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Category: Living

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Living news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Netflix is working on launching a live streaming feature

    Netflix is working on launching a live streaming feature

    Netflix could be working on a new way to keep you as a subscriber. After rapidly losing subscriptions, the streaming giant added a mobile gaming platform, is reportedly planning to introduce an ad-supported tier, and — now — it is looking to broaden its content with live streaming shows.

    Netflix has confirmed to Deadline that it’s in the early stages of launching live streaming for its unscripted shows and stand-up specials. This might allow Netflix to broadcast reunions of some of its series and provide live voting for competitive productions such as Dance 100.

    The new feature could also be used to broadcast live comedy specials. For example, Netflix recently held an in-person comedy festival called Netflix Is a Joke Fest, which featured over 300 stand-up performances. The company will make recordings of around 12 of them available to watch soon. But if it decides to organize the festival again, instead of releasing only a fraction of the event, it could broadcast the whole thing while it is happening, thus letting its subscribers get the full experience.

    Having live shows will allow Netflix to stay in the race with major competitor Disney+, who is already acquiring and broadcasting multiple live shows — like Dancing with the Stars and the Academy Awards. It is highly likely that Netflix is also planning to develop other formats, specifically designed for the live setting.

    At the current moment, we don’t have any information on when exactly the platform plans to launch this new feature.

  • Gold down to 5-week low

    Gold down to 5-week low

    Gold prices fell to their lowest in five weeks Monday afternoon as they tracked a global fall.

    Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC) sold bullion at VND69.25 million per tael Monday, down 0.39 percent from Sunday. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

    DOJI sold at VND68.9 million, down 1.01 percent.

    It meant prices had fallen by 6.76 percent, or VND5.2 million a tael, since scaling a historic peak in March. Global spot gold dropped by 1 percent to $1,793.12 per ounce Monday afternoon, but then bounced back to above $1,825 by Tuesday morning.

    Gold prices in Vietnam are 27 percent higher than global rates. Tran Minh Toi, a gold seller in HCMC’s District 8, said prices fell on higher U.S. dollar and bond yields.

    It is unlikely that prices will return to the previous peak of VND74.4 million in the medium term unless the conflict in Ukraine escalates, he said.

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  • discovery+ joins The Roku Channel, but you still have to pay for it

    discovery+ joins The Roku Channel, but you still have to pay for it

    The Roku Channel has just announced that it has added discovery+ to its offering in the United States. Users can now subscribe to both the ad-free ($6.99) and ad-supported ($4.99) versions of discovery+ directly through The Roku Channel.

    The announcement doesn’t come as a surprise since The Roku Channel already offers premium subscriptions from over 50 services. You won’t be getting any financial benefits from subscribing to discovery+ through The Roku Channel, but you’ll enjoy a unified browse and sign-up experience and get all subscriptions on single monthly bill (if you’re subscribed to more than one services).

    discovery+ offers over 70,000 episodes of current and classic shows from popular networks, including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and Magnolia Network, as well as more than 200 discovery+ original titles and hundreds of hours of exclusive content.

    The Roku Channel was a top 5 channel on the Roku platform in the US by active account reach and streaming hour engagement in Q1 2022. The Roku Channel has a massive portfolio of more than 80,000 free movies and programs and over 275 free live linear TV channels in the US, as well as premium subscriptions from over 50 content partners. It’s now available on Web, iOS and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV and select Samsung TVs.

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  • Vietnamese NFT game big in Japan

    Vietnamese NFT game big in Japan

    Titan Hunters, a non-fungible token game developed in Vietnam, is currently the 21st most downloaded adventure game on iOS in Japan. It has been downloaded over 100,000 times on Android devices.

    It has also gained social media attention and was among the top mentioned topics on Twitter at the end of last month and early this month. Popular Japanese gamer Lucian said it attracts players because of its ease of access. Titan Hunters was launched at the end of March.

    Unlike other NFT games, it is free, and those who want to play to earn need to link the game with their e-wallet. Japan has among the largest number of players and developers of electronic games globally. At 70 million players, the game has a quarter of the numbers Sony, Nintendo and Sega do.

    Titan Hunters CEO Vu Duy Tiep said Japan is a market with high competition and players there are “pretty picky.” The game has been downloaded 150,000 times across all platforms with around 50,000 active players daily, 75 percent of them in Japan, he said.

    “We aim to reach the European and U.S. markets next.”

    In Vietnam, some players have been complaining that the game has bugs and their gameplay experience is not “smooth.”

    Axie Infinity was the first NFT game developed in Vietnam to become internationally popular.

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  • YouTube Go is going away this August

    YouTube Go is going away this August

    The world is now a better place – broadband internet is everywhere, data prices are falling, and practically every smartphone out there can surf the web well enough. There’s no sarcasm in these words, guys – and the latest news from Google proves it!

    Earlier this year, the search giant announced that it will retire the Lite mode in Chrome, saying that “In recent years we’ve seen a decrease in cost for mobile data in many countries, and we’ve shipped many improvements to Chrome to further minimize data usage and improve web page loading.”

    Now Google is preparing to pull the plug on another “lightweight” app – YouTube Go. “Today, we are announcing that YouTube Go will be sunsetted beginning in August,” reads part of the official announcement on Google’s support pages.

    Again, the reasoning behind the retirement of this app lies in the fact that entry-level devices have become so powerful that they can run the main YouTube app well enough, and connectivity and data prices are not a critical issue anymore.

    When we launched YouTube Go in 2016, it was designed for viewers in locations where connectivity, data prices, and low-end devices prevented us from delivering the best experience in the main YouTube app.

    Google says that it’s working on additional user controls that help to decrease mobile data usage for viewers with limited data, so any fringe cases can be addressed. YouTube Go lacks several features compared to the main app, including the ability to comment, post, create content, and use dark themes.

    There are, however, some question marks around the transition to the main YouTube app. Some users have raised concerns about functionalities that are not present on the current free version of YouTube, the ability to download videos and watch them later, and also the option to disable YouTube shorts in your feed.

  • Expats’ salaries topped $34,000 a month in Q1

    Expats’ salaries topped $34,000 a month in Q1

    The monthly incomes of foreign experts ranged between US$8,500 and $34,000 last quarter, according to a recent report by recruitment firm Navigos Search.

    The report said enterprises operating in Vietnam “pay very high salaries” to attract foreign candidates.

    Navigos Search said some sectors like a garment, tourism, and hospitality have a high demand for foreign personnel due to a shortage of local expertise.

    The garment industry, for instance, lacks Vietnamese talent for jobs requiring high levels of expertise like pattern development, innovation and quality control, while candidates from Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan are interested to work in Vietnam due to competitive salaries and opportunities to work abroad.

    The resumption of international flights last month has fast-tracked the recovery of the tourism and hospitality sectors, driving demand for senior managers, Navigos Search added.

    The previously reported highest salaries in Vietnam were VND400-600 million ($17,520-26,275) paid to HCMC-based general managers in the healthcare sector with more than five years’ experience, according to headhunting agency Adecco Vietnam.

    HCMC ranked sixth among top cities for expats to live and work last year in a survey by InterNations, with 75 percent of respondents saying their income was more than enough to cover expenses, and 77 percent satisfied with their financial situation.

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  • YouTube TV is getting the long overdue account switcher feature

    YouTube TV is getting the long overdue account switcher feature

    YouTube TV made headlines quite a few times this month thanks to the many changes the service has been going through lately. After adding several new channels to its offering, including The Weather Channel, and introducing picture-in-picture (PiP) for iOS devices, YouTube TV is now getting a long-overdue feature aimed at users who share their subscriptions with other people from their household.

    One of the best streaming services in the United States, even better than traditional live TV for many, YouTube TV will finally allow subscribers who use multiple accounts on their TV to switch between them on the fly. The new feature will be rolling out to accounts in waves, YouTube TV confirmed after revealing the news.

    YouTube TV subscribers can add as many new accounts as they want to make family sharing that much easier. The newly added feature will only hep YouTube users on non-Android/Google TV device since the original app already has a switcher that does the same thing.

    The streaming service that offers live TV, on demand video and cloud-based DVR from more than 85 television networks, YouTube TV is available in the United States for $65. Created as an alternative to traditional live TV services, YouTube TV looks even more appealing in a world where smart TVs have become the norm.

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  • Netflix to boost its mobile games offering to 50 titles by the end of 2022

    Netflix to boost its mobile games offering to 50 titles by the end of 2022

    Netflix has been slowly building its games offering in an attempt to keep subscribers engaged with the service beyond movies and TV shows. Currently, the streaming service completely focuses on mobile, so don’t expect any PC or console games to come to Netflix anytime soon.

    That being said, Netflix offers 18 mobile games to its subscribers, which can be downloaded directly from within the app. To show its commitment to this part of its service, Netflix recently bought a few game developers, including makers of Oxenfree, Night School Studio, Boss Fight Entertainment, and Next Games, the studio behind Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales.

    Last month, Netflix announced a partnership with Exploding Kittens for a mobile game and an animated series. Netflix is looking for “content opportunities around video games from every direction.”

    The report also states that Netflix plans to expand its mobile games offering up to 50 titles by the end of the year. Netflix is one of the few streaming services that decided to invest a lot of resources into video games adaptations. The Witcher, Cuphead, Castlevania, League of Legends, and more recently Exploding Kittens, are among the most popular TV shows offered by Netflix, which are based on video games.

    It looks like Netflix was quite content by how these TV shows were received by subscribers, so it’s now trying to “build out a games business that can create synergy between what people watch and what they’re playing.” That seems like a great idea, but only if you’re into gaming.

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  • Spotify announces gains in both paid subscribers and free users in 2022

    Spotify announces gains in both paid subscribers and free users in 2022

    Despite the difficult circumstances, Spotify has managed to expand its user base in 2022. Paid subscribers rose by 2 million, while monthly active users – by 18 million.

    On Wednesday, Spotify released its financial results for the first quarter of 2022. While many streaming services are facing financial hardship, Spotify has defied the gloomy predictions and announced a nearly 24% increase in gross revenue on a yearly basis.

    The company reported growth across all key metrics, with increases in both monthly active users and paid subscribers. Based on the statistics, Spotify Premium subscribers now add up to 182 million, 2 million more than the figure for the same period in 2021. It should be noted that this increase was sustained despite the withdrawal of the streaming platform from the Russian market, which directly lead to the estimated loss of 1.5 million subscribers.

    The growth exceeded the company’s initial expectations and is largely attributed to outperformance in other key markets (notably Europe and Latin America). All in all, premium revenue rose by 23%, on a year-to-year basis.

    For the number of active monthly listeners, a little bit of guesswork was undertaken. Because of a system outrage a couple of months ago, many non-premium users were forcibly logged out from the platform. As a result, some simply ended up creating new accounts instead of logging back to their old ones. Nevertheless, even when accounting for this accident, Spotify is confident that the number of active monthly listeners has still risen, albeit not to the levels previously anticipated.

    Spotify also announced its forecasts for the next financial quarter and the end of the year. By 2023, the streaming platform is projected to have up to 187 million paid subscribers and a grand total of 428 million active monthly users.

    These figures are impressive and showcase Spotify’s continuous dominance of the music streaming market. Spotify’s biggest direct competitor, Apple Music, does not routinely report the size of its user base. The last time it did, it had an estimated 60 million subscribers – a sizeable number no doubt, but quite a bit off of what Spotify has.

     

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  • HBO Max joins Verizon’s +play platform

    HBO Max joins Verizon’s +play platform

    Announced last month during Verizon’s Investor Day, the carrier’s +play platform offers over 20 streaming services ahead of its commercial launch and allows Verizon customers to manage their subscriptions in one place, as well as learn about exclusive deals and offering for content services.

    Starting today, HBO Max will be joining Verizon’s +play platform as partner. The streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery offers content from HBO, Warner Bros., and DC, as well as Max Originals, blockbuster films, as well as kids and family content.

    With HBO Max, we aspire to deliver high-quality entertainment to audiences however and wherever they want to watch it, and this partnership with Verizon to feature HBO Max as a partner for its +play offering is a great, simplified way to do just that.

    Initially designed to provide Verizon customers with access to content the carrier already offers through providers like Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, discovery+ and AMC+, the new +play platform introduces new partners, including Netflix, Peloton, WW, The Athletic, Calm, Duolingo, and TelevisaUnivision’s Vix+, among many others with more to come.

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  • Netflix may abandon its “no ads” policy in a push for cheaper subscription plans

    Netflix may abandon its “no ads” policy in a push for cheaper subscription plans

    Netflix, the world’s largest streaming platform, seems to be having a major change of heart with regards to ads. For a long time the company was adamant in refusing to introduce ads, but the need for cheaper subscription options may force it to relent.

    The decision to explore this path has not been taken lightly. The gradual shift in Netflix’s stance on ads has been taking place for quite a while. What started off as a decisive “no”, then became a “never say never” before moving through the “maybe” phase and could now be a reality in the next couple of years.

    Direct competitors to Netflix have long profited from ad revenue, which has allowed them to sustain more competitive prices. Hulu for one offers an ad-supported option for just 6.99$ per month, in comparison to the 9.99$ per month asked from Netflix for its entry-level subscription plan.

    It should be noted that the inclusion of ads allows Hulu to slash a full 6$ from the price of what is an almost identical service as the ad-free one (which comes at 12.99$ instead). If Netflix were to replicate the model and slash 30-40% of the price they could have a very tempting offer in their hands.

    And Netflix is in desperate need of such an offer. Dwindling subscription numbers and plummeting share prices have pushed the business model of the company to its limits. The suspension of the service in Russia and the war in Ukraine have also done their fair share of damage.

    Not so long ago, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Netflix was in its prime (Amazon did well too). Now, for the first time in a decade, the company is losing subscribers. Perhaps a cheaper alternative will be able to change that.

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  • Netflix loses a quarter of its value after reporting a shocking figure for the first quarter

    Netflix loses a quarter of its value after reporting a shocking figure for the first quarter

    Netflix shares lost more than a quarter of their value this evening after the company released shocking news about the video streamer’s first-quarter earnings. For the first time in over a decade, the company reported a quarterly loss in the number of subscribers which totaled about 200,000 users. Netflix blamed the drop on password sharing, increased competition, inflation, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
    The last time Netflix reported a decline in subscribers was in October 2011. And the bleeding is going to continue with the company forecasting a further decline of two million subscribers for the current quarter that wraps up at the end of June.
    The report was released after regular trading hours on NASDAQ where Netflix shares had risen by $10.75 or 3.18% to close at $348.61 per share. But once investors saw the first quarter results and the forecast for the current quarter, they dumped the stock taking it down to $259 for a loss of $89.61 or 25.70% in after-hours trading. Netflix also took down the shares of fellow streamers like Roku, Disney, and Spotify, all of which declined thanks to Netflix. For example, Disney stock, which rose $4.40 during regular trading hours, gave it back and more when the report was released.
    In a letter to shareholders, Netflix wrote, “Our revenue growth has slowed considerably. Streaming is winning over linear, as we predicted, and Netflix titles are very popular globally. However, our relatively high household penetration — when including the large number of households sharing accounts — combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds.”
    Netflix pointed out that there is plenty of growth potential ahead as half of the world’s broadband users still do not have a Netflix account. As the company stated, “while hundreds of millions of homes pay for Netflix, well over half of the world’s broadband homes don’t yet, representing huge future growth potential.”
    Looking to reduce the practice of password sharing which is eating into Netflix’s results, the streamer is looking to hike the subscription rate for plans that are shared between households. This could result in subscribers paying an extra $2.99 monthly to allow a family member who doesn’t live at the same address to share the account. Netflix Co-CEO Reed Hastings said that the company is considering offering lower-priced ad-supported tiers of service (similar to NBCUniversal’s Peacock).
    During the first quarter of 2022, Netflix took in $7.87 billion, up 9.8% on an annual basis. Net income declined 5.9% from $1.7 billion to 1.6 billion during the first quarter. Diluted earnings per share slipped 5.8% to $3.53. For this quarter, Netflix sees earnings per share of $3.00.
    The number of global streaming paid memberships declined from 221,840,000 to 221,640,000 from the 4th quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022. Wall Street was expecting a 2.7 million increase in subscribers. The suspension of Netflix’s streaming service in Russia cost Netflix 700,000 subscribers. If not for that activity, Netflix would have reported an increase of 500,000 subscribers during the quarter.
    Netflix announced today that over 100 million global households use a shared password and that a global crackdown on this practice is coming. 30 million Netflix users in the U.S. and Canada are believed to be sharing Netflix passwords while over 100 million additional households worldwide are sharing the same passwords. Netflix told shareholders on Tuesday that, “Account sharing as a percentage of our paying membership hasn’t changed much over the years, but…it’s harder to grow membership in many markets — an issue that was obscured by our COVID growth.”
    Netflix said that originally it generously allowed users ti share passwords to help users get “hooked” to the service. But now, with the heavy competition that it faces from Disney+, Peacock, AppleTV+ and others, Netflix says that it is time for those getting the service for free to start paying for it.
  • Vietnam plans two-thirds cut in thermal power

    Vietnam plans two-thirds cut in thermal power

    Vietnam will reduce coal-fired power supply by two-thirds between 2025 and 2045 and increase renewable power supply to account for more than half of the total.

    All localities have expressed agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s latest version – Power Power Development Plan 8 – which was announced earlier this month. The ministry is required to complete its final draft of the plan and submit it to the government by the end of this month, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has said.

    The plan includes targets to bring down the ratio of coal-fired power supply from 29.3 percent in 2025 to 9.6 percent in 2045, when the country is set to have a total supply of 401,556 megawatts from all sources.

    This means coal-fired projects under construction will still be completed, but no new plant will be approved. Hydropower will also see its ratio reduced from 27.2 percent in 2025 to 9 percent in 2045. Renewable energy, comprising mostly of wind and solar power, will see its ratio increase from 23.7 percent in 2025 to 59.5 percent by 2045.

    Offshore projects are set to account for zero percent of supply by 2025 but will rise to 17 percent by 2045.

    Solar power farms will see its ratio more than double from 8.9 percent to 19.4 percent.

    The industry ministry also eyes a gradual transition from liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects to hydrogen power over 20 years. By the 10th year of their operation, the government wants LNG plants to have 20 percent of their capacity coming from hydrogen power.

    The latest development plan aims to maximize the reduction of coal-fired power sources in order to meet the country’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the industry ministry told the government in its report.

    Carbon emissions are set to hit 175 million tonnes by 2045 and fall to 42 million tonnes by 2050.

    The plan will also increase power independence and reduce the need for energy imports, the ministry said.

    Power imports are set to see their ratio decrease from 4.5 percent of total supply in 2025 to 2.8 percent in 2045.

    The industry ministry estimates an investment of $141.6 billion to implement this plant, with transmission accounting for nearly 10 percent.

    It wants to increase power transmission from the central and southern regions to the northern region starting 2030.

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  • Android TV 13 might reduce power consumption for smart TVs

    Android TV 13 might reduce power consumption for smart TVs

    With Android 13 on the way, we’re expecting many important new features to arrive on all devices that are part of the ecosystem, not just smartphones and tablets. Cars and TVs that use Google’s OS are likely to receive their fair share of improvements too, including some that might reduce consumption.

    Obviously, your car won’t consume less fuel or electricity for using Android Auto, but your smart TV might, at least according to a new report by Esper’s Mishaal Rahman. Apparently, Android TV 13 will include a new “low power standby” mode that will prevent some functions to keep running in the background when your smart TV is in standby mode.

    While the low power standby mode is enabled, wakelocks are disabled and network access is blocked. The feature will be disabled by default just in case you want to continue to receive notifications while your smart TV is in standby mode.

    In the same piece of news, the cited report highlights another interesting improvement that Android TV 13 is expected to bring to smart TVs: expanded Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode. With Android 13 TV, PiP windows can be set to less than 1:2.39 or bigger than 2.39:1. Also, despite the fact that Android TV does not support multi-window features except from PiP, Android TV 13 might actually add a “pseudo-split-screen” mode with docked, expanded PiP windows.

  • YouTube Shorts are finally coming to iPads and Android tablets

    YouTube Shorts are finally coming to iPads and Android tablets

    Social media apps borrow features from each other all the time to keep up with the trends. Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have been adding new features that have similar functionalities for a long time, something that has become very common in the last couple of years for many other industries.

    Introduced back in 2020, Shorts, YouTube’s take on TikTok’s short-form videos, have amassed five trillion total views as of January 2022. The number includes all platforms where YouTube Shorts are available such as Android phones and laptops but does not include tablets, which don’t support the feature.

    However, YouTube fans will be happy to know that Shorts will soon be coming to Android and iOS tablets. Although they won’t be available on both platforms at the same time, at least we know YouTube plans to make them available on tablets too sooner rather than later.

    According to YouTube, the Shorts option should be rolled out on YouTube’s apps for Android and iOS tablets “in the coming weeks.” Once the new feature will go live, tablet users should see a Shorts tab within the YouTube app. More details about how to create a Short using a song from YouTube’s library are available on the support page.