🏈 NBC’s Super Bowl-ympics

Love is in the air... or is it the smell of chicken wings? The Super Bowl kicks off Sunday in Los Angeles (LA Rams vs. Cincinnati Bengals). While you throw patties on the grill, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, and Eminem will perform at halftime. We're following the money behind America's most-watched event.

Peacock, on the clock... The main moneymaking players: Comcast's NBC and the NFL. This year NBC has Bowl broadcast rights, which alternate between NBC, Viacom's CBS, and Fox (Disney's ABC will join the mix in 2026). CBS, Fox, and NBC each pay the NFL $2B+ to broadcast its games under the league's new deal. NBC has a double whammy this year since it also has an exclusive on the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

• Ad $$$: NBC has already sold out of Bowl ads, with some 30-second spots selling for a record $7M. Car and tech companies are among the biggest spenders, while crypto companies are expected to advertise for the first time.
• Sponsor $$$: Multiyear deals with booze, tech, and sports-betting brands helped the NFL rake in a record $1.8B in sponsorship revenue for the season. Last year the NFL allowed gambling ads from companies like DraftKings and FanDuel for the first time.
• Streaming $$$: Live sports may be the last thing keeping cable alive, but this year's Bowl could boost subs for streaming services. Like: NBC's new Peacock or any streamer that carries NBC for $65+/month (think: YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live).

“Ask app not to track”... Meta partly blamed Apple’s iOS update — which asks users if they want to opt out of ad-tracking on apps like Insta — for slowing its quarterly sales growth and shrinking profits. Investors weren’t impressed, wiping $230B off Meta’s market cap in one day. But Amazon and Google, which are less reliant on iPhone tracking and collect more data directly, just posted record quarterly sales (awk). Meanwhile, Snap and Pinterest shares rose after both said they’re successfully adapting to the recent iOS changes. Meta expects to lose $10B this year because of tracking opt-outs.

Bit regulated?… Biden reportedly plans to release an executive action demanding regulation for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Because cryptos are traded freely between countries, Biden says regulation is now a “matter of national security.” Some regulators are getting ahead: Last month, the SEC started a review process for a new bill that could define some crypto-related platforms as regulatable exchanges — but said don’t expect any real reform this year. Cryptocurrencies have plunged from their highs, yet crypto startups raised a record $33B in VC investments in 2021, and could see another record this year.

From Cardi to Madonna... Warner Music, the third-largest US label after Universal and Sony, reps some of music’s biggest stars. Warner broke sales records last quarter as you streamed “Lizzo and chill” playlists. Streaming now accounts for more than three-fourths of the US music industry’s revenue and more than half of Warner’s. But it’s not all about Spotify: Warner earned $235M last year on tunes for TikTok dances, Peloton workouts, and video games. Now it’s even dabbling with metaverse concerts to drive growth. We'll see what new projects are in store when Warner reports Tuesday.

Dry January becomes Wet February... just in time for Coke and Pepsi to report on Thursday. While people ditched booze in January, soda giants popped open some of their first alcoholic drinks. Sales hit 20-year highs during the pandemic, powered by a boom in ready-to-drink cocktails for home-sipping. To uncork a fresh revenue stream, Coke teamed up with Constellation and Molson Coors to launch Fresca canned cocktails and Simply spiked lemonade. Meanwhile, Pepsi partnered with Sam Adams maker Boston Beer and Taco Bell on a boozy Baja Blast. The canned-cocktail market is expected to hit $4.5B this year and 13X over the next decade.

• Unfunded: Black Americans are more likely to start a business than any other ethnic group, but discriminatory loan practices and limited access to funding are hurting growth.
• Goat: NFL legend Tom Brady made hundreds of millions on football and sponsorships, but he could earn more by retiring to focus on his startups and crypto.
• Pump: Sky-high gas prices are fueling record profits for Exxon and Chevron — now the oil giants are paying it forward to investors with dividends and share buybacks.

• Frame: Art lovers spent a record $21B last year on NFTs and other digi-collectibles. Now they’re showing off the intangible artwork IRL with wall-sized monitors and limestone display screens.
• Chasm: The racial wealth gap is expected to widen post Covid as many Black Americans miss out on stock market gains. 34% of Black families own stocks vs. 61% of white families.
• Fortress: The US is preparing to impose sanctions on Russia to deter a Ukraine invasion. But Russia has spent years “sanctions-proofing” its economy by ditching the USD, stockpiling cash (rubles), and reducing Western imports.

• Monday: Earnings expected from: Hasbro, Tyson, Take-Two Interactive, Loews, Simon Property Group, and Energizer
• Tuesday: Earnings expected from: Pfizer, BP, Coinbase, Chipotle, Lyft, Peloton, Warner Music Group, Sysco, Thomson Reuters, and S&P Global
• Wednesday: Earnings expected from: Toyota, Honda, CVS, GlaxoSmithKline, Uber, Yum! Brands, Mattel, Disney, Zynga, and Fox
• Thursday: Weekly jobless claims. Earnings expected from: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Twitter, AstraZeneca, Philip Morris, Expedia, Kellogg, Zillow, Cloudflare, and Duke Energy
• Friday: Earnings expected from: Warby Parker, Under Armour, Enbridge, and Dominion Energy
• The weekend: Super Bowl LVI is on Sunday. Winter Olympics events all weekend.

Authors of this Snacks own: Bitcoin and shares of Twitter, Warner, Apple, Snap, Amazon, Google, Spotify, Uber, Disney

ID: 2025787