern history is a nerd. Mannequin Skywalker will experience around 3Gs during the launch, a Blue Origin representative said.

Prime Day has once again broken records. Despite serious glitches at its start, Amazon announced this morning that Prime Day 2018 grew to become the biggest shopping event in its history, beating out Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and the previous Prime Day 2017. Of course, this year’s Prime Day was longer – a full 36-hours, in fact. And while Amazon did make its comparisons to other sales holidays over the same period of time, it’s not quite the same thing to compare a shorter sale to a longer one. (Last year’s Prime Day was 30 hours, for example.)

Still, it’s a remarkable showing on Amazon’s part. So much so that Amazon has taken the unusual step of actually providing some numbers around how much people bought. Though it still declines to talk sales dollars, as per usual, it did say that Prime members worldwide purchased over 100 million products, with small and medium-sized businesses on Amazon “far exceeding” $1 billion in sales this year.

It was unclear, however, if Amazon was counting sales at Whole Foods – which did participate in Prime Day for the first time – when calculating this 100 million products sold figure, or its “best day ever” statements. We asked the company to clarify this, and confirmed that Whole Foods sales were not being included in those calculations.

That said, Amazon says that Prime members “saved millions” at Whole Foods during Prime Day, where the top buy was organic strawberries.

Prime Day 2018 was also the biggest event ever for Amazon devices, the retailer noted.

This can be, in part, chalked up to the fact that Amazon put its devices on sale 12 hours before Prime Day even began, which allowed people more time to buy them at the reduced prices.

Its best-sellers worldwide included the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and the Echo Dot.

The Dot was a top seller in 2017, too. It’s the most affordable of the Alexa-powered speakers, and was this year marked down $20 to $29.99, making it a good deal. Fire TV devices, Kindle e-readers had their best day ever on Amazon globally on day one of Prime Day, July 16, 2018. Prime Day was also the biggest sales event for Echo Show and Echo Spot.

Amazon didn’t provide numbers for any of these sales, but said “millions” of Fire TV devices were sold worldwide.

In the U.S., July 17 was the biggest day for smart home devices in history, with over a million devices sold, and Ring had its best day ever on July 16, with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro selling out. The Amazon Cloud Cam also became the best-selling security camera in Amazon history.

Outside of Amazon devices, other U.S. top sellers included the Instant Pot and LifeStraw water filters. Members purchased more than 300,000 Instant Pot 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi Use and 150,000 LifeStraw Personal Water Filters, the retailer said. Back-to-school items did well, too, with millions of pencils and pens sold.

Different countries had their own best-sellers, which tended to include smart home items, electronics, gaming systems, tools, and other items for the home.

Above: Top sellers by country

Among Amazon’s own brands, top sellers included the Stone & Beam Ceramic Geometric Table Lamp; Presto! Ultra Soft Toilet Paper; Daily Ritual Women’s Jersey Short-Sleeve V-Neck T-Shirt Dress and AmazonBasics Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet.

The company said that a record number of Prime members shopped Prime Day in 2018, but this, too can be explained partly by expanded access to the sale – Prime Day went live in Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands and Luxembourg for the first time this year. In total, 17 countries had access to Prime Day sales.

More importantly to Amazon’s bottom line was the increase in Prime membership sign-ups. In the end, the actual sales are just icing on the cake – Prime Day’s larger goal is increasing the number of subscribers for its now $119 per year Prime membership program. Turning online consumers into paying subscribers not only increases Amazon’s subscription revenues, it boosts overall sales as those consumers begin to shop Amazon more often to take advantage of its free, 2-day shipping and other premium services – like Amazon Channels, audiobook subscriptions, on-demand music, and more.

The retailer in April announced Prime had exceeded 100 million subscribers, and Amazon didn’t update that number today.

It’s notable that Amazon Prime Day went well, given how badly it began – glitches caused shoppers to lose the ability to even see the deals or complete checkout at the beginning of the sale, potentially resulting in millions of lost sales. One estimate from Internet Retailer is even putting that figure at $72.4 million in lost revenue from U.S. consumers.

“Prime Day offers us a unique opportunity to thank Prime members with our best deals,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer, Amazon, in a statement. “Extending Prime Day to a day and a half this year allowed us to further reward members with unbeatable deals, access to exclusive new products and unforgettable experiences that highlight the many benefits of a Prime membership. All of this was made possible because of our many valued associates – the global team that continues to make Prime Day bigger and better.”

 

Prime Day has once again broken records. Despite serious glitches at its start, Amazon announced this morning that Prime Day 2018 grew to become the biggest shopping event in its history, beating out Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and the previous Prime Day 2017. Of course, this year’s Prime Day was longer – a full 36-hours, in fact. And while Amazon did make its comparisons to other sales holidays over the same period of time, it’s not quite the same thing to compare a shorter sale to a longer one. (Last year’s Prime Day was 30 hours, for example.)

Still, it’s a remarkable showing on Amazon’s part. So much so that Amazon has taken the unusual step of actually providing some numbers around how much people bought. Though it still declines to talk sales dollars, as per usual, it did say that Prime members worldwide purchased over 100 million products, with small and medium-sized businesses on Amazon “far exceeding” $1 billion in sales this year.

It was unclear, however, if Amazon was counting sales at Whole Foods – which did participate in Prime Day for the first time – when calculating this 100 million products sold figure, or its “best day ever” statements. We asked the company to clarify this, and confirmed that Whole Foods sales were not being included in those calculations.

That said, Amazon says that Prime members “saved millions” at Whole Foods during Prime Day, where the top buy was organic strawberries.

Prime Day 2018 was also the biggest event ever for Amazon devices, the retailer noted.

This can be, in part, chalked up to the fact that Amazon put its devices on sale 12 hours before Prime Day even began, which allowed people more time to buy them at the reduced prices.

Its best-sellers worldwide included the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and the Echo Dot.

The Dot was a top seller in 2017, too. It’s the most affordable of the Alexa-powered speakers, and was this year marked down $20 to $29.99, making it a good deal. Fire TV devices, Kindle e-readers had their best day ever on Amazon globally on day one of Prime Day, July 16, 2018. Prime Day was also the biggest sales event for Echo Show and Echo Spot.

Amazon didn’t provide numbers for any of these sales, but said “millions” of Fire TV devices were sold worldwide.

In the U.S., July 17 was the biggest day for smart home devices in history, with over a million devices sold, and Ring had its best day ever on July 16, with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro selling out. The Amazon Cloud Cam also became the best-selling security camera in Amazon history.

Outside of Amazon devices, other U.S. top sellers included the Instant Pot and LifeStraw water filters. Members purchased more than 300,000 Instant Pot 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi Use and 150,000 LifeStraw Personal Water Filters, the retailer said. Back-to-school items did well, too, with millions of pencils and pens sold.

Different countries had their own best-sellers, which tended to include smart home items, electronics, gaming systems, tools, and other items for the home.

Above: Top sellers by country

Among Amazon’s own brands, top sellers included the Stone & Beam Ceramic Geometric Table Lamp; Presto! Ultra Soft Toilet Paper; Daily Ritual Women’s Jersey Short-Sleeve V-Neck T-Shirt Dress and AmazonBasics Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet.

The company said that a record number of Prime members shopped Prime Day in 2018, but this, too can be explained partly by expanded access to the sale – Prime Day went live in Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands and Luxembourg for the first time this year. In total, 17 countries had access to Prime Day sales.

More importantly to Amazon’s bottom line was the increase in Prime membership sign-ups. In the end, the actual sales are just icing on the cake – Prime Day’s larger goal is increasing the number of subscribers for its now $119 per year Prime membership program. Turning online consumers into paying subscribers not only increases Amazon’s subscription revenues, it boosts overall sales as those consumers begin to shop Amazon more often to take advantage of its free, 2-day shipping and other premium services – like Amazon Channels, audiobook subscriptions, on-demand music, and more.

The retailer in April announced Prime had exceeded 100 million subscribers, and Amazon didn’t update that number today.

It’s notable that Amazon Prime Day went well, given how badly it began – glitches caused shoppers to lose the ability to even see the deals or complete checkout at the beginning of the sale, potentially resulting in millions of lost sales. One estimate from Internet Retailer is even putting that figure at $72.4 million in lost revenue from U.S. consumers.

“Prime Day offers us a unique opportunity to thank Prime members with our best deals,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer, Amazon, in a statement. “Extending Prime Day to a day and a half this year allowed us to further reward members with unbeatable deals, access to exclusive new products and unforgettable experiences that highlight the many benefits of a Prime membership. All of this was made possible because of our many valued associates – the global team that continues to make Prime Day bigger and better.”

 

Kik made waves last year after a successful $100 million ICO. Now the company has released its first beta product related to its Kin token. Called Kinit, it’s a simple wallet that enables users to earn, store, and spend its tokens.

“Kinit is a fun, easy way to earn Kin, a new cryptocurrency made for your digital life. Earning Kin is just like playing a game, only better, because you get rewarded for completing fun daily activities like surveys, quizzes, interactive videos and more,” reads the Google Play Store description. You can download the app for Android here.

The Kin token is unique for a few reasons. First it is not a traditional ERC-20 token and is instead uses Ethereum for liquidity and the on the Stellar network to improve transaction speed. Further, the company is spending a great deal – about $3 million – to get developers to develop on the token through its KinEcosystem site. The Kinit app is the first effort to get normal users to adopt the tool.

The app makes it possible for users to generate a few dollars in value per day and then exchange those dollars for gift cards and perks. According to CCN, Kik has created a product without a business model and instead it wants to drive the adoption of the token through giveaways.

“Kinit is the first publicly available app dedicated to Kin. Our goal with Kinit is to get Kin into more consumers’ hands. It’s a major step towards making crypto truly consumer-friendly through fun and engaging experiences, and we plan to learn and iterate based on real-world user behavior. We’re excited to get even more people earning and spending Kin — all on the Kin Blockchain,” wrote Rod McLeod, Kik’s VP of communications. The app currently asks you to complete surveys in order to get discounts and gift card codes for products.

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With the rise of the product-less ICO it’s clear that Kik has the right idea. By encouraging usage they drive up the token price and token velocity and by launching a general beta full of cutesy imagery and text they are able to avoid the hard questions about developer adoption until far into the future. While the KinIt app is probably not what most Kin holders wanted to see, it’s at least an interim solution while the team builds out sturdier systems.