Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I am here with Derek Chang. He is the CEO of Liberty Media, also sitting on the board of the Oversight. Liberty Media is of subsidiary that oversees Live Nation. Derek, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.
Lisa, thanks for having me.
So I want to start with the idea that everyone here is talking about scale, getting enough scale, merging up, particularly in the media space. You moved in the opposite direction last year, breaking up into a host of different entities. Can you talk about why you decided to do that.
Well. I think if you look at Liberty Media over this history, it's had a history of sort of expansion contraction. You know, we kind of go with the flow a little bit depending on on what the circumstances are and what the market is is, you know, asking for and what we think that we should be doing for our shareholders. So I don't think in this particular moment it was a specific strategy of we're ultimately going on a trail
of sort of getting smaller. It was clarifying and simplifying the structures and so delivering two shareholders sort of what assets they want in what places at this particular moment. But you know, over time, we have had tracking stocks, we have spun out companies, and now we're sort of back to a more simplified structure, and it's really it'll provide that clarity for shareholders.
So you oversee, your two main properties at Liberty Media are Formula one and Moto GP, which is relatively new in the US, very big in Europe and Southeast Asia. I'm just wondering how you're thinking about a media strategy. Just signed this five year deal with Apple in terms of streaming rights, is it the same between streaming and legacy cable networks? Is it sort of all the same at this point when it comes to sports licensing, Well, I think.
It still depends on market, on what markets you're actually in, and so in a lot of markets like the US, at this point, the streamers have a you know, you just spoke about scale, a lot of scale, and I think that historically people have said, oh, you've got to be on a broadcast network, otherwise you're not going to
have the reach. I don't think that's true anymore. And I think the deal that we did with Apple basically has shown that that is, you know, for US, Apple has We've seen no real drop off in terms of viewership, and in fact, engagement overall is higher than it was before in the early sort of going here the first
three or four races that we've had this year. And I think what that speaks to is streaming platforms, certainly in the US have reached a level of maturity and even beyond you'd say, and you see it right now with sort of what's gone on at the NFL. There are recent deals that they're doing, so clearly it's part of sort of mainstream viewing habits and this whole concept I think that people with the knock on streaming was also you don't you lose sort of the sampling effect.
And I think what you see with our deal with Apple is is that people sample in different ways. We go into an Apple store, or you watch other content that's on Apple TV or Apple Music, or what they do with Apple Maps, which they did in the Miami Race where they sort of created and a you know, integrated into Apple Maps with stuff around the Miami Race
and the had special content for that race. So you've got platforms now that because of the technology they have, because of their sort of an Apple Scace singular focus on Formula one, the ability to actually expand your audiences in different ways than you ever have.
Do you think that you're going to move to a Netflix type of model that you did with F one when it comes to MotoGP in the US, where you have a TV series about it, you sort of broadcast it to popular consumption in a way to democratize exactly what it is.
Well, I think what you're going to see with Moto GP is a lot of what we did with Formula one. There will be similar applications of that. So the biggest thing for us with MotoGP is how do you take the sport which at its core is a very pure sport and a huge, you know, passionate fan base, and how do you expand that? How do you get more people engage, whether it's in the US or worldwide? And I think you do that by telling the story and we haven't told MotoGP, has never really told that story.
And you do that through writers, You do that through the action on the track, and you do that sort of in multiple ways, through content, through fan activation at races, through the licensing partners, and the sponsorship partners that you have, But I do think the content piece of this is
a very important part. Whether you do a show just like Drive to Survive, I don't know if that's necessarily going to happen because it's a different sport and you want to remain authentic to your fan base and to the fans that you're trying to attract. So we will figure out things that we can do in and around Moto GP that sort of creates the same impact, and making it available and making it accessible to as broad a fan base as possible.
You also help to oversee Live Nation. The Live Nation investment is through the Liberty Board. And I'm curious from your perspective, take a price to really expensive. Everyone talks about, everyone complains about it that the inflation in ticket prices to go see events is incredibly high, and then they still go, how do you understand the inflation at ticket prices whether it's World Cup and what's going on there, or whether it's basketball at Madison Square Garden and understand
what's the right pricing? How do you do that strategy?
Well, the reality is it's it is simple supply and demand, right, And so I think what you're seeing is a huge demand for live entertainment, live events, and you know, I see this through the Formula one lens where our paddock club is for the most part sold out through the through the rest of the year here or club, that's the high end, you know, ticket tickets and hospitality that we offer, and I think there's just so much demand for these sorts of experiences that the reality is you
could probably you know, create multiples of availability and it's still going to l I don't know about you know, the specific has been specific ticket pricing strategy for those, but I think ultimately what you're speaking to is there's just this demand sent up demand for live entertainment that you know, you continue to see despite the fact that there are a lot of different things that people can
go to. But I think that see allure of that and the appeal and for different people, it's different reasons, right. Some people go specifically for the racing, Some people go for the racing and for the food, some people go for the racing end, for the celebrities, whatever it is, there's this just attraction to it, and I think we're bringing that to the fans.
Derek Chang, thank you so much for being with US Derek Tang, CEO of Livery Media,