quest Executive Director Ari Emanuelwho has long espoused the benefits of broadcast boom times, said he was “not concerned” about the possibility of Warner Bros. Discovery. brake pump Because she is looking forward to Netflix and Disney.
Chief Discovery David Zaslav, as Emmanuel was reminded during it Endeavor fourth quarter earnings callThe company recently announced Do not want to “win the spending war” in the flow. That line, amplified by Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels this week at an investor conference, has sparked many nods among those on Wall Street who view broadcasting as a very expensive and risky business.
“I’m not really nervous if he says he doesn’t want to spend,” Emmanuel said of his friend Zaslav. “Everyone else is spending. And again, look, there are seven or eight players in the market.”
While Endeavor is famous for owning it WMEIts portfolio is diversified, spanning sports, events, technology and other areas. However, longtime former agent Emmanuel wasn’t shy about describing broadcasts as a big tailwind for the company.
The CEO noted that programming spending across all platforms is expected to total $140 billion this year, due in large part to the push toward broadcasting. “[Zaslav] And I joke about how much money he’ll have to spend with me for the competition.” Despite any public pledges of austerity, Emmanuel insisted, “I don’t think any of them spend money on content.”
Shocked by the major players – Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Discovery, Warner, Peacock, Roku, Disney, Hulu – Emmanuel continued: “If one of them pulls out or goes down a bit, it doesn’t really affect us. Like I said, we’re platform neutral.”
In the film industry, he added, there have only been three active buyers during the pandemic. Today, “You now have a strong theatrical work.”
Emmanuel often talked about the live broadcast eliminating the need for total participants to earn money after the movie hits certain revenue limits. During broadcast, payments are made up front, in an “extra cost” model that assumes the film’s total commercial life, assuming each release is more or less successful. This prompted one analyst to question whether the positive impact on Endeavor’s financials from the surge in flow could be viewed as a “push forward,” a business term meaning benefits from a future period are pushed into a current one, creating an artificial bump.
“There was no drag ahead,” Emmanuel confirmed.
In the fourth quarter Endeavor recorded a net loss But revenue is better than expected, with a major comeback in the acting department after the Covid recession in 2020.
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