Netflix and Paramount are vying for Warner Bros., which has already had enough suitors – and failed marriages – to rival Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor.
On today’s podcast, we look at the streaming TV chessboard to make sense of what those two massive players bring to the table for Warner Bros. What would a combined ad offering look like for each deal?
Advertisers love scale, and either deal would combine enough inventory to change the upfronts. But it would also reduce the number of companies advertisers could negotiate with. And that reduced leverage would not only impact advertisers but also consumers and the labor employed by these Hollywood streaming studios.
The buyer for Warner Bros. is far from settled: Netflix made its offer on Friday and expected the deal to take at least 12 to 18 months to close. And that was before Paramount swooped in with its hostile bid. So, while the proposed deal is too fresh to affect the upfronts in May of next year, advertisers need to understand how each scenario would change the streaming lineup in order to plan for the future.
Plus: We talk through the argument (being ripped apart online by both consumers and lawyers) that social video is equivalent to movie studio-produced content. And here’s some food for thought: Would Netflix have done this deal, acquiring billions of ad-supported revenue, if it hadn’t already entered the ads business.
