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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1509247
Better known as the “Summer Camp for Billionaires,” they needed the break because many – WBD’s Zaslav, Netflix’ Sarandos, Amazon’s Jassey, Disney’s Iger, Meta’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Pichai and others – have had a tough year paring staffs (firings), tearing up/reassembling their organizations and figuring out how they can use the new tech toy - unmonitored AI - to their advantage. Studio and tech executives have been under hellacious pressure from Wall Street analysts and stockholders to make positive changes that will improve their organization’s free cash flow during a period of unprecedented industry transformation as the industry and world changes all around them and under their feet. Disney’s overhaul (eliminating 7,000+ positions) produced cost savings of $5.5B. WBD’s “pockets of improvement” produced similar staffing reductions and savings. Paramount reduced its staffing by 25 percent. Other networks/studios made similar improvements. At the Allen retreat, Bob Iger – with a two-year contract extension in his pocket – said that his team had identified certain “no-growth businesses” and was focusing on repairing/improving the company’s creative engines. The entertainment and media industry has changed significantly since 2019 and the usual guidelines and checkpoints that studios/networks previously used don’t exist today. They’re working/dealing in new/unfamiliar territories. John Landgraf’s (FX Networks’ CEO) Peak TV which he coined to describe broadcast, cable pay TV continues to shrivel as original scripted programming gets replaced by unscripted game, reality and non-fiction shows that are easier/cheaper to produce for the rapidly dwindling day/date viewer base. At the same time, network’s/studio’s rapid leap into the ultra-promising direct-to-consumer streaming content environment that Netflix and Amazon pioneered (along with YouTube, Hulu) back in 2007 hasn’t gone as smoothly – or as rapidly - as Wall Street analysts projected. Who knew the fickle subscribers wanted/expected a steady stream of new, unique scripted movies/shows to watch when, where and how they wanted or would resort to what MediaPost’s Wayne Freeman called Peak Churn – the rapid/continuous hopscotch of streaming subscription?