Sometimes a lot can be said for any country or organisation and their direction by simply looking at the man in charge. I am of course not trying to make any political comments, but rather just saying this as news has come that former Hulu co-founder and head Jason Kilar has been hired as the new CEO of WarnerMedia (as reported by Variety). With cinema attendance as we know it undergoing a big change and with so much focus being placed on streaming, it makes sense that WarnerMedia wants to place more emphasis on their own streaming game and the soon to be launched HBO Max. Nothing makes a statement of intent more serious than by bringing in a new man in charge that has a strong history in the streaming business.
While Netflix might have been first out the gate with regards to streaming, Hulu wasn’t far behind. While Netflix has developed in leaps and bounds with regards to original content, Hulu was able to develop a stronger catalogue of third-party content over the years and still maintained a large subscriber base as a result. WarnerMedia will be hoping that some of that wisdom pays off as they use their different studios to continuing pushing strong original content, while also offering a wide variety of other content to keep subscribers entertained.
With Kilar to start his new role on May 1 and with HBO Max set to launch later that month, it’s unlikely he will have an opportunity to have any initial influence on the direction of the company. Hopefully he will be able to successfully manage the company’s strong line-up of HBO Shows and popular franchises like the DCEU into something that can make the company a force to be reckoned with on both the streaming front and the cinema side, although I do believe that by hiring a streaming specialist, the company has made it abundantly clear where they feel their future lies.
Last Updated: April 2, 2020
