Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend: October 11th, 2024

This is Bloomberg BusinessWeek inside from the reporters and editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus global business, finance and tech news as it happens. Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.

Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Matt Miller, filling in for Carol and Tim. They spent the week in la at Bloomberg screen Time. The event brought together celebrities, entrepreneurs, and media executives in the heart of Hollywood to discuss the future of entertainment, and today we're going to bring you some of the most influential conversations from the gathering. Coming up this hour, how Netflix stays ahead of the competition with its slate of new programming.

You seem to be investing more in media entertainment at a time where there's a lot of anxiety and uncertainty about it. Why does it make sense for comcasts to be in the entertainment business and what do you see that's sort of bright about the future that maybe others don't agree with.

Well, I think a broad statement like that. You know, Larry Ellison just chose to get in. You're sponsored by AWS. There's you know, a complete change of who's enthusiastic and what do they bring to the party, And maybe some of those folks thought it was time to exit.

We're pretty excited about the company we've got.

We have in the media part of the business, you know, studios growing great. You know, we have in Peacock a strategy. I'm sure we'll get into it a little more. That is a growth business for us. And we've also selling our Hulu steak, so we actually will have you know, very little money net in streaming in terms of losses versus profits, so you know.

Each company is different.

Then we also have a broadband the majority of the company my dad started Comcast Cable now really a broadband connectivity.

Business Wi Fi. You know, if you were to go back ten years and you say, let's design with.

Your perfect knowledge of what the world looks like today, what would be a cool company would say, I'd like to connect everybody to what we're doing, whether it's in streaming or whether it's in AI, or whether it's going to be in you whatever comes next.

Zoom calls working from.

Home, and we have the nation's most connected broadband customers.

We have a converge service with wireless.

And broadband in more homes than AT and T, Verizon T Mobile combined, and a lot of that content. One hundred million people every quarter coming to watch today's show.

Tonight's show SNL.

Which is fabulous as always this year, And don't know how one.

Michael can do it every time.

But this being such an important year, what a great first two shows, and then film and television and the stories we have, and then of course sports, and I'm sure.

We'll talk a little about that as well.

So I think we have a pretty great company. And I'm more excited. This will be our sixtieth year.

My dad founded it.

This will be and last year was the most profitable year and the best year in company's history. And you know we're about to do earnings. Think we're going to have a great year this year by all the analyst accounts and maybe even the best year in the company's history are right there.

And so why would you not be excited?

You brought up Peacock.

I'm curious how long until Peacock is really a profitable and sustainable business on its own.

Well, first of all, we don't look at as on its own, so I'm not doing a duct your question completely, But that's not how we're running the business. We're running it as part of the media business. So take the Olympics. Eighty seven percent of the viewing was on NBC or one of our cable channels.

Thirteen percent was on.

Peacock but together we presented to the consumer all those choices, every event, every athlete, every country, Mike Turico doing two prime time shows in a heroic fashion.

You know, hard to get. We have the stats here.

Universal had the most viewership of any company KEP viewership at any company in August because of the lie.

Did it for seventeen straight days. It's so hard to keep America's viewer's attention for more than two hours, let alone seventeen days.

So that was a whole company effort.

And so to pick one part of the company and say, well, how's that part doing well? If your goal is to just be Netflix, that's a really important question. If your goal is to have a media company that, particularly in the United States, which is where most of our emphasis is, is to deliver sports to I think of Bloomberg didn't have a print business.

But I was chatting with some friends from the Wall Street.

Journal and they had to go from a quote dying print business to a growing digital business.

And New York Times had to do the same.

There's some people that didn't make it USA today may not quite get there. If you inquire regional papers, tough business.

We think NBC we.

Are going to get there, and Peacock is going to be part of how that happens. As more and more people cut the cord, more and more people will take Peacock.

That's why people ask about the sustainability to Peacock. I get that it's part of this broader group, right, But your cable networks are the ones that are going in the wrong direction, right, so you need something to offset that.

Peacock. We think this year will be the most.

Losses we've had, even including the NBA investment that we're making. We're already improved, that's what last.

They won't hurt profitability going for.

Well, it might have theoretically in the short run, but in the long run, we're super excited and think that it's factored into what we need to spend and what will monetize if you go back.

We had all our content on Hulu. We bought the company.

That was what NBC had committed to before we own the company. Then Fox happened and Disney got control of Hulu. We worked out a amicable way to extricate, which was taking five years. We didn't want to sell our Hulu steak until the end of those five years.

More than years at this point a little bit.

We're gonna We're going to figure out eventually the end and we will have taken We've already taken, you know, a lot of billions of dollars out off of several hundred million dollar investment and maybe more to come, we hope. And so when that's all said, none, we got all the content onto Peacock, but we had to start at a very late date compared to other streaming codes. So our strategy was to take all the sports we had and now make them available to people who didn't buy

Then back to Peacock.

Nobody had ever done that before, So we've been kind of innovating, i think, in the changing industry and the changing landscape to work for our set assets to give us a very sustainable path to be able to say to you that our media business will be profitable, is profitable, will continue to be profitable, and I believe will grow despite the downward pressure because of the growth of Peacock.

Right, I'm wondering if you are confident in Peacock on its own, not on its own, you know, within your company, but as a viable streaming service going forward, why it's been publicly reported by Bloomberg and others. You've had conversations with other companies about merging streaming services, joint ventures, that sort of thing.

You know, Paramount's certainly been out there. Why have those talks if you're a big believer in Peacock.

Well, there's always just because you reported a Bloomberg I mucho say it's accurate, But of course if it's Bloomberg, it must be accurate.

So therefore, well you reference the Journal they also reported. I feel like, if both Bloomberg and the Journal are reporting something odds, are it's accurate?

Absolutely so, and throw NBC News in there too.

So in all seriousness, obviously people are going to say, here's a changing landscape, what can I do that would advance myself? So conversations are always going to happen they happen all businesses all the time. I think it's a tough thing to actually get executed because I'm a believer coming from where I started my career in cable. My first job was selling HBO door to door, one of the first jobs, and we had a lot of channels.

When John Malone said we're going to go to five hundred channels, it kind of got laughed about.

And then the Internet, of course went to Infinity Infinity, So the notion that we'd have ten streaming service doesn't intimidate me whatsoever. The technology for the consumer is the question can I bounce from show to show?

I'm not sure hard to get from Netflix to Peacock to Apple there.

If you believe that's how it's going to be, then that's an issue. I'm coming from a world that we went from three channels when my dad started to five hundred channels and we had no problem doing that and the consumer got used to it. So the question will

Do so well yesterday. You just go. It's just like changing channels.

Now somebody will come along and say, well, can I buy one subscription and get all these services?

So I'm not out of luck.

Well that sounds like cable TV was, so I have a bias that I could see it all kind of being some form of consumer wants to go where the great content is. And if AMC makes a show Breaking Bad, and nobody had ever watched AMC before that, perhaps and all of a sudden they had AMC and they had Breaking Bad, that's the great community here.

Makes the breakthrough.

Must have programming, whether that one day is an Olympics or one day is a show that I.

Never knew I wanted, and the word of mouth, and.

I'm confident that Peacock can play an important role in that.

And whether we do that.

With others or by ourselves or in some sort of partnership, you know, those are things that right today we're pretty happy where we're at.

But we'll see. We didn't bid on paramount.

You know, all the press wants to have us do something I don't know that we are going to do right.

That was Comcast NBC Universal Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts speaking with Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw from our screen Time event in Los Angeles this week. The Summer Olympics helped get NBC a boost this year, but it's been a challenging year for media stocks. Comcast shares are down roughly six percent on the year. Coming up next, how artificial intelligence

Everything you love about Bloomberg Radio is now inside your car. Download the Bloomberg Business app featuring our Little Car play, and then right outo free in the MLAP store or on Google Play. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.

You're listening to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Matt Miller, filling in for Carolyn tim who spent the week in Los Angeles at Bloomberg screen Time. The event focused on the future of entertainment and the impact of AI on creative industries, and today we're bringing you some of our conversations from the gathering. Up next, we speak to the co creator of one of the longest

Now, is there an end in sight for the show? Or have you guys just reached a point where you're like, we're just going to keep doing it. At a certain point, maybe we'll get tired of it, but for now we're.

I think we're gonna No, we don't have an end insight. And actually, and I'll say honestly, it's because it's still such an awesome sandbox. Yeah. You know, we're working on a movie right now, a live action movie. When we get back to south Park, it's going to be like, oh, right, here we go, like I can't wait to see find you know, hang out with those characters again. To be cheesy about it, like we love, we love, we love

Do you ever because I believe you have a relatively friendly relationship with the Simpsons people, right.

I mean we don't know anybody really personally. I mean, you know, but I.

Think they had you beat by about eight nine years something like that. Like do you ever yeah, yeah, these two shows that have been on forever. Do you ever think like, Okay, we gotta go on longer than Nadi.

Oh that will be in the AI singularity future, whatever the hell that is. No, The Simpsons was an incredibly formative show for us. You know, we were in college watching, going to bars, watching it along with people along with them beave some buttead those were like, oh you can do this, you know before before that there was no idea that you could do an adult animation.

Is there a new adult animated show that you really love? Like?

Have you seen anything new in the last five years I'm watching. I don't watch any television really, not like none.

Why not?

I got kids, and I got work, and I don't know. I don't do anything more valid. I don't do anything. Well, Okay, you know, hang out with my friends. You're a gonna video game.

Let's say you go home this weekend, right, you have what do you do to relax? I don't know.

I just don't watch TV.

I know that's fine, but so what do you do? Okay, what is this?

Go on a hike, hang out with my kids. They're coming in town this weekend. I haven't seen them in a few weeks. I see my friends, right, I might have a drink that's allowed. Yes, I have a smoke. Also, might hang out with people. I don't know. I just am not a TV person. I really never have been personally, and now to get to like if there's anything now,

I'm a cures start because you're talking about season two, right, and one of them two.

As soon as I feel like you're wasting my time, I feel completely betrayed because I fell in love with something and now I know you're and I just I have like a short views and that's that, well one about the computer, and then I don't watch TV for three more years. That's if anybody knows that is seriously true.

You know, it's funny because I feel like one of the criticisms of streaming services is they cancel shows too quickly.

Shows never like there's no streaming.

Show that is in I don't think in like season ten or twelve or anything like that. But so what part of the process do you feel like streaming has distorted?

I don't know if it's streaming or like I just the and listen, I gotta show this on twenty seven years. So you know what am I talking about? I don't know, you know, but like it's just when I feel like someone's wasting my time and I just I feel like that that is part of the butter and bread equation that's gotten screwed up in the twenty tens from streaming

Do you think that I'm curious?

Do you worry that AI makes that worse because it make it even easier to make stuff?

I don't know. Yeah, I mean maybe because on the other hand, there's a lot of people who are the technologies made it so that there's a lot there's a lot of cool stuff happening. There's I don't need to be a complete grouch. I'm a pretty big grouch when someone wastes my time. But if you know, there has been a lot of like great stuff, like with YouTube and people online. What am I saying, I've seen the tools, the tools to make films are so much different than

Like how much does the well, this is maybe going in the other direction what you're just saying, like how much does the average episode of South Park cost now versus when you started?

Oh, the gazillion times more because Trey and I make so much.

Yeah, you know, I mean you know what I mean.

Like we were living on couches and you know we're literally crashing on our friend's couch when we first started making the show, right, you know, now it's quite a bit more. Yes, good tray out of bed.

Is you know, it's not going to get out of bed for like you know, Well, the savviest deal you ever did was you got fifty per cent of your digital rights.

That yeah, yeah, no, that was a good That was a good idea and uh so that turned out to be a good idea.

The company where you've been home for the I mean since the sound of the part of South Parke's Paramount obviously had a rather bumpy year. What were you guys thinking during the sale process? Are you like reading the stories that my colleagues and up peers and I are writing that are you talking to people like what now?

Of course?

I mean yeah, I mean we uh you know what happened between those digital rights and between when we went and did Book a Mormon with our friend Bobby Lopez and just the way Broadway works, is we between that and then having enough money and you know, having a little bit of savvy, we've we've just we've we've moved into we're owners now. We're not for higher you know what I mean. We went over that. We we we got above that, look above those clouds, you know what

And why is that?

You know, I mean just we've we've met a couple of times. I mean, this is again, this is just comes from like I think.

Did you meet before this or as a result.

Of we met once or twice before and then we've met once or twice since the whole thing, and uh, you know the grouch and like, you know, he seems like someone who.

The kid of a tech billionaire does feel like someone you would make fun of on the show.

I have to say, not not this one, yeah.

But.

No, but he seemed listen, he seems like a guy who genuinely is. He's not in He's not and we're we've lived at a Paramount and I actually like the the current people who work at Paramount we work with, I really like. But it's been a bumpy ride through the pant Well, you've had the Philip them on, a Phil Dowlmon. We got the Phil Dowmon era era where this quarter to quarter and just milk thing for what it is every quarter. I don't think that's what David

Sorry, so you're not gonna You're not gonna make fun of David I did have you ever done Larry Ellison on the show.

No, won't be making fun of him either. He's safer now.

Other than owners of Paramount, you guys are pretty much willing to make fun of anyone or anything. Is there anyone or anything you're not interested in touching?

I don't know.

We didn't asked so many times, we know, and then I know we'll come up. We come up with something. Yeah, that's not that's really not where we start from.

You know, you start from what would be just.

Like I don't know, it's just what's it's the same, what are you right about? It's stuff that's interesting. It's like the way that we luckily like that's what I'm saying. We have a sandbox and it's so fun to whether it's the news or something happens in our life, we get to go plan our sandbox. That's how it starts, you know, right like making like doing a show about ozempic. Like we didn't really make fun of ozempic. We didn't

Right, bread and butter ozempic. We have all the Hollywood bass pretty.

Good, right, Yeah, maybe maybe let's Hollywood needs a little ozempic to go.

Did you I'm curious, at any point during the sale process, did you guys think about trying to buy south Park back. I know I feel like there were, because you know, Viacom or Paramount they looked into selling Bet looked into selling show Time. I assume that we thought about it, like you could have just said we'll buy Comedy Central from you.

We thought about it, you know, I'm not saying we thought about buying it like I'm gonna write a check. We thought about just doing a press release, like you know, some sort of like hey, we're going to make an offer, just to be kind of dicks about the whole thing.

But like you and a few of the other people who bid on the company but didn't really bid on the.

Yeah, I know, we would just been on just on South Park and we're we were We went through that scenario, but ultimately, like that's not I don't know. As I said, I'm excited about Paramount Room retaining remaining intact. I have a little you know, teeny, I have a little romanticism about Hollywood still because I'm from the before time, from when we came to Hollywood, it was still Hollywood, you know.

That's what you want. I like that.

Yeah, it's good compared to the tech you know, compared to Northern California and tech guys. Yeah, that's I like that, you know what I mean. Like I've been lucky enough in my life to get to know kind of like tech people, and I live in New York now and a Wall Street people, you know, and Hollywood, and I'm just totally proud to be part of the Hollywood community.

God, I want to replay that to twenty five year old Matt see what he Yes.

I know it's no after That's what I'm saying. After living through all this stuff, like you know, like I'm not like the pro is like the most stand up place of all these industries.

Man.

You know what I mean is that because you are an artist and so you feel sort of a kinship with other people in that community or do you actually.

Yeah, it's just at this point now it's like, what am I going to do? You know, It's like not being a Lakers fan after living here for so long, like a bit of it's that a bit off. It's just like the way that you know, watching I do feel like it's it, and I do feel like not to be quite as strident. It's a two way street. Like with Northern California and Southern California, you have this mutual disrespect of what each other does.

That was south Park co creator Matt Stones speaking with Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw from our screen Time event in Los Angeles this week. So far, South Park has run for twenty six seasons and compiled a list of more than three hundred episodes coming up next. How Netflix stays ahead of the competition with its slate of new programming. We'll

This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.

This is the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Matt Miller filling in for Carol and Tim. They spent the week in Los Angeles at Bloomberg screen Time. The event brought together celebrities, entrepreneurs, and media executives in the heart of Hollywood to discuss the future of entertainment, and today we're bringing you some of our conversations from the gathering.

You hosted a bunch of agents at Netflix. And I'm not going to ask what you think I'm going to ask, but you hosted a bunch of agents at Netflix a couple weeks ago to show them what you had coming and give them, I think, as you described, sort of like a.

Lesson in Netflix. Yeah.

And I was struck by this because Netflix has been around for a decade in terms of original programming. More than that, as a company, obviously it's the biggest buyer in What is it that your partners don't understand about Netflix at this point?

It's a good question, but I was really hoping you were gonna ask me the other question. I'd like to set the record straight that a little bit. Look part of inviting everybody in to say, like, let's you know, talk about the product, let's have marrying Lely, our CMO, you know, talk about marketing and our social channels, and me sort of just doing the here's Netflix, here's what we do.

The reason is really twofold one.

Those are our partners, right, and we know if they understand our business or what we're trying to do. They also can help guide their talent and understand what Netflix is.

And the reason that I wanted.

To do it was I think there's still a lot of people in our business who still can sort of understand like linear network or legacy media companies, and then they try to squint and go, oh, but you do it this way, but why can't and they can only relate to sort of this old fashioned way of the business, right, that kind of model. And it was really to say, we're a pure play streamer. We're a subscription business. We only make film, TV and games. This is the business

Okay, you can talk about the thing you wanted to talk about a few I don't want.

To talk about it, but you all want to talk about it, so I'm going to talk about it.

What Bella's referencing is there's been this belief or you have started to adjust the way that you pay talent on certain movies, and there is a movement across Hollywood right now, I would say, among the streaming services to reevaluate how they pay talent, because it used to be you'd buy all the rights up front and there wouldn't really be back end.

Maybe you get a bonus if you know, you get.

Nominated for an award something fancy like that, but not traditional ownership back end. A lot of people think that you're going there in television and you don't want to go there?

Is that? Am I?

Yeah, so okay, let's do okay, we're going to back up for a second. So I get that the press really wants to write about the story, right and everybody wants there to be a story there. I understand that is clearly evidenced by what's been written, including total fabrications about meetings that were about it, which is.

Just not true.

And we like our model, and we like our model in film and TV and on the film site, even which a lot has been written about.

We are not changing our model.

Our model works great for talent, or it works great for filmmakers, it's work well for us.

We like the model, it's worked for.

A long time, so we are not changing our compensation model. There have been a few bespoke deals on a couple of movies the talent that some talent was interested in the opportunity of, like we'll take some risks, we're going to share a more upside, and they were interested in that.

But just inside the record trait, I can count those.

I can't even say handful because I can count them on a hand.

But I can actually count them on two fingers.

So it's very tiny thing that has blown up to this story of we're changing our business.

Well, we're not in TV. We have not done one of those deals, So that's just not true.

Don't you think that some of that has to do with the fact that Netflix says we're not going to do X and then they eventually do it. Right, there's like a something you know you aren't going to do advertising, then you do all these that you are going to do password, you are allowed passior of sharing, then you don't, and so people assume that this is a sign and that's another one of those where you're saying no.

But so I think what's interesting about that is, oh, you said you went into advertisy, you know you're doing what I was benfascinating about that. Isn't that amazing that we actually would say something. We learn, the business evolves, the business grow, we understand the business, and we change. We don't say rigid and the we said this publicly, so we're not going to go back on something I love by the way that I mean read was here

We sort of did it.

So I actually love that part that we will publicly go Okay, we've learned more of.

The business change, so we're gonna change.

Maybe that's the reason everybody wants to write press stories that are not accurate. Maybe I mean, I mean, you tell me, maybe that's why everybody.

Wants to talk about it.

But I'm just saying, just so everybody is clear, there's been one title. Really maybe to to is not even official. Actually we've ever done. And if you look at all the movies of Dan, Linda's Greenlit, which is quite a bit has been happened.

So I just think there's there's no story there.

And I know it's such a bummer for some of your friends and colleagues because they want to write about it.

I'm curious, Okay, I'm sorry what you brought.

Up, Dan and movies, which I feel like has gotten a lot of attention this year. You come from the world of TV. For eighty million dollars, you can make eight episodes of a TV show, you can make a movie. I feel like for Netflix, a TV show is generally more economical than the movie. Why are you guys still in the movie business? Like what it's the value that Netflix gets from original movies.

Oh, I think that's too narrow a way to look at it, because it's not. Also, it's not about like economical. It's members all around the world love movies and love TV shows, and love nonfiction and love docs right, and and love some of you know these lot of events we do, so we are pleasing and making all of those things with.

A great variety of what we do.

And people love movies. We love movies, and people love movies, and so I don't think I think looking at like cost in that.

Way is sort of the wrong way to look at the business.

I really look at it as we know people love movies, and so we should make lots of movies. And Dan's which I am excited about, sort of Dan, you know, coming in, he's really thoughtful about the quality.

He's really been thoughtful about.

There's lots of different kinds of genres, right, of movies that we know audiences love, and really trying to be able to like program.

For all of those.

And then if you take that, and then we have you know, pay one deals and then the acquisitions where we just acquired you know, Amelie Perez and Maracalis and movies and that we're also excited about if you look at the entire slate.

So I just think it's really important that.

Giving audiences lots of different kinds of things that we know they love, so it wouldn't be it's not I think looking at it through cost.

I only bring up cost because look, you guys have your seventeen billion dollars.

You've talked about like this is a budget.

He just says seventeen billion, Like it's nothing. Seventeen billions.

No, but if you put one in that if something is relatively static, if you spend money on one thing, you can't spend money on another thing, right, Brian. Their budget may change, But Brian Roberts just commits two and a half billion dollars a year the NBA.

Guess what.

Some of that money's coming out of entertainment programming because he's not just adding two and a half billion dollars to the budget. You guys, you brought up live, you're investing in some live rights will get there. That's got to come out of somewhere, right, Yeah.

And that was rid of the train of to make.

But I'd say we make film and TV, right, I mean that is sort of Film is a very important part of entertainment.

And so it's not like that like, oh, let's make one less one.

We just know that we want great films, and we want an amazing slate of films of all different kinds, and we know there's lots of different genres and so it's just an an it's an essential part of like great programming is to have amazing films.

You have a Knives Out sequel next year, right?

We do you have a what the Greta Gerwig movie?

Yeah?

Yeah, I mean we have started shooting at button.

Knives Out is already shooting, and we have you know, we have so I mean we have Franken Seimagueramo del.

Tour next year.

I'm was curious on Knives Out because that one became sort of full crim of this, Like people love to ask about Netflix and movie Peters, and I feel like Ted has sort of established this is our policy. But you speak of exceptions, you give like Knives Out a big theatrical push like you did the last one.

We are really committed.

And again I think when we're talking about our model, which is we talked about.

At the beginning of it, is that.

We're a subscription business and our members love movies, and our members want to watch great movies at home in their living rooms, and so we're very committed to movies. But for us, what really we know people audiences love movies, and we know they like to watch them at home, and we do care about consumer choice and control. They want to watch what they want, when they want, how they want, and we want to give great theatrical quality movies direct to the living rooms of our members.

Right, that is sort of what we're doing. That's the model. And that was a little bit about the here's here's what we do.

And I know people want to just go but these other people do it this way.

Why can't you do it this way? We're just in a different business.

Okay.

Something that you are now doing that a lot of other people do is live. You're going to start showing wrestling every week next year. This is a big deal for you. Why is a company that's so synonymous with on demand doing more live programming? And why did you want wrestling in particular?

So, look what I love about just live? It was just kind of it's just kind of an expansion of programming. Right, There's certain types of things that just feel like they can be they're kind of more exciting live or you know, I'd say, look, they're Tom Brady roast.

We would have done a Rigorlo's live or not live.

I think making it live had a fun, unpredictable energy conversation around what that was.

I'd say sort of early days of even unscripted.

There's some unscripted shows that really have like this great kind of live component to it, or there's more sort of fan engagement with certain kinds of things, And so to me, live was just a different you know, it's just kind of another tool that we have of like, is this thing creatively about our live Is this a different kind of programming right we can do, which then obviously did lead to WWE.

That was Netflix Chief Content Officer Bella Bajaria speaking with Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw from our screen Time event in Los Angeles this week. You're listening to a special edition of Bloomberg Business Week bringing you some of the best conversations from this week's screen Time event in Los Angeles, where we gathered celebrities and media executives to discuss the future

For Carol and Tim.

Stay with us. Today's top stories and global business headlines are coming up right now.

This is Bloomberg Business Week inside from the reporters and editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus global business, finance and tech news. As it happened this Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.

This is the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Matt Miller filling in for Carol and Tim. They spent the week in La at Bloomberg screen Time. The event brought together celebrities, entrepreneurs, and media executives in the heart of Hollywood to discuss the future of entertainment. And today we're going to bring you some of the most influential conversations from the gathering. Coming up this hour, we'll tell you about the changing landscape of sports media, plus what

Now, you have been so busy, Mike, and I just want to go over like what twenty twenty four is meant to you.

There's not much on the internet about.

Someone who has the one of the biggest jobs in entertainment.

You we call it humble, we called it smart.

But I've been rifling through your back history and I know that you first started selling door to door ads basically, and now we're back doing ads. But before we get into ads, I want to hear about what a mega year it's been.

Yeah, thank you, well, thanks for having me. It's nice to meet you in person too.

Yeah.

Same, Yeah, it's been a big year for us. We you know, a lot of it obviously was the groundwork was laid over the last three or four years. But you know, we started the year on the programming front with a little movie called Saltburn anyway, and that just kind of blew up the Internet and became a big hit force in January, wits we do that?

Yeah, it was big.

But then right after that we had a couple of additional movies at launch at Roadhouse was a big hit for us at the beginning of the year, and same with Idea of You, and then we had Fallout became a big global franchise for US.

Boys.

Season four was was amazing, And obviously we just had Lord of the Rings, Rings of Power finale last week.

So it's been watching all of this yourself, oh.

Every minute times. But so on the programming front, Jen Salki and her team have really started to hit a cadence of hits that we're really proud of and excited about. And what's coming in the future. I'm even more excited about.

Let's dig in a little bit on the advertising side of things, and indeed sort of obviously people are coming to you for the content.

What have you learned in.

Those nine months it's January the twenty ninth when you first turned it on. How many of us are paying to not get at.

Yeah, well we all disclose those numbers publicly. But mostly not as many as you would think. The advertising load is very light because of the way we offer this offered advertising on Prime, and so far it's been We've been happy both on the customer side because we've not seen the levels of churn or cancelations that some might have thought. On the advertiser side. You know, it's been

Can you increase prices the ads?

Well, we like the CPMs we got. I think we held price pretty well. I think when you put this amount of inventory into the ad market, it's going to put it. It's going to put some pressure on pricing. But we're happy with where we ended up.

Okay.

And what therefore about third party platforms as well.

I mean we're starting to see that.

When Netflix offering it to Google some of the inventory, would you go there?

Well, we have our own DSP, the Amazon DSP, and our ads team is building that network out pretty aggressively. Right now, we have third party supply that Paulkotis, who runs ad sales for US. He's got obviously our stores inventory as we call it on Amazon dot Com, and a variety of media and entertainment properties as well.

I know you don't disclose numbers, but Bluebug Intelligence, just to give them a little nod, they thought that two billion dollars could be your run rate for ads to twenty twenty four, could run up to five billion for twenty twenty five.

Are they sort of ballpop?

We'll see, Okay, okay, But then let's talk a little bit about what you offer, because I'm trying to get our head round. You offer advertising because the content is so great. But the content isn't just your own originals. It's not just movies that we've talked about, but it's also well the sports will dig into and partnerships partner channels. Yeah, why bring in other partner channels? What's in it for them?

Yeah?

Well, So what we've tried to become over the last four or five years is, you know, a first stop entertainment hub for consumers around the world. What I mean by that is, not only do we have the prime content that we talked about at the top, including Thursday night football, the NBA coming next year, NASCAR, but around the world we also have Champions League throughout Europe and

And why why Apple TV Plus?

Well, they have great programming and you know we've had a good partnership with Apple on a number of fronts, but you know, our companies do a lot of business together. And I want to thank Adiq, who I know isn't here tonight, but he and his team have done a great job with this deal and we're excited to get it going.

What'sn't it for Apple?

What we offer channel partners is hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world that have access to their.

Hundreds of millions, two hundred million.

Well there's another number we don't talk a lot about. But if I easily find information about me than our number of.

Subscribers on you want enough.

Having this engagement around the world with Prime members accessing Prime Video is a real great platform for other partners to be able to reach them. Easy access to the subscriber base, one stop shop, easy navigation, one click subscription right in one app. And I think that's what that's what's attracting partners.

How does that negotiation start? Who picked up the phone to who first?

Oh gosh, we've been talking for a while. It took a while, but we're happy we're here.

We wooed them? Were they easy to coax?

Well? What We've really spent a lot of time doing is figuring out how do we make it easy to be a partner. You know, we we we have leadership principles at Amazon. One of them is customer obsessed.

How many of them are now, Oh there's.

Slob or fourteen? Yeah, and so as we look at our partners as customers, so what we're spending a lot of time on is how do we make it easy for them to onboard? How do we make it easy for them to look at our service just as it were a device? Yeah, and so we want to give them the same benefits as you would get if you were on Apple TV or a fire TV or Roku being part of our ecosystem. And I think that it's worked out pretty well.

Does that help from your own background?

You're someone who's done all parts of media, like old school TV. I'm still fighting the good fight, but they then go into movies and content. You've been a customer of Amazon before you've come to lead it.

Does that help from your perspective?

Yeah?

You know, I've in my career, I've been able to be a customer, a competitor, a supplier. It's sony and so I think you know, I've gotten another company pretty well all those crossing of paths.

So let's talk a little bit more about the content you're offering and sports. I want to dwell in there a little bit.

You were at Fox.

You know what it takes to build must watch sports channels. So how do you feel about the price point for example like NBA WNBA.

Yeah, well, I mean we're happy with the deal we got. We you know, we obviously have analytics that there tell us is going to be a creative and very good for our customers. But what we really like about sports is that, you know, this television viewership is migrating from you know, linear television via cable, satellite, et cetera, into

What about talent for things like NBA You're going to get.

But we have a little time. You know, I want to be Shack's great. I love Shack. I'm a longtime Laker fan.

But well, you're also not just perhaps a ball guy when it comes to NBA.

I know you like MLB as well.

I think you actually wanted to be a baseball.

Oh yeah, a long long time ago. Sure, who didn't.

Well, let's talk a little bit about that.

For local sports, is that something that you and I wanting to be getting more into.

We've looked at local sports. You know, we have an equity position in the S network in New York. We actually offer twenty Yankees games a season on prime video to prime customers. And what's been interesting that's basically the old broadcast package that used to exist in market. What we've seen every single year ratings and viewership of our Yankee games is up fifteen or twenty percent every single year. And so I think what's happening is people's muscle memory

Looking of football NFL, will they exercise and ani opt out?

Do you think how expensive is that kind of get early?

Oh? In terms of the deals, we'll see, you know, we still have a few years to see what happens. I think the marketplace, the media and landscape is changing so dramatically. It's a lot's going to happen between now.

And how is it changing dramatically?

Well, I think, you know, I've seen a lot of people in the room. I've written a lot about this. But obviously, the cable and satellite industry has a cable channel business has eroded over the last actually almost since the second I left. I had great timing to leave that part of the business. But what you've seen is this multi channel big bundle, you know, decline every year for the last decade or so, and I think that's put a lot of pressure on the on the legacy

You there's Disney, there's Netflix. What happens to the rest?

Do they all end up partner channels on you?

I think everyone's got different strategies there. I mean, they're you know, most of the companies have incredible IP. You know, you look around the media landscape and there's tremendous IP. Everyone's got movie studios and television studios. I think folks who are just gonna have to pick their strategy and go aggressively after it understanding that the legacy cable business is on a decline and it's probably not going back the other way. So how do you deal with that?

That was Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. When it comes to Amazon, stock shares have seen solid gains, with a year to date increase of roughly twenty three percent, slightly outpacing the twenty one percent gain for the S and P five hundred Coming up Next, we hear about what it takes to make it in today's music industry from the man with ties

This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.

You're listening to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Matt Miller, filling in for Carol and Tim, who spent the week in Los Angeles at Bloomberg screen Time. The event focused on the future of entertainment and the impact of AI on creative industries, and today we're bringing you some of our conversations from the gathering up. Next, we hear about the future of the music industry from a person with close ties to Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.

Now, A lot have happened with you in the last couple of years, and that's sort of where I want to start.

Really, Yeah, just a little bit.

Because there's been a lot of coverage of Okay, all your clients are firing you. Yeah, we won't touch your personal life, but I know a bunch just happened there. You sold your company. Yeah, you haven't said a ton about it, and I'm curious, what is your take? Did a bunch of your clients fire you in the span of a couple of months, or what happened with.

Mariorty three fired me in the exact same day? Yeah?

No, what happened with Arianna with Justin with Listen? I actually a year after it happened. I for contractual reasons, I wasn't allowed to say certain things, but I wrote something called twenty three Years I posted on social media. It was my own words, and I kind of explained why I made a decision to not manage musicians after twenty three years, and that had actually happened about.

A year earlier.

But you know, we're running a big company and there's things that we needed to handle, so I didn't feel like it was the right time.

And simply.

Twenty three years of my life, from nineteen years old to into my forties, I only knew being a music manager. Twenty four to seven, seven days a week, every vacation, every holiday, I was on call, and I wasn't on call to one big artist. I was on call to a lot of big artists. And for a large part of my life, I really loved it. But then I had three kids and I went through a divorce, and anyone who's been through a divorce with children knows.

That is not an easy situation.

And I really looked back at my life and realized that, you know, you can point fingers in a divorce and say, oh, this happened, this happened, but you play a role in it. That's why me and my ex wife are partners with these three children, and we put them first. And my role was I wasn't present. I was a manager twenty four to seven, and even though I was home, I wasn't being there The way I should, and it led to a divorce, and I realized I might have lost

But how did you communicate that to the clients that you were working with.

Well, one of them I wrote about this.

One of them approached me and said, hey, I think I want to try something new, And at first I was kind of hurt because we've been through so much together. But then I realized I was already heading in this direction for the last couple of years anyway, and I think you make plans and then the universe kind of shows you what you need. And I realized it was actually a gift and it wasn't about one client, it

How does how does the relationship like, take someone like Beeber, you take him from nothing.

You guys are do the whole ride up together? Like, how does that relationship work?

Now root for each other?

I mean it's you get to a point where you just say, we built this legacy alongside each other. And now he's a father, he has an opportunity to continue doing you know, the things he loves to do, and I'm going to be rooting for him for the rest of his career.

So, Hi bought your company about three years ago.

We had the we we had Bang here last year. A lot of people, I think thought you.

Would have left by now, So did our chairman?

Why have you stuck around? And I guess what are you doing now if you are not managing artists?

Well, a couple of things.

One when chairman Bang and I met, he's the chairman of Hive and he's a very unique individual. This is someone who was one of the biggest music producers in all of Asia and at the height of his career in Asia. He came to the United States to have meetings with A and RS and presidents of labels here to discuss his ideas, and one of these meetings they had him wait in the lobby for three hours and then told him, I'm sorry, we have another meeting and

And I had admired his work for some time.

He knew about the stuff I had done, and he reached out to me and said, can we have conversations, And the first four conversations that's when the last one happened about the purchase. He said that in the East, we have conversations about what we're going to do. He goes, too many times when I talk to people in the West, they talk about just the transaction, just the deal, not what we're going to do. He goes, all four conversations

Forward to it.

And is that being focused?

Like are you because you're the CEO of Hype America right, how much of your time are you spending on taking big Korean acts and bringing them here or bringing them around the world, And how much of it are you spending on developing acts here that have nothing to do with Korea, it's.

About fifty to fifty.

And also, you know, if you look at our strategy, we purchased QC, which is, you know, the biggest independent hip hop label in the country.

We had big machine from Ithaca when we brought it over. So we're gonna, you know.

Go out and find other companies that make sense for us and other assets that make sense. We also launched High two point zero, which allows us to create a distribution system for independent labels because of our distribution deal with Universal, a ten year deal that puts us a unique position. And then you know, you look at Weavers, which is our large platform for fan engagement for super fans, which is the biggest in the world and the biggest

We introduced kid Le Roy this week.

You know, you're starting to see a lot of you know, acts from the West joining and it makes sense because you see acts from the East coming here and they're selling out arenas day one and if everyone's asking why, and it's because of that opportunity to talk directly to the fans on weavers, right.

If you were starting a new company today management whatever, I know you don't want to manage anymore. Is there who is an artist out there? Like if you could just pick one and I'm going to build around you, who would you pick?

Ah?

I don't know because I haven't really been in that space of like, you know, finding the next one.

Well, it doesn't have to be the next one. It can be a huge star now, Like who is someone now? Or you look at them and they're already a star and you feel like their earnings are over the next twenty thirty years or their potential of where they could go at their career is something that you want to be involved with.

I'm gonna give you the sound by you're looking for because I just can't help myself.

And the PR team is going to be like what I think.

The artist that's you know, one that you should always bet on and is already a huge star and you can always bet on because they want it all the time and they do what it takes to be you know, present and relative all the time is Taylor Swift.

I was actually not thinking you were going to say that, but it's it's an obvious answer.

But you know, I also love that what we're doing with our group Cats Eye, I love Teddy Swims, I love great voices like that. I love like Benson Moon. I saw him perform the other day and that was really impressive. Zach Brian is doing incredible stuff. So there's you know, the fun part about it is everyone you know, there's a huge opportunity coming with AI, and it's going to change the music industry the same way pro tools.

Did you know pro tools came along, people said.

What is this, we need live instruments, and you realize it's a tool to create more music.

And I think AI is going to do the same same thing.

But there's always.

Going to be a need for both human emotion and human error. You know, if we want to watch the greatest chess you know players in the world. We'd watched two supercomputers play chess, but we want to watch humans play chess because we want to find that one mistake or that one thing that goes wrong. Same thing that we have with sports. You know, we remember the great moments, but we also remember the fumbles.

I'm a Jets fan.

I remember lots of them, but.

You're probably happy that the coach is fired.

No, I'm not happy until we win, and I'm gonna I've been waiting a long time.

I can't let you get off the tailor hook that easy. I have to ask one question about it. There was a documentary that came out about you and her this summer. I was unfortunately interviewed for it. Did you watch it?

I watched it recently, actually like put up that I watched it, and I wasn't going to watch it because I just thought it was going to be like another hit piece, and I pretty much stay quiet about this kind of stuff.

And my dad.

Called me and my mom and they were like, we just watched it. We think you should watch it. So I did.

What did you think of it?

I thought you were incredibly handsome?

Is there?

I think it's Look, it's five years later. I think everyone it's time to move on. And there was a lot of things that were misrepresented. I think that it's important in any kind of conflict that people actually communicate directly with each other. I think doing it out on social media and in front of the whole world is not the place. And I think when people actually take the time to stand in front of each other, have a conversation, usually find out the monster is not real

To the entire world right now.

And I think if people take the time to have conversations with each other and speak to each other and ask each other where they really stand and understand each other's.

Cultures, we'd be in a lot better place.

And I just need to say this personally, because I'm wearing this right now. I think with everything we're seeing all around the world, we have a responsibility here in America to have conversations with each other. If we want peace in other places, it starts with us here because we have the actually ability to do so.

That was Scooter Braun, CEO of the American division of Hibe Corporation, best known for his work with Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. Braun spoke with Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw from

Market.

You can't predict them.

Let's look at yesterday's sell off on Wall Street.

Pigs drivations in terms of bond markets, so when you're.

Listening to us, you'll come pretty.

Let's take a look at small capstocks.

Bloomberg Radio the Bloomberg Business app in Bloomberg Radio dot Com. This is Bloomberg BusinessWeek with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.

This is the weekend edition of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. I'm Matt Miller filling in for Carol and Tim. They spent the week in Los Angeles at Bloomberg screen Time. The event brought together celebrities, entrepreneurs, and media executives in the heart of Hollywood to discuss the future of entertainment, and today

Stephen A.

Smith is best known as the host of The Steven A. Smith Show and First Take. He got together with Lucas Shaw at Bloomberg screen Time event at LA this week to discuss the sports media l landscape. Let's hear what he had to say.

When you started your career being a columnist at a national newspaper was probably the most influential job you could have in sports media. You've had talk radio, YESPN, blew up. You're now the most recognizable sports media personality.

I alreay say, how do you see your.

Business changing with streaming and social media and what you have to do to sort of stay on top.

Well, you've got to diversify.

You've got to make sure that you're paying attention to what the audience wants. You have to understand that who your audience is and.

Where they are.

The audience that listens to you on radio might be different than the audience is watching you and listen to you on your podcast and your YouTube show might be different than the audience is watching you at ten o'clock in the morning.

On First Take.

For me, personally, it's not that challenging from the standpoint that working at ESPN, there's always been.

A polporia shows show. What you saw from me.

On first tape might be a little bit different than what you saw for me on NBA Countdown.

It might be a little bit different than when you saw for mean, when.

We had Outside the Lines, might be a little bit different than when you see me on a sports center. A lot of times, also, the personality that you're working with comes into play. Somebody that's hosting the six o'clock Sports Center might be different than somebody that's hosting the eleven o'clock might be different than somebody that's hosting the overnight coming on before games, so you have a certain attitude, and then another another's show.

You're coming on postgame.

So it's a different attitude because you saw a different you know, you have some highlights, you saw a different level of excitement that you want to ingratiate yourself with and gravitate to. And so I've always been about the business of making sure that I was multi faster than in my presentation and my delivery, and just to make sure that I'm appealing to the audience and be a mindful and cognizant of who.

Actually is out there watching at.

A particular moment and time in the day or whatever. You and what you need to do and what you need to deliver because everybody's looking for something different.

Yeah, where do you think that most people watch you? Now? Is it on ESPN? Is it YouTube? Is it some other social network?

I would tell you I would once upon a time, I would have easily said to TESPN, And you can easily say that now because of the success of First Take. I mean, when you think about the audience, you know, at ten o'clock in the morning, when people are at work or in school or whatever, we averaging nearly a half a million viewers live over video. I personally average over two billion views a year. So I know that, And then that's just what First take. That doesn't take

But I saw what I saw.

And so for me talking to that audience knowing that they're not familiar. At one time they weren't familiar with that, but then those algorithms kicking you talk about it enough, all of a sudden your name comes up, you make headlines, and then they attach you to those subject matters, and then before you know it, you have an even bigger audience that you never anticipated. And so I think the exciting part for me is the answer to that question is ESPN.

But it was definitively and very quickly.

ESPN, you know, a year ago, and now I'm saying it's changing, right, it's changing. They still watching me on ESPN, but the audiences growing on YouTube.

Does ESPN get upset if you talked about politics?

No?

No, I mean they did want upon a time, and I think that Jimmy Pittaro, the president of ESPN, he came on in twenty and eighteen and what he took over for John Skipper who had exited. He was on the record saying that we need to veer away from politics. And there was a whole bunch of my colleagues that were very upset with me for co.

Signing that mandate.

But I co signed it, and even all these years later, I'm here to defend the president of ESPN at that time, because we had gotten so political that we went away from giving the audience what it came to expect.

You're coming to.

Expect sports, and then we felt it was perfectly okay to just get in the stuff that expanded beyond sports. You had the the Colin Kaepernick protesting and kneeling. We saw the President Trump at the time hijacked the narrative and turned it into some issue involving patriotism and all of this other stuff, when it.

Really wasn't about that.

It was about him getting back at owners wouldn't let him be coming owner in twenty fourteen for the Buffalo Bills, and you saw all of this other stuff going on, and you know, we got away from giving the audience what the audience came to say. And I'm a businessman, and my attitude is what do the patrons want? What

But I suppose there's a reason you're doing that on your own as opposed to on the airwaves.

Well again, because I'm a businessman and I'm thinking about the business of Stephen A.

Smith.

I'm not thinking about Steven A. Smith the employee. I'm thinking about straight shoot of productions, straight shoot media and the kind of aspirations that I have. That doesn't mean that I want to go away, that I want to stop doing sports, that I want to stop working for the people that I work for, but they are keenly aware of the fact that I have a strong desire to expand I've done. You will see me on News Nation a week before the election night doing a town hall.

I bust my to get to where I am.

And I don't want anyone telling me we're pigeonholing you in this box and we have you in this corner, and that's where you belong and that's where you'll stay. I'm not rolling like that. That's not who I am, and that's not who I'm going to be.

Okay, that's a good cue for I want to read you a quote your profile by GQ in twenty nineteen.

Okay in twenty nineteen, I don't remember, but I'll take your word for you.

Your your former colleague Max Caliban had a quote about you. Okay, Stephen A is never going to be happy. That's why he's successful. When you're on the top. When you're when you're on top, the reason you're there is because you're a chronically dissatisfied person.

I think that's a bit excessive. I think that.

If you know me, if you know my inner circle, my family, my friends, my loved ones.

I am a very happy man. I'm living a pretty good life.

Things like. You know, I'm working real hard.

I work real hard because I love to work.

I get that from my mama, God rest her soul. And I'm not I'm very proud of that. I'm you know, to me. You know I'm off when the job is done. You know, I believe in excellence. I believe in doing the best that I possibly can do and exhausting every means necessary to be the best that I can be. But in the same breath, don't get a twist that I know how to have a good time, and I

You know.

Nick Saban has one of my favorite quotes, Mediocre people don't like winners, and winners don't like mediocre people. And I listen to that, and I nodded my head in affirmation, because you can work with people and I'm certainly not talking about Max Kellerman here, but you can work with people as I have in my career, and you run across people that they're fine with getting by. They're fine with punching that proverbial clock, turning it in.

Making sure they did their job, and that's all they gotta do.

No, there's a result at the end. You know, we're in the ratings and revenue business. Are we winning? I don't care who I'm working for. This is one of the reasons that I believe that I'm one of the greatest people to work with, because I think about my partners just as much as I think about myself. Are we winning? If I'm winning but you're losing, We're losing because we have not achieved success for the both of us.

Of on each passing day.

And I'm one of those people that I may not say much, but I want you to be uncomfortable with me.

I want you to be uncomfortable around me.

I want you to be around me, and you know you want to get away from me as fast as you can.

If you mediocre, you satisfied with being mediocre, and you.

Don't give a damn, and you don't care about the results, you don't care about winning.

I want you uncomfortable.

I really really do you know people like the late great Kobe Bryant, God rest his soul, you knew his mentality. Michael Jordan has been a friend of mine for years. You knew his mentality. I mean, these are people that are winners, and I believe in being a winner.

I'm exhausting yourself to do it.

I'm curious.

You may have the comment about people who are out for themselves, and I'm going to prophecy by saying that's not what I'm implicating for you here. But you're in the middle of negotiating a really big new contract right at the same time that ESPN is firing a bunch of right you see how that might rub some people the wrong way.

I could see that. I don't give it. Let me tell you. Let me answer that question.

Why.

That is one question. I'm not offended by the question. So I want to make sure you understand that.

But that is a question and I'm not going to take from anybody.

That was Stephen A. Smith speaking with Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw from our screen Time event in Los Angeles this week. If you missed any part of that or our other conversations from screen Time, you can find them all on the Bloomberg Podcast YouTube page, along with our live stream every weekday starting at seven am. That does it for this special weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Matt