WBD U.K. Top Executive Touts Benefits of Streaming Bundles, Calls Netflix Their “Mainstay”
The reinvention of the streaming model was in focus at a London conference on Tuesday, with Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) U.K. & Ireland and WBD Sports Europe, Amazon’s Prime Video U.K. managing director Chris Bird, Roku country manager Richard Halton, and Arqiva CEO Shuja Khan joining a panel discussion on the topic moderated by BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip.
Speaking at Deloitte’s Media & Telecoms 2024 and Beyond Conference, Georgiou reiterated WBD’s guidance that it will hit a $1 billion streaming profit in 2025, with 125 million-plus subscribers. After the industry’s initial focus on “subscriber growth at all costs,” he said that for WBD and others, it is now all about “how do we get to a scaled global streaming business that is profitable.” He added that “we have a high degree of confidence” in that journey.
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The bundling of streaming services can help with better serving consumers and with customer retention, given a rate of churn reaching 30 percent in the U.S. and elsewhere, Georgiou said, noting that consumers nowadays often rotate in and out of various services. “That phenomenon in the U.K. and other markets is a huge cost of business, and reducing that churn, increasing engagement and reducing the cost of winback is something that we all need,” he said.
He also argued that “Netflix is probably the mainstay of the streaming bundle.”
Discussing WBD’s streaming future, Georgiou on Tuesday argued that it was still early days and mentioned that the company’s streamer Max would “hopefully” launch in the U.K. in 2026. Currently, Comcast’s Sky has a deal for HBO content in the country, which runs through the end of 2025.
Georgiou’s comments signaled that multiple companies can succeed in streaming, while some media and entertainment industry analysts have crowned Netflix the king of streaming as Hollywood giants have struggled with getting closer to streaming profitability. Various companies, including Netflix, have launched and promoted advertising tiers to grow their addressable market of possible subscribers and revenue.
Among the other big names presenting at the Deloitte conference on Tuesday were the likes of Netflix, represented by co-CEO Greg Peters, Walt Disney’s Jan Koeppen, and Sky CEO Dana Strong.
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