Happy Thursday War & Peaceniks! Ready to report?
The first Media Universe Map redrawn post Q1 earnings:
This earnings season, as always, the earnings reports of major Media have been as chock full of information as their earnings calls have been full of… spin.
Disco Bros breathlessly announced “PROFITS IN STREAMING!” (made entirely through slashing costs, while their net income dropped a whopping 225%).
Netflix boasted “IMPRESSIVE FREE CASH FLOW!” (but in reality has become a slow-growing old school media company, whose ad sales division is still not really doing anything).
Disney cheered on “10% REVENUE GROWTH AND NARROWER STREAMING LOSSES!” (Yet all their growth came from Parks, not media. Note: Iger announced that Hulu and Disney+ would be combined into one app by year’s end, confirming what I’ve been telling you for months, that his coy ploy to try and convince Comcast he was selling Hulu was pure mouse droppings.).
Interestingly, and surprisingly, Meta had a good Q1. I’ve actually got no snark for that. It was a genuinely good story.
Which brings me to my point…
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