TWITTER VS DIRECTV; OR TWITTER REVEALS DOT COM 2.0 MADNESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

DirecTV sells direct-to-home TV broadcasting  to Americans living in the USA and in Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Brazil). Launched twenty years ago (June 1994), DirecTV has 35.56 million monthly paying subscribers (December 2012).

Twitter is a text chat service based on Internet servers that supports linking to Internet hosted photos and videos. Twitter launched eight years ago (July 2006). Twitter has zero monthly paying subscribers.


In 2013, Twitter earned $665 million. Direct earned a whopping $31.8 BILLION! That's 47.8 times what Twitter earned!

In 2013 Q4, Twitter earned $242.68 million but Twitter execs crazily spent $3.10 for every dollar earned. DirecTV earned $8.6 BILLION. The smarter DirecTV execs spent a mere 88¢ for every $1 earned.

DirectTV's 2013 Q4 Net Income rang in at 3.34 times Twitter's total revenues ($810.00 million vs $242.68 million)

In 2014 Q1 Twitter execs spent $1.52 for every $1 in revenue. While Twitter's execs have tried to highlight that 2014 Q1 revs are up 119% year over year, revenues from last quarter barely grew at all, registering an on-life-support 3% ($250.3 million vs $242.68 million). 

In trends continue, in 2014 Q1, DirecTV should earn another $8 BILLION.

Yet, what is the tale of the stock prices for Twitter and DirecTV?  Well, have a look at the chart.

TWTR hit a peak of $73.71 on 2013-12-26, trading higher than DTV ($67.39) on that day. Today, TWTR  closed at $38.97 while DTV closed at $77.60.

DTV only trades at 1.99 times TWTR, but DTV quarterly revenues for the last quarter were a gargantuan 34 times TWTR!

In eight years, Twitter execs never have earned profit. DirecTV earns profit each quarter and for years now.

About 30% of all American Twitter users come from households with total household income under $30,000. About 50% of all American Twitter users come from households with total household income under $50,000.¹

Someone at Marketingcharts.com reports on a study conducted by eggheads at the University of Illinois who state  the top 1% of Twitter users published 20% of all tweets, the top 5% published 48% of all tweets and the top 15% published 85% of all tweets in a random period (39 days) studied.

Marketers need to get real about Twitter. Stock speculators need to get real as well.

For more on the ugly truth about Twitter, check out TWITTER TO DIE WITHIN THREE YEARS, FIVE TOPS. #OUCH

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¹ Sources: Pew Research Data, U.S. Bureau of Census, household data (2009)