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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1481697
While traditional pay-tv is admittedly declining in the Americas, home entertainment companies will be focusing most of their attention on creating more streaming-first content and strengthening their discovery/recommendation/delivery backoffice systems and tools so they can capture and retain more people for longer periods of time. The big six (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Paramount +, Peacock and WBD) as well as an estimated 200 global and regional video services will be turning their attention to going beyond the early adopters and reaching more of the nearly 1.1B plus potential global viewers. In other words, the future of TV is starting to look a lot like old-fashioned television … confusing. The majors will have to have a strong mix of movies, scripted/unscripted shows, news and sports or bundled national/regional relationships. As bad and confused as the core streaming is, the business of subscriptions and ad growth remains strong across the industry. But the common ground for the entire content industry is the development and nurturing of franchises across key genres – action/adventure, animation, children, drama, etc. Disney has done an excellent job with its Marvel Studios, Star Wars and Pixar action/adventure and fantasy franchises across theatrical films, Disney +, comics and games. CBS/Paramount +, NBC/Peacock have done this successfully for years with long-running TV series including CBS’s shows/spinoffs - NCIS, CSI, Blue Bloods, FBI and unscripted reality shows; NBC’s shows/spinoffs – Yellowstone, Law & Order and all the Chicago series. The younger streaming first contenders have yet to hit the formula with 91 percent of Netflix projects being non-franchise series and 90 plus percent of Amazon’s titles being non-franchise. But this will change as their national, international libraries grow. Walk the line While these are being established with audiences around the globe, Zaslav must play the hand he’s been dealt across the company’s studio business (film/TV studios), linear TV networks (Discovery, HBO), and the firm’s evolving/fluctuating streaming service(s) HBO Max and Discovery +. Despite its ongoing impairments and development/production write-offs; WBD wants Marvel to become a major franchise studio with billion-dollar hits without having to invest in a roster of A-, B-, C-level characters that audiences simply must see. In the already overloaded – and active – streaming market, Netflix already has a 19.5 percent demand share, Disney+ and Hulu have a 19 and 19.2 percent respectively, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video each have 8.2 percent while the