In an earnings name as we speak, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav introduced that the merging of HBO Max and Discovery Plus was going so effectively that the goal date for the launch of the brand new service could be shifting from summer time 2023 to spring 2023.
From their consumer interface to their backend to their content material, the 2 companies are terribly totally different, with HBO Max seemingly main Discovery Plus in subscriptions because it had roughly 76.8 million customers in April earlier than the acquisition, and the mixed companies now have 94.9 million subscribers. But Zaslav’s plan has all the time been to merge the 2 companies, which his group views as focusing on very totally different markets. Early this yr, a slide claiming HBO Max skewed male and Discovery Plus skewed feminine offended users of both services even whereas reinforcing Zaslav’s view on the matter.
Zaslav, as I’ve famous earlier than, isn’t notably involved with who will get offended in his quest to make Warner Bros. Discovery a worthwhile firm. On the earnings name, he famous that when the present Fixer Upper: The Castle premiered on HBO Max, it rapidly moved into the highest 5 most watched reveals on the service, confirming WBD’s “thesis” {that a} mixed app will likely be extra profitable and drive extra subscriptions and fewer churn. The present additionally aired on the Magnolia Network and streamed on Discovery Plus.
It’s Zaslav’s hope that this merged app will drive not simply elevated subscriptions but in addition considerably greater promoting income. As for the content material coming to the brand new service, the plan is to spend much more cash on new content material. “We’re leaning in,” he stated on the decision. Though he famous early within the name that “It’s no longer about how much, it’s about how good.”
To that finish, he additionally talked about the content material abruptly pulled from WBD’s companies earlier this yr. The removals occurred so immediately they usually stunned even the present creators themselves. “We didn’t take one show off the platform that was gonna help us in any way,” Zaslav stated, noting that WBD was directing the cash saved towards new content material. This is probably going nice to listen to when you’ve got a brand new Game of Thrones pitch however completely awful should you’re one of many many animation creators who noticed their reveals disappear in a single day.
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