Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav (WBD) made comments over "real consolidation" that will take place with media companies over the next few years. Streaming giants have faced many challenges lately with their subscription models but could there be more challenges for the industry ahead?
LightShed Partners partner and media & technology analyst Rich Greenfield joins Catalysts for this week’s Media, Streaming, & Investing: What’s Next special to weigh in on the challenges major media companies face with consolidation.
Greenfield begins by laying out the problem the older media companies are facing: "the amount of usage of applications like Peacock (CMCSA) or Paramount Plus (PARA) Plus or even Max pales in comparison to what is happening at Netflix (NFLX) let alone YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL)… Netflix and YouTube, represent over 45% of all time spent streaming on a television. That’s just two players dominating. No one ever dominated linear TV the way Netflix and YouTube dominate streaming TV. And that’s a huge problem."
Greenfield holds firm to his forecast that "no major M&A would happen this year, and I think that’s what played out," believing media M&A deals such as Paramount’s merger with Skydance will be finalized in 2025 due to regulatory concerns.
"In general, the Republican Party should be more pro-consolidation. Maybe not so much pro-tech… Obviously, former President Trump has certainly made some pretty aggressive comments about his feelings on Facebook and ‘Zuckerbucks.’ But, you know, the reality is I do think you’re going to see forms of consolidation…"
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