WBD: ‘There was a spending frenzy’
January 6, 2023
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels told Citi’s 2023 media conference “the [streaming] industry had gone overboard and went on a spending frenzy. There was a lot of thinking of, ‘Let’s do more, more, more,’ not necessarily, ‘Let’s do the exact right things, let’s do what works’.’”
Wiedenfels said the company was focusing on “relaunching and building” the business over the next 12 months, following a year that saw posts and shows slashed. Wiedenfels said the business had now concluded the “initial strategy changes”.
He went on to imply there was a serious rethink of the previous all-in direct-to-consumer strategies of studios.
The CFO said WBD would lie “in the middle” when it came to DTC streaming and selling content to third parties; CEO David Zaslav has previously talked up third party distribution’s importance.