David Zaslav Vows Warner Bros. Discovery ‘Will Not Overspend to Drive Subscriber Growth’
variety.comJennifer Maas TV Business WriterIn the wake of big spender Netflix’s Q1 shocking subscriber loss news, David Zaslav made a point to say Warner Bros.
Discovery “will not overspend to drive subscriber growth” during Discovery’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday.“As you’ve heard me say, we are not trying to win the direct-to-consumer spending war,” the WBD CEO said, instead promising that the newly combined WarnerMedia-Discovery company would “invest in scale smartly.”Warner Bros.
Discovery is the owner of streamers HBO Max and Discovery+, with the former having scoring a combined 76.8 million total combined subs with HBO at the end of Q1, and Discovery reaching 24 million streaming subs by that same point.The company’s combined 100 million streaming subscribers gives them “true optionality over time to drive our strategic decision-making,” Zaslav said.
The chief said “each and every decision will be made through the lens of analyzing asset value,” with a focus on “maximizing shareholder value, not just subs.” Zaslav also raised the provocative suggestion that Warner Bros.
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