The “digital world” of telework and remote learning is more important during the pandemic, but 98% of websites have “critical accessibility barriers,” said AudioEye Executive Chairman Carr Bettis on a quarterly call Thursday. The company markets website accessibility tools for the vision-impaired. Though demand “remains very strong,” COVID-19 is impacting customers and prospects “across all our channels,” said Bettis. New business deals are being “delayed a little,” and AudioEye imposed “more flexible pricing and other options," he said. The “marginal” decrease in renewals is from factors “out of our control, such as bankruptcy proceedings or outright business closures,” he said. The pandemic is impacting businesses worldwide, “even more so” in Q2, Bettis said. “It's going to be reasonable to expect some impact on AudioEye's financial and operating performance.” The company also reshuffled management (see personals section, this issue).

COVID-19 hastened the trend away from pay TV, Needham analyst Laura Martin wrote Friday. Subscription-driven (SVOD) streaming services grew 20-50% faster than earlier estimates, said Martin, citing as drivers shelter-in-place, lack of live sports, shuttered cinemas and divisive news cycles. She cited a July Roku study saying 40% of cord-cutters say free or extended trials for streaming services encouraged them to cancel a traditional TV package. Because many streaming services drop entire new seasons on one day, they had more hours of nearly completed episodes ready. Needham estimates consumers signed up for two to four new SVOD streaming services, while free ad-driven (AVOD) users doubled. This era is driving more experimentation, including Universal’s multi-year 17-day theatrical window deal with AMC and Disney’s decision to release Mulan for $30 Sept. 4 (see report, Aug. 6 issue). The economic impact of widespread unemployment might negatively affect SVOD streaming services due to less disposable income; or, it could lead users to rotate sequentially among SVOD services rather than pay for multiple SVOD subscriptions simultaneously, Martin said.

In Webex, Cisco has “the most trusted secure platform for remote collaboration for the enterprise,” said CEO Chuck Robbins on a fiscal Q4 investor call Wednesday. Webex had double-digit growth in the quarter, “as businesses, governments, educators and front-line workers everywhere have embraced remote work,” he said. “We expect this momentum to continue, as we have begun to see the conversion of free trials into paid subscriptions.” Many Cisco customers are delaying their purchasing decisions in certain areas, “while increasing spend in others until they have greater visibility and clarity on the timing and shape of the global economic recovery,” said Robbins. The COVID-19 pandemic has “triggered a massive and rapid shift to remote operations and automation to maximize personal safety.” The stock closed 11.2% lower Thursday at $42.72.

The Conference Board’s CEO confidence index had a 1-point uptick in Q3 to 45 points from the second quarter, it reported Thursday. A reading below 50 reflects more negative than positive responses. The board compiled the index in collaboration with The Business Council. About 38% of the CEOs canvassed expect to trim their workforces in the next 12 months, the survey found. With “uncertain economic conditions likely to persist,” more than a third also don't foresee raising pay in the next year, but 37% expressed little worry in attracting qualified talent, said the board: “Without substantial containment of COVID-19, widespread uncertainty will continue being the dominant cloud hanging over America’s CEO community.” CEOs remained pessimistic about current economic conditions, “though to a lesser extent than in the second quarter,” said the board. Nearly 90% said conditions were worse compared with six months earlier, down from 100% who said so in Q2. Only 8% said economic conditions were better. About three-quarters said conditions in their own industries were worse compared with six months earlier, down from 82% last quarter. About 17% said conditions were better in their own industries, up from 10% in Q2.

CTA’s Tech Tracker survey found 17% of U.S. homes canvassed Aug. 7-9 bought laptops that week, “as many families prepare to go back to school remotely,” said the association Thursday. That’s the highest percentage of laptop purchases recorded since CTA launched the biweekly tech-use survey at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, it said. “For many, going back to school in person isn’t an option,” said CTA Director-Research Lesley Rohrbaugh. The “collaboration” that technology enables “will be crucial for remote learning and social connection,” she said. High demand for telework and remote-learning connectivity tools sent Q2 laptop and tablet imports soaring by triple digits from Q1 (see 2008090002).

Local advertising spending in 2020 likely will be about $140.4 billion instead of the previously forecast $143.3 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic's economic fallout, BIA Advisory Services said Wednesday. That would be a 6.1% decline from 2019 spending, it said. Broadcast TV and radio advertising projections of $27.9 billion are down $500 million from its previous forecast, it said, while mobile advertising will likely total $24.3 billion, also a $500 million decline, and its online/interactive advertising projection is down $300 million to $20.6 billion, it said.

COVID-19 forced Mozilla into a restructuring that will eliminate 250 jobs, including the shutdown of operations in Taiwan, said CEO Mitchell Baker in a memo to employees Tuesday. Mozilla’s pre-pandemic plan for 2020 was “a year of change” by speeding the infusion of more “product value” in Firefox and “adjusting our finances to ensure financial stability over the long term,” she said. The pandemic “accelerated the need and magnified the depth for these changes,” said Baker. “Our pre-COVID plan is no longer workable. We have talked about the need for change -- including the likelihood of layoffs -- since the spring. Today these changes become real.” Mozilla’s “new focus” will be on product, technology, community and economics, blogged Baker: “Recognizing that the old model where everything was free has consequences, means we must explore a range of different business opportunities and alternate value exchanges.”

Retail landlord Simon Property Group took a $315 million hit to its Q2 operating profit from COVID-19 through “rent abatements” and a “higher provision for credit losses,” said CEO David Simon on a quarterly call Monday. The company runs about 200 malls and other retail properties in 37 states. “Given the lack of local, state and federal government support for our industry, we went out of our way to abate rent for thousands of local small businesses, entrepreneurs and restaurateurs and other retailers for the period they were closed,” said Simon. The company estimates 91% of its properties were “open and operating” through Aug. 9, he said. Reopened stores reported their June sales exceeded 80% of their 2019 volume, he said. Movie theaters, gyms and restaurants are the bulk of “remaining tenants” that are still closed due to “restrictive governmental orders limiting or prohibiting their operations,” he said. The Great Recession of 2008 “pales in comparison to what we're dealing with” in the pandemic, said Simon. The number of bankruptcies “in our sector” is “tremendous,” he said.

Starting this week, visitors to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit must have their temperature taken using a contactless temperature kiosk at the 3rd Street NW entrance, the federal court said Tuesday. It said anyone with a fever of 100.1 or higher won't be allowed entry.

Though COVID-19 is obliterating virtually all physical trade shows on the calendar, the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) is forging ahead with its Certified in Exhibition Management credentials program and plans to convene the instructional CEM Week as a virtual event Aug. 24-28. “Earning your CEM designation sets you apart from others by showing that you have the academic and practical knowledge to efficiently and successfully produce exhibitions,” emailed IAEE Monday. “Now more than ever, it is crucial for you to stand out in the field of exhibitions management. Employers are looking for professionals that will get them quickly back on track when face-to-face events are back in full force.” COVID-19 forced the cancellation of physical CEM conferences in Baltimore and Austin, so IAEE is combining them in a single virtual event. By taking 10 classes over five days with five exams, participants will meet five of the nine criteria required to earn a “globally recognized” CEM credential, it said. IAEE said it created the CEM designation 45 years ago “to raise professional standards in the event industry and it continues to be the premier mark of professional achievement.”