In the most recent quarter, Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the parent company of the ratings-challenged CNN, experienced a 13 percent decline in advertising income as a result of declining viewership and lackluster consumer spending linked to lingering concerns about Bidenflation and rising gasoline costs.
The company’s leaders have been slashing personnel across a number of its media holdings in a bid for making good on merger-related savings, which has resulted in a decline in ad income. Regarding CNN, the anti-Trump network’s ratings continue to trail significantly below those of the competition, and Kaitlan Collins, a promising new hope, has not been able to engage viewers.
Warner Bros. Discovery stated this week that second-quarter advertising income for its networks fell 13% from the same period of time in 2017.
The corporation cited “audience decreases in domestic general news and entertainment networks and soft advertisement markets, primarily in the United States and, to a lesser degree, in certain foreign markets.”
In this week’s earnings call, CEO David Zaslav warned investors.
“Many of us anticipated a significant resurgence in the advertising market in the latter half of the year, but we have not seen it, so we have to find out how we can make up for that,” he added.
For Hollywood’s major media giant corporations, who have historically depended on revenue through their TV networks to boost corporate profits, the deteriorating ad market is causing an existential dilemma. However, hundreds of millions of American people who continue to cut the cord are decimating the business and plunging Hollywood toward an existential crisis.
Additionally, consumer confidence in Joe Biden’s economy remains dismal since high costs for essentials like petrol and food don’t seem to be coming down. As a result, businesses are becoming less willing to spend a lot of money on flashy advertisements.
According to Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners, “the marketing landscape is just not improving.”
Warner Bros. Discovery’s total results for the quarter were below expectations, which led to a decline in the shares this week. The business announced earlier this week that it will reorganize its ad sales staff to deal with the situation.
Warner Bros. Discovery, such as other Hollywood studios, is dealing with added uncertainty as a result of actors and writers protesting the studios during the current Hollywood labor strike. The corporation is delaying the premieres of its blockbuster films with no end in sight.
There have been recent layoffs at the corporation, with the most recent at HBO as well as Turner Classic Movies.
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