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ESPN Streaming Is Money in the Bank for WWE; Gen Z Tells Tinder There’s a Chance; Yaccarino Goes From X to GLP-1s; Snap Growth Suffers Glitch
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Good morning. Today, WWE wins $1.6 billion from Disney as ESPN’s streaming service nears, Tinder’s new appeals to young singles slows user defections, the ex-CEO of X gets into telehealth and Snapchat gives advertisers a better deal than it intended.
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John Cena leaping off the turnbuckle in his match against Cody Rhodes during weekend’s WWE SummerSlam on Peacock. Photo: Elsa/Getty Images
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ESPN and World Wrestling Entertainment have reached a more than $1.6 billion, five-year agreement that will give the sports-media company exclusive rights to many of WWE’s most high profile events, Isabella Simonetti and Joe Flint report.
That’s a significant increase from the WWE’s current five-year deal with Peacock, which was valued at $900 million.
ESPN has been on a dealmaking spree ahead of the launch of its streaming service this fall. Disney on Tuesday unveiled a wide-reaching deal with the NFL under which the league will take a 10% stake in ESPN in return for control of key media assets including NFL Network.
ESPN is also in talks with Major League Baseball about a rights package, just months after it exercised a clause to opt out of the final three years of its $550 million-a-year contract after the 2025 season, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Related: ESPN said its new streaming service will arrive on Aug. 21 and cost $29.99 per month. [Deadline]
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Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
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Parents Hold Firm on Back-to-School Shopping Budgets
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As families prepare for the school year, they are pulling back in all categories except clothing and accessories, according to an annual survey. Read More
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Match Group said paying users fell 5% across the company’s portfolio, driven in part by a 7% decline at Tinder, the company’s biggest brand. Photo: Bloomberg News
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Match Group continued to see fewer users willing to pay for its flagship Tinder app in the second quarter, but the CEO said the platform’s accelerated pipeline of new products is showing early signs of traction with Gen Z users, Kelly Cloonan reports.
At the heart of the turnaround strategy is a focus on making connections feel more casual in a bid to win over Gen Z, with new features like AI-enabled discovery and double dates.
“It’s very consistent with how Gen Z wants to connect,” said Match CEO Spencer Rascoff, who took on an added role at the helm of Tinder earlier this year. “They want to do it in a low pressure way that’s not so on the nose. It’s more social and fun to grab a friend and now swipe with friends and meet up with two people, rather than just one on one.”
Tinder plans to roll out another half dozen new features in the next few weeks, including a new recommendations algorithm to drive better match rates and a college mode for students looking to date within their schools.
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Linda Yaccarino joined X in 2023 after more than a decade as advertising sales czar at NBCUniversal. Photo: Steve Marcus/Reuters
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Linda Yaccarino is becoming chief executive of eMed Population Health, a privately held health-management company, weeks after stepping down from the CEO role at X, Suzanne Vranica and Denny Jacob write.
EMed Population Health is a unit of Miami-based eMed, which, according to its website, offers 24/7 support for patients on GLP-1 and GIP weight-management and diabetes medications.
“There is an opportunity to combine technology, lifestyle, and data in a new powerful way through the digital channels that impact consumers directly in ways that have never been done before,” Yaccarino said in a statement.
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Snap said its topline growth was impacted by several issues, including one related to its ad platform. Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters
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Snap missed sales expectations in the second quarter after a problem with its advertising platform, Katherine Hamilton writes.
Snap said in a letter to investors that its topline growth was hit by issues including changes to the de minimis trade policy and an advertising glitch.
The company had made a change that caused some advertisers to win bids at “substantially reduced prices,” Snap said. That change has been undone.
Overall sales still rose 9% to $1.34 billion during the second quarter, just below the $1.35 billion analysts anticipated, according to FactSet.
Snap has been working to bolster ad sales, using AI and machine learning to personalize ads and introducing sponsored snaps to users’ inboxes
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3.8%
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Rise in McDonald’s same-store sales in the second quarter, outpacing analysts’ estimates and rebounding from the previous four quarters, when global same-store sales dropped or were little changed. McDonald’s is working to convince cash-strapped customers that its burgers and nuggets remain a good deal.
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CocoCay in the Bahamas, one of Royal Caribbean’s private destinations. The company has plans to add five more by 2027. Photo: Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service/Getty Images
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Royal Caribbean is betting that new ships and destinations will allow it to close the price gap with dry-land vacations and still hook inflation-scorched travelers. [WSJ]
How Sunglass Hut is generating foot traffic to its stores using connected TV. [Modern Retail]
Neutrogena commissioned a pair of racy stories to capitalize on #SteamyBookTok. [Glossy]
Molson Coors lowered its full-year sales and profit forecasts, saying consumer confidence wasn’t improving the way it had expected. [WSJ]
Yum Brands executives including the former CMOs of Pizza Hut and KFC are turning into the fast-food industry’s next CEOs. [CNBC]
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