Anonymous
9/20/2025, 9:06:24 AM
No.150460973
>>150453930
I'd normally agree that no matter how bad Zaslav was, he was basically handed a poison chalice of a sinking media empire. But from all the bullshit he cause from 2022 forward, it mostly felt like he was approaching the problem by both being reactive and running on austerity and belt tightening.
He had too much of a business mindset, where he'd assumed that just cutting spending below profits, like a movie or tv show here and there, it'd offset the company's debt to get in the blacks again.
But unlike most industries that either rely on extraction of assembly, Warner is a Media company, its business model involves a constant inflow of investment in media and marketing to generate profits. And that means every project is marketing for the next project for the WB brand itself, no matter how unrelated. That's why some TV shows just refuse to die, they're basically long running ads for the channel/streaming service itself. And when they do die, other shows have to be big enough to take its place to maintain the channel or streaming service's relevance in the media market. Cutting Batgirl or Roadrunner might not mean much in the grand scheme, they could even offset losses, but it also means bad PR for the company and zaslav himself, even fewer shows to watch on Max or HBO max again, no matter how dogshit they might be, and loss of engagement from loyal fanbase, losing even more revenue in the future.
Tragic irony is even that shit Velma show is still good PR for Max. They can't afford to be bad all the time, but sometimes lightning does strike in a bottle.
I'd normally agree that no matter how bad Zaslav was, he was basically handed a poison chalice of a sinking media empire. But from all the bullshit he cause from 2022 forward, it mostly felt like he was approaching the problem by both being reactive and running on austerity and belt tightening.
He had too much of a business mindset, where he'd assumed that just cutting spending below profits, like a movie or tv show here and there, it'd offset the company's debt to get in the blacks again.
But unlike most industries that either rely on extraction of assembly, Warner is a Media company, its business model involves a constant inflow of investment in media and marketing to generate profits. And that means every project is marketing for the next project for the WB brand itself, no matter how unrelated. That's why some TV shows just refuse to die, they're basically long running ads for the channel/streaming service itself. And when they do die, other shows have to be big enough to take its place to maintain the channel or streaming service's relevance in the media market. Cutting Batgirl or Roadrunner might not mean much in the grand scheme, they could even offset losses, but it also means bad PR for the company and zaslav himself, even fewer shows to watch on Max or HBO max again, no matter how dogshit they might be, and loss of engagement from loyal fanbase, losing even more revenue in the future.
Tragic irony is even that shit Velma show is still good PR for Max. They can't afford to be bad all the time, but sometimes lightning does strike in a bottle.