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HBO Max’s audience in the U.S., meanwhile, is about two-thirds the viewership of Netflix. Cocomelon is the exception, thanks in part to its reach, via Netflix, into some 73 million U.S.

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WBD isn’t revealing direct viewership data, but much of the impacted content is animated, and few animated series are watched enough to make Nielsen’s Top 10 charts. Rather, it’s about the cost of carrying those titles compared to the value they brought to the service. Even Burt and Ernie are vulnerable.īut on a service with lots of low-performing content, why did Zaz select these specific titles? What was the viewership cutoff, or the decision framework, for his determination that he could save money by making them disappear? This isn’t a tax write-off. Look, Zaslav promised Wall Street $3 billion in synergies. I can confirm that many of the targeted series were among the most low-performing animated and family programming on the platform, according to a knowledgeable source, and that removing them will actually save in the high tens of millions of dollars annually over the next few years. Plus, these shows can likely be sold elsewhere, generating additional revenue for WBD at a time when it could use the cash. These remarkable deletions reflect tens of millions of dollars in savings, according to CNBC, in residuals that WBD would otherwise owe to talent and co-production studios. Twenty of the removed series are HBO Max originals, including Summer Camp Island, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, and The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo. The vanishings include 200 episodes of Sesame Street, among other children’s content, as well as beloved animated titles like Infinity Train, Close Enough, and OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes. But the penny-pinching maneuver that is most alarming to Hollywood’s creative community is his removal of some 36 series from HBO Max. Zaslav killed CNN+ (an estimated $1 billion saved) and Batgirl (a $90 million write-off), and has begun company-wide layoffs. David Zaslav focuses on cost-cutting and debt service. Proven success is a phrase that’s come up a lot lately as Warner Bros. Lucas, who launched two multi-billion dollar franchises ( Star Wars and Indiana Jones), and sold his company for $4 billion, lamented that studios now mostly focused on surefire wins, noting that the “only way to do that was not to take chances only do something that was proven”-hence all the recycling of I.P. Back in 2015, as Disney was preparing to set box office records with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, George Lucas gave a rare interview in which he argued that capitalism had effectively killed Hollywood creativity.

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