David Zaslav Says Warner Bros Discovery’s Streaming Business Is “No Longer Bleeding”
05.05.2023 - 13:21
/ deadline.com
Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav has said the company’s U.S. streaming operation is “no longer bleeding” after it posted a $50M profit for Q1 this year. “It’s harder to run a business when you have a big bleeder,” he told investors on an earnings call minutes ago.
WBD had posted several quarters of streaming losses before today’s swing into the black. The EBITDA spike is good news for WBD as it gears up to launch its HBO Max/Discovery+ hybrid service Max this year. U.S. streaming subs were up 1.6 million to 97.6 million overall.
“When you run a business, you’re looking for growth, which we’re going to get in the streaming business and we’re striving to get throughout the company as the economy improves, but the key here is our U.S. streaming business is no longer bleeding.
“Getting this business under control, focusing on what people love to watch and how we create content people love and now with Max we’ll be able to nourish and delight subscribers with the greatness of HBO, whether it’s The White Lotus, House of the Dragon, The Last of Us Succession and put it together with Discovery.
WBD CEO and President of Global Streaming JB Perrette provided some color on how the Burbank-based company would quantify success for Max after it launches on May 23. “In the very near term, migration success is one of the key metrics — i.e. getting the HBO Max customers migrated over to Max,” he said.
Brand awareness, customer satisfaction and engagement would be the three further term metrics by which WBD will assess Max’s performance. “Over time, we obviously want to see subscriber growth and scale.”
Elsewhere, Zaslav confirmed WBD was “actively” looking to add news and sport to Max. Both genres have proven difficult for