Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is an entertainment company formed from the 2022 merger of Warner Bros and Discovery. It is a leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing, and marketing of content, with Warner Bros alone boasting a huge library – more than 100,000 hours of programming – before the companies were joined. WBD’s portfolio includes Discovery Channel, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Discovery+, HBO Max, and franchises like “Batman” and “Harry Potter”.
Both of the company’s previous businesses have operated throughout the digitisation of the media space. David Zaslav, CEO of WBD, headed Discovery during its expansion into digital media, to make it a “content company” over a “cable company”. The recent focus for Warner Bros has been on next-gen distribution efforts, expanding the availability of its content across platforms and devices to reach the modern viewer. The new company has plans to migrate to one tech stack, which will require extensive retooling, as well as exploring cost-saving automation opportunities for its operations.
Since the merger, the new giant that is Warner Bros Discovery has had a shaky start, forcing the company to wind down operations and cut back on content, which included the very public scrapping of the “Batgirl” movie. However, it now seems the company may have been ahead of the curve, as a wider trend of cutbacks has been seen from peers in the space. This early move, combined with a hyper-focus on cash generation, seeks to establish WBD as an outperformer in an industry on the downturn.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
