Ah, well, it may not be a good thing to say that the execs of one industry segment are joyous at the expense of the other, but the unfortunate fact of the matter is that the streaming sultans have been causing sleeping nights to the legacy television majors. So we asked Dr Bhaskar Das this question for the April 25 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. CNN+ is shuttering, Netflix has reported a dramatic fall in subscribers. Do we see the linear television bosses laughing?
A. The shutter down decision of CNN’s streaming service within months of its launch might be a result of multiple factors (my guess):
a. the priorities of the new merged entity (with Discovery being the new custodian) might be different from the old entity,
b. there might be a preference for a hybrid model of monetisation that includes both subscription and advertising. Over-dependence on one over the other might stymie the flexibility to balance the demand and supply side of the business,
c. the objective may be not to fritter away finite resources on different initiatives. Doing things differently might make more sense.
These are my guesses as an outsider. They don’t purport to predict the logic of the same with precision.
Today’s business environment, dominated as it is by VUCA, does not give anyone the option of laughing at the cost of the other. In a Darwinian environment of survival of the fittest, it is prudent to mind one’s own business, literally and metaphorically.