David Zaslav is one of America’s highest-paid executives. In 2022, his cable programming company Discovery took control of Warner Bros., along with several other networks. But just as the merger closed, the streaming bubble burst, prompting the lay off of thousands of employees, and the cancellation of more than $1 billion in programming. In L.A. Influential, a new series highlighting powerful Angelenos, senior entertainment writer Meg James talks with Zaslav about his career and changes in the entertainment industry. https://lnkd.in/g99mfrPN
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Marketing Director | Brand Strategy, Growth, Leadership | I Help Media Entertainment Companies Drive Brand Growth with $680M+ in Sales Success & Counting
Warner Bros. Discovery's recent announcement of a Harry Potter TV series has excited fans worldwide. This faithful adaptation promises to dive deep into the beloved books and span a remarkable 10-year journey. But what does this mean for the future of the Wizarding World on screen? The series' creation process, casting decisions, and J.K. Rowling's involvement highlight a commitment to preserving the franchise's integrity. With top-tier talent like Francesca Gardiner and Kathleen Jordan onboard, alongside Rowling's oversight, the series is poised for success. However, challenges and controversies loom, from casting new actors to debates about Rowling's role. Yet, the commitment to quality content and the potential for this venture to shape Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming strategy cannot be understated. 📅 Release Date: Expected in 2026, according to WBD CEO David Zaslav. 📺 How to Watch: Available on Max and through a multi-year licensing agreement with Crave in Canada. 💰 Production Costs: Anticipated to rival or exceed epic productions like "House of the Dragon." 🔮 Future Projects: While the focus is on the TV series, WBD is open to more Harry Potter-related ventures. As we eagerly await the magic, what aspects of the Harry Potter universe are you most excited to see brought to life in this new TV series? ✨ Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO Max #HarryPotter #Streaming #ContentCreation #Entertainment #Television #WarnerBrosDiscovery #BrandStrategy #TVSeries
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From the Journal: David Ellison’s foray in the #entertainment business is a tale as old as #Hollywood itself—a rich kid comes to town with dreams of being a mover and shaker. The story typically ends the same way: Industry sharks smell blood and devour their snack. But Ellison’s script has had a surprise twist—success. As much of the entertainment industry struggles to adjust to the economic realities of the streaming era, with layoffs and cost-cutting becoming the norm at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal , Ellison has built his production company, Skydance Media, into a powerful and profitable maker of big-budget movies and TV shows. Now the 41-year-old son of software billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is exploring a complex deal to take control of Paramount Global [US:PARA] that could catapult him to media moguldom. Ellison and investors in Skydance—whose hits include “Top Gun: Maverick,” “The Family Plan” and “Reacher”—are discussing a bid for media titan Shari Redstone’s controlling stake in #Paramount parent National Amusements. If successful, they would later seek to merge Paramount with Skydance. Though far from certain, the transactions put Ellison in the spotlight, testing whether his industry savvy extends beyond picking hit shows and films. Such a deal would mark the start of a long-expected reshaping of entertainment industry ownership after years waning moviegoing, cable declines and costly pivots to streaming. Since launching in 2010, Skydance has positioned itself as a boutique of big-budget fare for streamers. When major studios such as Warner Bros. Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company decided to stop selling to Netflix and other #streaming platforms and instead focus on building their own, Skydance saw an opening and pounced. Among its streaming credits are Netflix ’s Arnold Schwarzenegger action show “Fubar” and Amazon Prime Video’s hit show “Reacher,” inspired by the Jack Reacher novels. Skydance made “The Family Plan,” starring Mark Wahlberg, for Apple TV+, which became the service’s most-watched movie ever after premiering last month. Should Ellison’s deal to buy a majority stake in National Amusements work, it will give him power over an iconic studio and a vast library of #films and #TV shows. He will also have to determine the future of Paramount’s CBS broadcast network, a struggling cable business that’s home to MTV and Nickelodeon , and a 1,300-screen movie-theater chain. Paramount’s next owner will also have to decide whether to keep pumping cash and content into its #Paramount+ streaming service, which is battling much bigger and richer competitors. In addition to the Ellison family, stakeholders in the closely held Skydance include private-equity firms RedBird Capital Partners and KKR as well as Chinese videogame and social-media company Tencent Holdings. Skydance said it surpassed $4 billion in value in 2022 after raising $400 million in new capital.
He Arrived in Hollywood With Money and a Name. It Just Might Work.
wsj.com
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Warner Bros. Discovery experienced a significant drop in stock prices, plunging more than 16% following its third-quarter earnings report. The media company reported a decline in ad revenue, and CEO David Zaslav warned of a "generational disruption" in the media industry. This drop in stock prices is the biggest one-day decline in over two years for Warner Bros. Discovery. The decline in ad spending among its TV networks and challenges such as strikes in the industry were cited as factors contributing to the decline. Zaslav emphasized the difficulty of navigating these changes, especially with a streaming service that is currently losing billions of dollars. Warner Bros. Discovery also saw a decrease in subscribers for its streaming service Max. The company's chief financial officer stated that achieving their target leverage ratio by the end of 2024 is unlikely without a significant recovery in the TV ad market. The media market will be closely watching Disney's earnings report as well for further insights. #WarnerBrosDiscovery #MediaDisruption #StockMarketDrop #StreamingServices
Warner Bros. Discovery experienced a significant drop in stock prices, plunging more than 16% following its third-quarter earnings report. The media company reported a decline in ad revenue, and CEO David Zaslav warned of a "generational disruption" in the media industry. This drop in stock prices is the biggest one-day decline in over two years for Warner Bros. Discovery. The decline in ad s...
markets.businessinsider.com
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I help teams overcome the chaos in managing products. Author, speaker, coach, guitar player. Product Strategy | Product Management | Product Marketing
Interesting writeup from Evan Shapiro: "Since the combination of Discovery and Warner Media, the valuation of the entire Disco Bros enterprise has halved, from $60 billion to $30 billion. The talent exodus from WBD has been breakneck. The HBO brand - one of the most valuable in TV history - has all but disappeared. Notably so has the Discovery brand - perhaps another of the most valuable in television history." (More at https://lnkd.in/eFsa5e3x ) I suggest DZ lost sight of the customer long ago. The "Jack Welch School of Stupid Business Strategy" says to focus on shareholders, not customers (and thus, destroy GE and Discovery and HBO). What can #productmanagement do to fix this disaster (other than get rid of leadership)?
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#JustAnObservation "2023's Hollywood Landscape: A Challenging Year for High-Budget Films" This year, only one Hollywood movie with a budget exceeding $200 million has turned a profit thus far. Amidst a rapidly evolving entertainment landscape, three major U.S. media conglomerates are facing unprecedented financial pressures. Warner Bros. Discovery, holding rights to iconic franchises like Harry Potter and DC Comics, is reportedly exploring a merger with Paramount to mitigate financial challenges. Paramount Pictures, known for Star Trek, Indiana Jones, and Mission Impossible, faces similar struggles. Disney, despite its vast array of movies and TV shows, has encountered significant setbacks, more than any of its competitors. Interestingly, Netflix, once predicted to face decline, appears to be navigating these challenges more successfully. A similar trend is emerging in Bollywood, indicating a global shift in the entertainment industry. This underscores a crucial lesson: owning rights to a great idea is not a guaranteed path to success. Effective execution and adaptation to changing market dynamics are key to thriving in today's competitive sector.
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✔ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, David Zaslav, highlights the urgent need to resolve the ongoing strikes affecting writers and actors in the media industry.📺🎬 ✔ Speaking at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia and Technology conference, Zaslav emphasizes their focus as a content and storytelling company, with a mission to get people back to work and ensure fair compensation for industry professionals. ✔ Warner Bros. Discovery recently adjusted its full-year outlook, factoring in potential strike impacts, which could result in a hit of $300 million to $500 million in adjusted earnings💰📉 ✔ Despite this, the company remains committed to its financial goals, including debt reduction and strengthening its streaming business 📊📈 ✔ The company's dedication to financial stability includes ongoing efforts to reduce debt stemming from the 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, all while safeguarding the company's overall health 💡🔄 ✔ Warner Bros. Discovery is also exploring opportunities to expand its streaming platform, Max, with plans to introduce sports content in the near future. ✔ Additionally, they are expanding their content portfolio, recently incorporating series from AMC Networks and announcing the addition of CNN as a 24/7 live news hub later this month 📺🎞 ✔ As the media industry faces various challenges, including pandemic-related disruptions and a competitive advertising market, Warner Bros. Discovery is poised for growth and adaptation while remaining dedicated to its core values of storytelling and content creation 🌍📰 #mediaindustry #streaming #contentcreation #entertainmentindustry Equivaluesearch Saumitra Mondal
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From Variety: “In a weird way the strikes have been a mask for the deeper issues we’re struggling with — the costs of content, the quality of content and the eradication of several revenue streams,” says Jeremy Zimmer, CEO of United Talent Agency. “These are all real issues that need to be dealt with.” Moody's Corporation’s Investors Service estimates that the work stoppages will produce about $10 billion in additional free cash flow over a 12-month period across the largest conglomerates, notably The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, Warner Bros. Discovery, #Paramount Global and Sony Corp. That’s an astounding figure, and one that underscores how much money #Hollywood has committed to content production in recent years. The business has been on a bender, fueled by the availability of cheap debt and optimistic projections about the potential of fledgling #streaming platforms. But over the past 10 months, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery alone have shed nearly 10,000 jobs and slashed billions of dollars in production and marketing costs. Disney originally forecast shelling out a little more than $30 billion on content (including sports rights) in fiscal 2023. But the Mouse’s actual 2023 number dropped to $27 billion after the strikes began and is projected by Disney to drop again to $25 billion in fiscal 2024. Moody’s estimates the total cost increase across all major studios from the three-year union contracts inked with the Directors Guild of America, WGA and SAG-AFTRA to be in the realm of $600 million a year. As #film and #TV production lurches back into high gear this month, the business is already on a different course than it was before the writers went pencils down and the actors joined. The environment for the foreseeable future will be all business. Moreover, the deal-making environment is expected to be extremely “surgical,” in the words of a top studio executive. Instead of multimillion-dollar outlays on multiyear development deals, the focus will be on script sales, short-term talent holding deals and other project-by-project transactions. Some see a wave of austerity coming to an industry known for its glamour and largesse. Another new normal: your favorite TV shows and movies heading to different platforms. Insiders expect companies to continue licensing their shows and films to outside streamers in a way they haven’t been for the past few years. Recently, Warner Bros. Discovery has been putting certain HBO shows on Netflix — like “Insecure” and “Band of Brothers” — with several big DC Comics titles like “The Batman” and “Wonder Woman” soon to follow suit. Disney CEO Bob Iger also hinted the Mouse House is “in discussion” to lend some of its titles to Netflix. It’s a way for these companies to make some quick cash. But Iger, as well as Netflix movie chief Scott Stuber, have acknowledged a greater need to prioritize quality over quantity. What’s the point of endless streaming options if nobody wants to watch them?
What Did We Learn? Hollywood Is Back in Biz, but Ripple Effects of Strike and Streaming Shakeout Are Just Starting
https://variety.com
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Cultural Insights Thought Leader. Latinx Market Expert. Qualitative and Quantitative Market Research Practitioner. Public Speaker. Author. Puertorriqueña. 2024 Wonder Woman Awardee!
This would be absolutely mindboggling if these two companies succeeded in merging. Think about the implications for the media ecosystem not just here in the US but internationally- we are talking about two of the biggest film studios, CBS, CBS Sports, CNN, HBO, Showtime, all of the Viacom nets including BET, all of the Turner nets, all of the Discovery nets including OWN, Paramount+, Discovery+/Max, and many more, plus and countless digital publications, and production companies, under one roof. Wondering if they'll sell the Black-focused content to Byron Allen and consolidate all the rest. What are all of your thoughts on this?
Warner Bros. Discovery in talks to merge with Paramount
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