Warner Bros. Discovery is happy with the Emmys, even if it takes some time to merge its two great streaming services into one that combines the best of both, Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said at an investor conference on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference in San Francisco, he was asked about Monday night’s Emmy Awards. Wiedenfels praised the company’s creative teams for 48 industry-leading awards, led by HBO. He called this “great backdrop” and “great evidence” of how management views the combined company as a company with a lot of future. ted’s bow s Abbott Elementary Plus, the Emmys are big wins for the conglomerate, even if Warner produces them for Apple and ABC rather than distributing them, he said.
The merger presents a “huge opportunity,” said Wiedenfels, noting dragon house As an early example of how a growing company can attract audiences to content. The CFO noted that the first episode of the HBO show has already reached “over 30 million viewers”, the most successful launch in HBO history.
“Unfortunately, right now, neither of them are perfect,” he said of the conglomerate’s two streaming services, with HBO Max having “this amazing content offering” and “a lot of must-have features” while Discovery+ has.” user experience. We had to rebuild, taking the best parts of both platforms and rebuilding a new state-of-the-art structure, which will take some time, he said. The thesis behind this is that the two streamers are “perfect complements,” Wiedenfels said.
He also noted that while Discovery content has traditionally not had “that extreme buzz” that brings hundreds of thousands or millions of people to the streaming platform, its perennial popularity can help alleviate customer churn when HBO has no new shows. . . , noting that it has the “lowest churn rates in the industry” and long watch times. “It makes a lot of sense that we have HGTV, Food, Magnolia, Discovery and obviously on the other side HBO” as “very, very strong, established brands” that should be a “content discovery factor”. The approach we’re going to take” for the blended-flow product, he said. This was seen as a likely sign that the combined streamer will help promote the company’s top content brands, much like Disney+ showcases Marvel, Pixar and other Walt Disney brands.
WBD’s CFO was also asked whether the conglomerate views its video game business, other units or real estate assets as non-core assets that can be sold. “Obviously, we’re going to look at everything from an operational business perspective,” he explained. “We want to take the time to do a comprehensive strategic review, so there’s nothing for sale here at the moment.” He added that real estate is “part of our integration analysis and we will find out what is the right strategy and the right footprint.”
Wiedenfels is targeting more than $3 billion in cost savings from the merger, with executives reiterating on Tuesday that it will capture $2 billion to $3 billion in 2023. For example, more than $6 billion could be found in direct spend without consumer content. reduced by the merger of the two companies, he said.
But Wiedenfels was not questioned or commented on the report that the Warner Bros. in Discovery’s advertising business are expected to start on Tuesday. any axios The report says the advertising sales team could be reduced by around 30% over time, including layoffs and natural attrition without leaving or replacing employees.
Asked whether Warner Bros. Discovery is still uncovering trends about the former WarnerMedia, in addition to its recent warning that key business trends have fallen short of initial pre-merger expectations, Wiedenfels said his team had no additional surprises and added: “Frankly, we do. found enough.”
The chief financial officer reiterated on Tuesday that the company’s broadcast business in the United States will break even in 2024.
Wiedenfels said at the Bank of America investor conference on Sept. 8 that while the company has made difficult decisions about strategy and investment in content, it remains committed to investing in and growing its content business. unexpected shelves bat girl “It was a little out of proportion,” however, he argued. “Obviously, making course corrections, making changes quickly where we didn’t agree with the path that WarnerMedia was taking, took a lot of courage and early execution,” said Wiedenfels, adding: bat girl Specifically: “I don’t think it’s unusual. We are a creative industry and one of the elements of creativity is that there are judgments and opinions about what the potential of a particular intellectual property could be. “
Wiedenfels also stressed at the Bank of America conference that the company’s creative leaders such as film directors Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdi make the content calls, but “my team has helped them by providing financial data whenever possible.” potential from a financial point of view”.
The management of Warner Bros. Discovery emphasized that while content cuts are being made to many titles, the company expects most of its cost savings to come from other areas. The conglomerate had an $825 million write-down of content in the second quarter, which did not include bat girl.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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