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Warner Bros. Discovery reached multiple international licensing deals

Warner Bros. Discovery brands are extremely popular around the world, and recently the company announced its new licensing deals that will distribute HBO, Max Original, and Warner Bros content to a broader international audience. 

India is an important market for Warner Bros. Discovery global distribution of premium content. Previously, the company had a licensing deal with Disney’s Star TV and the deal came to an end in March 2023. Instead of prolonging the agreement, WBD decided to shift its content offerings to Viacom18’s JioCinema. JioCinema is an Indian AVOD service, owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture between Paramount Global and Network18. Variety reports that this deal includes a great variety of content, such as House of The Dragon, The Last of Us, Succession, and The White Lotus, as well as their future seasons. Max Original series The Idol, White House Plumbers and HBO acclaimed series Game of Thrones, Sex in the City, Chernobyl were also featured in the deal amongst many other content offerings. All future seasons of HBO Original, Max Original and Warner Bros. Television series will premiere on JioCinema on the same day as in the US. 

Clement Schwebig, president, India, Southeast Asia, and Korea, Warner Bros. Discovery, claims that this agreement present WBD’s commitment to South Asia, as they further seek to strengthen the scale of their regional business as a whole (Hollywood Reporter). Viacom 18 also acquired streaming rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, the most popular sporting event in India, which was previously streamed by Disney+ Hotstar. This will strengthen JioCinema’s dominant position in the India entertainment industry. 

Deadline also reports that WBD signed a multi-year licensing deal with Canadian Crave, as part of their efforts to reach a bigger international audience. This deal will give Crave’s user access to stream WBD’s future tentpoles, Harry Potter series and The Penguin, as well as Friends and feature films The Flash and Dune: Part Two.

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Netflix has settled on password-sharing ban, announces the global rollout of paid sharing.

Last Tuesday, April 18th, Netflix announced the details and its future plans for tackling its long-standing password-sharing problem. In its January earnings letter, Netflix estimated that more than 100M households are involved in password sharing which seriously harms its revenues and limits its potential to invest in more content and grow the platform (Hollywood Reporter). The general terms of Netflix’s plans with multiple accounts is that they are shared between the members of the same household. As of today, password-sharing outside of their household has become a standard practice for Netflix subscribers. Therefore, the global enforcement of the password sharing ban is expected to receive some backlash. However, the company is prepared for cancellations in return for increased acquisition and revenue (Deadline). The countermeasure to password sharing is paid sharing, as Netflix calls it. The company already debuted a paid sharing option in four countries in the first quarter of this year. It chose Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal to test out their new practice. As part of paid sharing plans, subscribers have the option to add up to two people to their subscriptions. According to Hollywood Reporter, adding a new member to the plan costs an additional fee, which is CAD$7.99 per person in Canada, NZD$7.99 in New Zealand, 3.99 euros in Portugal, and 5.99 euros in Spain. Netflix is yet to announce pricing for other regions. The company also paid deliberate attention to the results from Canada, as they believe it to be a reliable predictor of the US market. Netflix reports to have been satisfied with the efficiency of paid sharing and financial results in Q1, as their paid membership base and revenue growth have increased. With the introduction of paid sharing plans across the world, Netflix is expected to see substantial financial gains. Earlier Insider Intelligence estimated that Netflix could add $1.6B in revenue by charging additional fees for password sharing. This year Netflix has been going through a lot of major business changes such as adding ad-supported plans, introducing games to its platform, and shutting off its traditional DVD business sector. Adding paid sharing plans could also help it tackle growing content costs and expenses.

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AMC+ is to launch an ad-supported tier and Audience+ insights data platform

AMC Network followed other major streamers in embracing advertising on its streaming platforms, hoping to offset losses caused by a cord cutting trend. Recently the company announced that AMC+ is going to have a new ad-supported tier which will give its subscribers more flexibility and attract more advertising partners to the service. The new ad-tier is expected to launch later this year in October. 

AMC+ is a streaming bundle from AMC Network that gives viewers access to programming from AMC, IFC, Shudder, SundanceTV, SundanceNow, BBC America, and more (amcnetworks). 

Hollywood Reporter notes that while major players hope to broaden their audience and entertain everyone, AMC is set on its target audience and describes its approach as “Everything to Someone”. According to Hollywood Reporter, part of their approach is also creating content with advertisers, thus giving them more promotional material and shaping the programing the way that will be more convenient for ad placements.  

In their pursuit to obtain more loyal customers and advertisers, along with AMC+ new ad-tier, AMC is launching Audience+. Deadline defines Audience plus as a powerful new insights and data targeting platform for media buyers and advertisers. This data platform is a product of AMC Network’s partnership with analytics firm 605, founded in 2016 by AMC Network’s current CEO. It will help advertisers reach the viewers more efficiently and directly across the portfolio of AMC’s services. 

Since the streaming business model is still coming into focus and the number of AVODs is growing rapidly, the relationship between media companies and advertisers is also transforming. Things like second-screening and the ambiguity of ad’s efficiency and metrics makes advertisers reconsider the original price of ads. AMC Network's Audience plus is supposed to take the relationship between advertisers and media companies to the next level by providing more ground for fruitful partnership benefiting both parties. 

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What happens to studios once their writers rebel?

WGA announced that it’s going on a strike. Writers Guild of America have long been dissatisfied with how studios have treated them. According to Deadline, WGA's contract with TV producers and studios ends on May 1st. Now after two weeks of negotiations with the companies for better conditions, WGA is calling for the strike authorization vote. Throughout April, writers are going to persuade their companies to improve the terms of their contract or go on a strike once the contract ends (Deadline). 

Hollywood Reporter is trying to predict how this strike will affect TV and Film Business by comparing it to the last strike in 2007-2008, which lasted exactly 100 days. It claims that the effects of the strike will be most apparent in fall because of the halted production during the summer. Therefore, all the major studios are renewing the shows for more seasons earlier than expected in order to stock up on the scripts and smoothly resume the production once the strike is over. 

Streaming platforms might be the most affected by this occurrence because they depend on a consistent supply of fresh content to keep the time spent on the platform up. Since the last strike, studios came up with several content strategies to withhold the effects of the strike on its viewership. Some of the solutions to this are unscripted stockpiling and delaying the originals, thus transferring them to the period of expected “content drought”. Unscripted stockpiling is shifting focus on the content that does not require a fictional storyline and draws its inspiration from real life, such as documentaries. Pushing the release of originals to summer and fall will make the lack of production of scripted content less apparent. Referring to the experience of last strike, Hollywood Reporter predicts that this might also be a time for the surge of acquired content. 

A particularly interesting result that might come out of this situation is the rise of animation content. Animation content does take longer to produce but its scripts are written in advance, and what studios find most appealing is that its production costs are much lower. This might be good news for animation fans, as major studios are known for their tendency to cancel pretty successful animation shows after a couple of seasons, like Netflix’s “Inside Job”, which leaves fans pretty restless.

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What is the future of AI in the TV industry? 

The staggering popularity of ChatGPT sparked numerous conversations about the significance and threat of Artificial Intelligence for our society. People were concerned, remembering the popular movie trope when the A.I. turns against its creators and leads humanity to its ruin. They were even more afraid of losing their jobs as the number of possible applications of artificial intelligence grows every day.

One of the notable developments of the A.I. is its involvement in the arts. Artists were angry at the creators of A.I. for stealing their work and no one could believe that a computer can actually come up with a powerful work of art as it still lacks what is essential for art, a “soul”. However, this faith might’ve been proved wrong just in the last few days.

According to Variety, the title sequence of Red Skies, Series Mania’s entrant, is the first opening animation fully made by artificial intelligence. Merav Shaham, the show’s designer, wrote a script and gave it to A.I. to generate a visual sequence. Contrary to the widely held belief that A.I. will never possess a human touch and natural feel to it, this animation is strikingly sensitive and touching. That is why it was compared to a work deserving of Annie, one of the most prestigious animation awards. The A.I. generated animation was able to convey the complexity and intensity of the show’s plot which is based on the events of the Second Intifada.

If anything, this recent development proves that Artificial Intelligence possesses vast potential even for the production of original content, which the major studios and content creators might pick up on soon. Besides creating art through A.I., Deadline also reports that it might be possible to even simulate an actor's performance. SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ guild, warns their actors to carefully look at their contracts to protect their rights. All these countless possibilities expand the legal landscape to deal with copyright issues, as well as the possession of one’s identity. The media industry might find itself in a bind trying to regulate this unknown force.

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Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Netflix in dispute over content.

Is the new era of streaming wars approaching? In the frantic pursuit of a bigger customer base, media companies were investing more money than ever into supplying viewers with good, original content. Hence, the Verge calls the last decade the “Golden Age of Streaming Wars”. However, with the rising cost of content and fierce competition, the companies are now trying to adjust their business models such as focusing on generating revenue and cutting down on expenses.

Alongside such shifts in the streaming industry, we see more interesting business decisions and feuds brewing among the biggest media conglomerates. Just last week, Paramount Global was hit by a 500$ million lawsuit by Warner Bros. Discovery over the distribution rights of the popular animated series “South Park''. Back in 2019, two companies reached a licensing agreement that gave HBO Max the rights to stream all 23 seasons of South Park in addition to the 3 future seasons. However, WBD claims that Paramount left the loopholes in the deal, which means the value of the deal was overrated, causing the company to spend more money than it should have. Agitating the situation further, Paramount announced that it will be moving South Park entirely to Paramount+ in 2025 to promote its streaming service. 

This lawsuit coincides with David Zaslav’s strategy of aggressively cutting back on costs and licensing of Warners’ content. According to Verge, companies are now more focused on generating streaming revenue instead of constantly producing new content, which leads to conflicts over the rights to content and licensing agreements. Aside from the Paramount lawsuit, it is reported that WBD’s David Zaslav was also unhappy with Netflix’s payment terms and instructed his team to stop selling content to Netflix. That includes some of Netflix's biggest originals, such as “You” starring Penn Badgley. 

And while viewers wonder when they are going to see the rest of their favorite series, the industry professionals are expecting to see a new stage of streaming wars.

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The Valentine’s day Massacre at Showtime

Starting from the big tech no one is safe from the layoffs. Unfortunately, it concerns the media and entertainment industry too. However, the underlying reasons might be much more complex than it seems.

According to close sources, just yesterday more than 120 people were laid off by Showtime. The cuts got the name “The Valentine Day’s Massacre” and accounted for more than 10% of the company’s workforce. As reported, such executive decision came with the consolidation of the leadership across MTV and Showtime with the further goal of completely merging Showtime with Paramount's premium streaming service Paramount+. The planned merger will be called Paramount + With Showtime.

Bringing MTV and Showtime under one roof implied drastic changes in the management positions too. Showtime’s Co-Presidents of Entertainment Gary Levine and Jana Winograde both stepped down from their roles along with many others in the high executive roles. While Gary Levine assumed an advisory role within the company, Jana Winograde left Paramount Global for good.

Leading the restructuring of the management team and shifting Showtime’s content strategy is Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of Showtime/MTV and Paramount Media Networks. Nina L. Diaz will be the one to lead the creative development in her new role as Chief Creative Officer & President of Content at Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios.

On their Twitter, Paramount called the merger of Paramount+ and Showtime a “natural step in their evolution”. A step that will help them compete with fellow streaming services and allow them to charge users more. Meanwhile, multiple employees are being laid off and it is uncertain whether there will be more to follow.

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Jan.31, My Sector is Video Streaming

3 sources that I am planning to use are:

Hollywood Reporter

Advertising Age

Variety