ADWEEK’s Post

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 yayyyyy ... its about time ... now ... lets see which division are you gonna take over next year ??? or perhaps you wanna run the whole show ??? how many more ranks do you need to take the big chair ... See people stop applying for jobs you are not qalified for ... You gotta be an EXPERT and work like 20 years at something to perfect your craft. You dont just become VICE PRESIDENT overnight ... you kinda gotta be EXCEPTIONAL at managing large teams of people. If your resume shows you were not successful at managing 4 direct reports ... What makes you think you can manage a division of 150 people ... it takes leadership skills ... and MATH ... learb how to make a budget people

In a chaotic time for the overall industry, there are pockets of good news happening locally. Hearing some of that positivity might brighten your perspective: • Central European Media Enterprises (CME) is planning to launch its own FAST channels, with a twist. FAST is typically on-demand, but CME wants to stream niche content live on the internet. • Mexican wrestler, Canelo Alvarez, signed a deal with TV Azteca to make his fights available for free in his home country. • RTL's Fremantle in London agreed to buy Asacha Media Group, one part of a plan to double its global video production business. • In Germany, RTL Deutschland and ProSiebenSat.1 partnered to run ad campaigns on each other’s platforms and localize their country’s market further. Maybe it’s the optimist in me, but it’s not all dark spots. The boat is slowly righting itself. If you heard some good news I missed, drop it below! Let’s get a feel-good thread going. #media #entertainment #latinamerica #emea

From Reuters: A fourth #media executive who has run traditional and digital media companies said The Walt Disney Company may need to attract outside investors in ESPN so that it can competitively bid for increasingly expensive #sports media rights, such as for National Basketball Association (NBA) games, which expire after the 2024-25 season. That would potentially free up cash for Disney to acquire NBCUniversal's stake in Hulu, assuming full ownership of the #streaming service next year. Under an agreement reached in 2019, NBCU parent Comcast can require Disney to buy the Hulu stake, or Disney can require NBCUniversal to sell it, as early as January 2024, at a market value of at least $5.8 billion. The fourth executive, along with other senior media figures who spoke with Reuters, said Iger is likely crafting options, retaining ownership of ESPN, with the opportunity to shed it in the future to position Disney as a more attractive acquisition target. The executive likened the strategy to one executed by former Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, who sold off parts of the media conglomerate's business before selling its core #film and television unit to AT&T in an $85.4 billion deal that closed in 2018, said the veteran executive. "You sell the parts, then sell what's left," said the veteran. "That's the full-Bewkes." That may well be Iger's end-game, these executives speculated. To make it attractive for the only likely buyers big enough to digest a Disney - Apple or Alphabet Inc.'s Google - Iger would need to prune Disney down to just the parts that preserve its global intellectual property portfolio, while separating out its cash-generating legacy businesses like #TV. "There's no way a FAANG company is going to buy his company when he has all these cable channels, a broadcast network and a cable sports network," said the executive, using an acronym for the five major U.S. technology companies, Facebook (now Meta), Apple, Amazon (AMZN.O), Netflix (NFLX.O) and Google. "It's not the business they're in, and it's unlikely the government would ever allow it." Amazon, fresh off its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM last year, would not likely be interested in such a deal, said one source familiar with the matter. And Facebook is not viewed as interested in traditional media assets. Needham & Company analyst Laura Martin floated the investor appeal of Apple acquiring Disney, writing in March that the combination of great content and strong distribution would create value. This idea continues to circulate in #Hollywood. "Obviously, anyone who wants to speculate about these things would have to immediately consider the global regulatory environment," Iger said, when asked about the possibility during the investor call. "I'll say no more than that. It's just - it's not something that we obsess about." In that, he may be alone.

The media shrink (c) Most of the articles on the media shrink focus on profitability or advertising or content generation and not on the generation of media professionals navigating the roller coaster our industry has become. No matter what stage of a career, there is no avoiding the turmoil impact on one’s life. For my students entering the business now, it is a much less attractive future than the one my generation experienced. They may be getting titles without corresponding salaries. Responsibility and workload without personal growth and so on. Until media firms create a better environment for their workers, it is hard to see solutions that are not just short term gains for the retiring C-suite and greedy Wall Street, and no benefit to workers or consumers alike.

So, selling ABC and other linear networks is super duper complicated. I tried to lay out as many questions as I could for Disney boss Bob Iger https://lnkd.in/eEWG-uwU

📺🌐 The media landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, moving from cable to streaming platforms. 📈 The rapid acceleration of this change is unparalleled in our careers. Consumers now have total control over the media ecosystem, embracing the freedom to choose what they want to watch. However, this transition poses new challenges and implications for content providers and viewers alike. 🔀 Users are increasingly promiscuous, hopping from one streaming service to another in search of their desired shows. This behavior results in high churn rates, as fewer than 7% of viewers plan to use their current subscription service. Retention magnets like popular shows become crucial for platforms to retain users. 💪 In this new era, the power of brands is shifting. While traditional networks like ESPN and CNN used to dominate, streaming platforms are now driven by the strength of individual shows and creators. Succession, White Lotus, ANDOR, and others have become powerful retention factors. 💰 However, there's a financial mismatch in the streaming world. Long-term commitments are necessary to secure top talent and create high-quality content, requiring substantial investments. On the revenue side, the assurance of cable dollars is no longer present. This uncertainty creates challenges for executives who grapple with these dynamics daily. 📺 YouTube has emerged as the most popular network with its vast viewership, dwarfing Netflix and Disney Plus Max combined. Internet chat and user-generated content have further expanded the platform's appeal, indicating the evolving preferences of viewers. 🤖 Artificial intelligence (AI) adds another layer of complexity. While it can enhance the creative process and unleash new waves of creativity, it also presents opportunities for studios and networks to outsource specific tasks, potentially resulting in fewer industry jobs. 💼 For investors, the high-end market with established franchises and intellectual property (IP) rights will likely remain stable, thanks to the incumbents' advantage. However, the future of the middle and low-end markets is more uncertain. Regardless of the medium, Internet service providers will continue to grow as access to the internet remains essential for consumers' streaming needs. #MediaShift #StreamingRevolution #ContentDistribution #ConsumerControl #RetentionPolicy #BrandShift #AIandCreativity #FinancialChallenges #InvestingInTheNewMediaLandscape

"The movie business has gone from number one to number five, in terms of what a young person might do on a weekend." Was struck by this line in an informative Q+A with Tom Rothman by Mike Fleming Jr. in Deadline Hollywood. For my generation, content choices were often dictated by scarcity. Watch one of four choices on the living room TV. Watch whatever movie wasn't sold out and fit my parents drop-off schedules. Listen to whatever 12 CD's Columbia House would give me for a penny before I could cancel the subscription. Today, my children have a paradox of choice. The entire back catalogue of Hollywood is only a few clicks away. New original content is as relentless as it is required. Social Media is easy and omnipresent and to most in GenZ, urgent. Getting a younger audience to prioritize the time, money and effort it takes to go to a theatre is no longer successfully motivated by a splashy billboard and 30 second spot on Must See TV. They need more. This is where #creators come in. The connection that younger audiences feel to creators breeds a loyalty and engagement that used to be saved for brands like Nike, Coca-Cola and Mercedes-Benz. Part of your identity would revolve around the shoes you wore, the soda you drank and the car you drove. Now it's about the creators you follow. The community you are a part of. You follow their accounts, watch their streams and buy the products they endorse. They are the brand. And their involvement in a project could be the silver bullet that cuts through the paradox and makes the choice. Creator and Influencer driven film projects are the future. And that future is now. Night #creators #content #community #choice

This Charter Communications/The Walt Disney Company #cableTV blackout is going to be a big deal, the first shot in the reshaping of the cable industry, and in turn Hollywood. Is it hitting your area? If so, what are you doing to replace the dropped networks? I get into more of the issues and implications in this Forbes column: https://lnkd.in/gjz8HjWy #television #cable #ESPN #MVPDs

Looks like Bob Iger is working hard to correct the Chapek timeline. Mayer & Staggs (and Blackstone) have created an interesting model & portfolio in a relatively short time: this is potentially a good additive model for Disney's own content production efforts moving forward. Is the play here to bring Mayer & Staggs back in gently, acquire Candle in the next 24 months, and then set Mayer up for the top job at Disney once again? #disney #media #entertainment #espn #mediarevenue #successionplanning https://lnkd.in/e-eRfHq7