Welcome back to The Shoppe! This week we’re talking about the AT&T and Discovery Media merger, Twitter tackling iOS 14.5, and Coca-Cola pulling their newest energy drink. Don’t forget to subscribe so you can be notified every time we post!

Telecom giant AT&T announced a merger with Discovery and existing partner, WarnerMedia. This merger now introduces another media giant that will be capable of going head to head with companies such as Netflix and Disney in terms of content. Channels including Animal Planet, TLC, Food Network, and the Discovery Channel will now be part of the AT&T conglomerate. However, after preliminary discussion, and the logistics of this deal, AT&T will be unraveling it’s previous merger with WarnerMedia, which closed just under three years ago, and will now be forming a brand new media company with Discovery CEO, David Zaslav. Zaslav will also be headwaying the new company, whose name is TBA. AT&T currently owns CNN, HBO, and WarnerBros Hollywood after the WarnerMedia acquisition. Discovery CEO Zaslav included, “AT&T and Discovery’s assets are better and more valuable together.” 

Twitter Tackling iOS 14.5

The introduction of iOS 14.5 from Apple has caused a shift in the marketing world. This new software limits the amount of data a certain company can obtain from personal usage of social media apps and cellphones. With this obstacle, Twitter is now following in the lead of Facebook and prompting users to not turn off their data tracking options. By keeping the data tracking on, targeted ads to users will be more relevant. In a previous disclaimer released by Facebook, a vital piece of information stating “thank you for keeping Facebook free of charge” was visible to users before turning their app tracking off or leaving it running. This was a nudge towards the idea that if users do not provide first party data tracking information, Facebook and its subsidiaries may become a pay to use platform. It is unknown how useful Twitter’s disclaimer will really be, but it will be interesting to see how these companies shift to acclimate to these changes or accept data tracking defeat.

Coca-Cola Loses Momentum

Coca-Cola launched their cola flavored energy drink, Coca-Cola Energy, less than two years ago. The drink, made with guarana extracts and B-vitamins, was introduced to compete with other drinks on the market such as Bang Energy Drink. These brands saw momentum during the social media boom during the early COVID-19 period. Coca-Cola Energy had more than 3 times the caffeine than a normal can of Coke did, and cost more to produce as well. This was also one of the first times that Coca Cola has sold a beverage that differed from it’s iconic flagship soda brand in the U.S. The energy drink will be discontinued in the North American continent by the end of 2021, but will still appear on shelves in other parts of the world.