Bevin Fletcher:
Hi everyone. I'm Bevin Fletcher, senior editor of StreamTV Insider, and I'm here live at the StreamTV show with Madison Wojciechowski, VP of Content Licensing for Warner Brothers Discovery. Hey, Madison.
Madison Wojciechowski:
Hello.
Bevin Fletcher:
Thanks for being with us. I'm so excited to talk with you. So you handle content licensing across North America with SVOD, AVOD and Fast. And while clearly revenue generation and monetization is a factor, you also have, when we spoke before, talked about brand extension. So how do you consider the different platforms of AVOD, SVOD and FAST and their ability to drive distinct audiences and engagement with WBD content?
Madison Wojciechowski:
Yeah, I mean, I think our landscape and the industry has had so many different changes and continues to change and evolve and where people are watching content changes and is becoming incredibly fragmented, frankly. For us, we want to meet consumers where they are. We want to reach audiences where they are. So I do everything post-theatrical, post-original run in traditional television. And so if you have everything behind a paywall, you're reaching a very small subset of consumers or potential fans or audiences. And so we've definitely played in the pay TV space and the linear space and the SVOD and the AVOD and now Fast, which for us, we're still learning.
So it's definitely a big shift to free, free as a compelling value proposition for consumers. And we of course want our content to be reaching audiences regardless of whether they can afford to pay for 1, 2, 3 plus SVOD services. And so it really helps IP circulate and satisfy the needs of consumers. And we're seeing that fans are following their favorites and so they're going from place to place to place and it does have this ripple effect. So IP circulated and awareness increase helps whether it's a sequel and a theatrical coming out or on the transactional side or consumer products. And so for us, it's how do you build this flywheel approach with content circulation.
Bevin Fletcher:
So really using the different models to reach different audiences but in where they are.
Madison Wojciechowski:
Correct.
Bevin Fletcher:
It makes sense. Interesting. And so now you also, you have I think 60 syndicated Fast channels. You also have WBD's own linear channels and app. So how important is exclusivity these days? Sometimes you have the same channels going on the same platform. If it's not important, are you risking cannibalizing audiences by putting multiple channels on the same platform or a different platform?
Madison Wojciechowski:
I think exclusivity is more important in some cases than in others. If you have a huge IP or a big franchise or it's a more recent film, like a pay one window film title closer to its theatrical release, I think that that exclusivity matters a lot more. And we used to be very conservative even in licensing our library titles and it would be exclusive to one platform, we licensed on a month-by-month basis. And with our own owned and operated, we toyed with co-exclusivity and in the marketplace we've seen certain partners care about sharing with others, certain partners don't. I think it depends what the strategy and objective is.
In the Fast space because our channels are a one-to-many, so they are a syndicated channel, we haven't seen a lot of cannibalization. And for us, if we were to go exclusive with one Fast channel, which we haven't done yet, never say never, but we're isolating revenue generation opportunities and it's really the only place where we play in a rev share or add inventory model versus a fixed licensing fee. And so for us, we haven't seen cannibalization and what works on some platforms works better than on other platforms. But usually the things that are working work across the board, and I'm not seeing because it's in multiple platforms, a channel is not working. I think good content's, good content if it lends itself to the medium and the environment, in the case of Fast, more of a lean back experience, I don't think exclusivity is as important.
Bevin Fletcher:
And you're kind of having that broad reach, broad distribution with Fast. Interesting. I'm wondering, do you find different types of content works depending on the model, if it's AVOD, SVOD, Fast and where you choose to license, like certain genres perform better?
Madison Wojciechowski:
Yeah, I mean I think serialized content lends itself more to a VOD experience because if you're dropping in and you're watching Bachelor season 14, episode three, and then programming block is switching to something else, you're like, "Who's getting the rose?" Right? So I think for content that's more serialized, you can choose when to drop in, how many episodes you want to watch at one time. You can watch them in sequential order versus tuning in and watching some paranormal show or a cooking show and you're like, "Okay, I can drop in anytime and I'm watching it. And if I don't watch the next episode, it's not interrupting or impacting negatively my viewing experience."
Bevin Fletcher:
Right. They can pop in. They don't necessarily need to know the whole plot, they can just watch.
Madison Wojciechowski:
Right.
Bevin Fletcher:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here with us. It's been great to chat with you.
Madison Wojciechowski:
Of course.
Bevin Fletcher:
And thank you for watching and stay tuned. We'll be here all week.