Could streaming go the way of all-in-one platforms like Spotify?
According to former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, that model could replace the streaming bundle deals that are suddenly chic. Comcast announced bundles of Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+ for a flat rate (in this case, $15 a month), while Disney has Disney+, Hulu, and Max combinations.
Kilar sees it differently. “I’ll call it the ‘Spotify for Hollywood’ path, where a large number of suppliers and studios contribute to a singular experience that delights fans,” he told the New York Times. “The studios would be the ones that would be taking the majority of the economic returns from such a structure.”
For Kilar’s proposed concept, major studios would be license movies and TV shows to the platform, with 70 percent of the revenue going to the studios.
Back in 2022, fresh off being booted amid the Warner Bros-Discovery merger, Kilar wrote his predictions for streaming business.
“No more than three global entertainment companies are likely to attain the streaming-service scale required — 300 million global subscriptions at an average of $15 per month — to generate attractive cash flows,” Kilar penned in a piece for the Wall Street Journal. “Expect two or three major mergers and/or acquisitions involving entertainment companies in the coming 24 months as a result.”
Of course, Kilar is in part why auteur Christopher Nolan jumped ship at Warner Bros. after the 2021 theatrical slate was released day and date on streamer HBO Max (now just known as Max). But the former Warner Bros. CEO and ex-Hulu CEO prepared for the rise of one dominant streamer.
“While 2022 may initially enter the Hollywood financial history books as the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year, a more accurate interpretation over time could be that we are simply witnessing a beloved industry in the most critical moments of a high-stakes transition from one century of growth into the next,” Kilar admitted at the time. “One thing is for certain: It has all the ingredients for a great story.”
