Dive Brief:
- Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to migrate to one tech stack, merging Discovery+ with HBO Max, according to Jean-Briac Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming and games, speaking during the company’s Q2 earnings call Thursday, for the period ending June 30.
- “There’s much work to be done over the coming months, from retooling the tech platform to enabling proper content and metadata ingest around the world and ensuring a seamless customer migration for launch,” said Perrette. “There is lots to do and we are determined to get it right, which will take a bit of time.”
- The direct-to-consumer segment will see peak losses in Q2 of this year, said Perrette. But Warner Bros. Discovery plans to eliminate duplicative spend, reduce third-party vendors and explore automation adoption to curb the loss.
Dive Insight:
Mergers and acquisitions can bring disruption across businesses, as organizations try to find areas of synergy and overlap. Success often requires a close look at existing technologies, and how to best align priorities.
Warner Bros. Discovery, formed in April after the merger between Discovery Inc. and WarnerMedia, plans to remain disciplined rather than chasing subscribers at any cost as platforms combine. Technology is the third-largest portion of its OpEx spending but there are plans to explore cost-saving automation adoption opportunities.
Many businesses have turned to automation to curb hiring gaps and optimize resources.
As the tech stack merger unfolds, the company said it would keep the core infrastructure of Discovery+ while introducing enhancements from HBO Max, with an estimated rollout slated for 2023.
Technology failures and outages can result in disgruntled customers and delay business operations. Disney+ learned this when its systems crashed under pressure on the service's launch day in November 2019. Netflix, another key player in streaming, suffered a systems outage in 2019, and put in place tech processes to stave off future offline periods.
