What you think you know about the content business is changing minute by minute. But we’ll keep you up to speed, join us!
Welcome to TheGrill 2021, presented by our WrapPRO community! We’re much more knowledgeable than we were last year about where the entertainment and media industries are headed after a year and half of a global epidemic. However, there are still many things that need to change.
Wave after wave is being seen in entertainment. We have seen the effects of consolidation, such as CBS merging with Viacom, Discovery taking over Warner Bros. and Amazon buying MGM. And just this week, CAA acquired ICM. It’s an industry with fewer, bigger giants. Are there more?
We are seeing public markets get involved in entertainment companies — Endeavor has gone public, and special purpose acquisition companies, SPACs, have taken center stage, sniffing at the edges of LeBron James’ SpringHill and Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment.
Again, content is the king. Hello Sunshine was sold for a reported $900million. BuzzFeed’s valuation in the SPAC market is reported to be $1.5 billion. Producers continue to sign seven- and eighth-figure development agreements.
And why? Because streaming. Netfix. On Hulu. On HBO Max. On Disney+. Peacock. Whatever CBS now calls its services. A wide range of streaming services are also available.
The box office has dropped 70% from 2019, according to a study. A study we published in June found that the number of households paying for four or more subscriptions fell 70% in box office from 2019. Consumers now pay for an average of five subscriptions, up from three before the pandemic, according to a Deloitte study.
Worldwide viewing time grew 44% in the last three months of 2020, compared with the same period a year ago.
So while the entertainment industry is changing – it’s also thriving. And nobody is thriving more than… gaming companies which are going to rake in something like $175 billion globally this year.
We have two full days ahead of us to talk about these topics along with many others including the innovation in marketing, the disruption in media by social platforms, a producers roundtable to explain how they’re dealing post-COVID… or is it post-COVID? As usual, we’ll also be exploring the state of diversity in Hollywood.
We are pleased to welcome industry leaders such as dealmakers Kevin Mayer, Tom Staggs, and the new L.A. Times executive editors Kevin Merida and Phil Spencer, to the Xbox chief Phil Spencer and to Scott Stuber, Netflix head of global films at Netflix. They will be Grilled.
Today’s conversation will be with Merida Wasserman and Casey Wasserman who founded Wasserman, the talent agency. We’ll then have our keynote interview with Stuber.
The conversation will continue with top music executives as we have what promises be an engaging discussion about the future and music labels. There will also be a performance. We will be focusing on diversity in gaming and whether there is progress. The second roundtable includes leading producers who are tackling the challenges of creating entertainment under COVID.
And that’s just today. Thursday will be just as jam-packed.
You can participate as well – and we encourage you to do so on our Grill Slack channel. Information was sent to you if you registered for this conference.
I’d like to take a moment to thank our sponsors, without whom we could not put this together: Gerber Kawasaki, Known, City National Bank, Loeb & Loeb, Take-Two Interactive, RIAA, Sony, WarnerMedia, Audible, Pantaya, Imax and Lionsgate.
And my personal thanks to the staff of and Wrap PRO, who put together a fascinating program and are working behind the scenes to make sure you have a fantastic experience.
So – onward to TheGrill!
