☀️PEACOCK Q4 growth matches Q3, but NBCU Ad Revenue "definitely worse"

NFL streams games on a Gambling app / HBOMAX back on AMAZON CHANNELS / Kilar does WSJ op-ed on the Studio biz future

Sean McNulty

Dec 6

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Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY December 6, 2022.

Where kudos to the SONY PICTURES marketing department for greenlighting… whatever NBCU charged them to promote their new Whitney Houston movie throughout the 2-hour “The Voice” semi-final last night - all contestants sang a song of hers (and many gave testimonials & props to the singer), plus there was a nice mid-show plug directly for the movie itself.

A movie that’s opening directly opposite NBCU’s “Puss In Boots” sequel (also promoted in Ads during the show) on CHRISTMAS weekend.

PLUS: ABC News has now pulled Amy Robach & TJ Holmes from “GMA3” while they sort out how to handle their behind the scenes affair, noting it’s not a violation of company policies.

AND: A Rest in Peace goes out to Kristie Alley, who died yesterday at the age of 71, after a brief battle with cancer.

LOSE THE HBO, IT’S CLEANER: WBD execs are supposedly in final stages of vetting “MAX” as the name for the combined HBODISCOMAX+ (#RunnerUpName) when it launches in Q2 according to CNBC, although it’s not quite 💯.

Of course, as anyone who’s worked at HBO knows 🙋‍♂️, MAX was the internal shorthand for CINEMAX, as well as a big part of the on-air image for years.
So - the streaming home for HBO will have gone from HBO GO, to HBO NOW, to HBOMAX, to MAX during about a decade’s time.

ALSO: HBOMAX is back on AMAZON CHANNELS, no word on deal terms but it’s thought to be a 5 year deal according to Deadline, and is at least a 2 year deal according to Variety.

When HBO NOW / HBOMAX was on here in the past (they left in Sept 2021), this was more of a cable biz wholesale situation where AMAZON controlled the customer relationship / much of the data, and WARNER MEDIA would typically get less revenue per subscriber #ARPU vs. a traditional DtoC streaming signup that they handled.

But AMAZON handles most of the subscriber acquisition costs and marketing, so it’s a way to add more subs in a lower financial lift manner for WBD.
However only the $15 a month plan was listed in the announcement, so HBOMAX will not get an increased audience to sell Ads to… which would have been an additional upside.
Notably NETFLIX, DIS+ and APPLE TV+ do not participate in AMAZON CHANNELS.

CORRECTIONS: The canceled Mike Flanagan NETFLIX series is “Midnight Club” not “Midnight Mass”, and the Christian film at FATHOM THEATERS over the weekend was “I Heard the Bells” not “I Heart the Bells”… I blame my Catholic upbringing for the first… and usage of a certain streaming music app for the second, my apologies.

IN TODAY’S EDITION:

NBCU CEO Jeff Shell loves the PVOD business (👀 generous revenue splits), and the Animation business… but maybe not so much the Ad business at the moment, as PEACOCK hits a new subscriber high… and still apparently has global aspirations 🤷‍♂️ - a roundup of his UBS conference comments
NFL is now streaming games on gambling apps and… was not seemingly promoting this - A look at the details
Don’t expect FOX to increase their scripted TV business - they’re all about TUBI
WB bumps “The Flash” up a week into a high traffic weekend, as SONY sets a director for the next “Ghostbusters” pic
DISNEY Digital & DVD sales took a big Revenue hit in FY2022, Jason Kilar outlines his predictions for the Studio / Streamer biz, and more.