WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar on being “first to cross the wall” with daily streaming: “History is already looking pretty favorably.”

Jason Killard, CEO of WarnerMedia, who will step down this week before the close of the merger with Discovery, is proud to be on the “first wall” with his daily movie streaming strategy.

The company shocked the industry in late 2020 when it announced the full presentation of Warner Bros. 2021 on HBO Max when it hit theaters. Competing companies like Disney and NBCUniversal have taken a more focused approach, despite widespread theater closures and other delays due to Covid.

“The story is already looking pretty positively,” Killar said in an interview with Deadline on Tuesday, when his departure was made official. “It worked. We were the first on the wall,” she said.

Ann Sarnoff heads WarnerMedia Studios and Networks.

Discovery and WarnerMedia are expected to complete the $ 43 billion merger on Friday, ending entertainment company Spinoff less than three years after its acquisition by AT&T.

The document proving the streaming initiative’s effectiveness, which had the internal nickname “Project Popcorn,” appears in WarnerMedia’s record revenue of $ 35.6 billion in 2021, according to Killard. Driven by the influx of theatrical releases, HBO Max ended the year with 73.8 million global subscribers with HBO, beating national forecasts.

After the popcorn transition, the talented community began to scream collectively, with top agents, directors and others expressing their bitter disappointment. Christopher Nolan, who has recovered Batman A Warner Bros. franchise other than the blockbusters of departure For the studio, after replacing Universal’s dismantled HBO Max. Over time, however, financial deals were reached with various parties and the turmoil subsided. Estimates of these payments were in the order of $ 200 million. One part hasn’t calmed down trying to fix anything: Village Roadshow, which it sued earlier this year for posting a day and date. The resurrection of the Matrix. The lawsuit is still pending, although the actor lost the first round in a legal battle.

HBO Max CEO Andy Forsell exits ahead of Discovery’s merger

“I sympathize with how difficult change is,” Killard said. “It’s never easy to reevaluate your business in such a short time, especially when circumstances change so much.” The CEO had previously admitted that the message had not been conveyed with extreme caution, perhaps based on how many other dishes were turning.

Killard recently made the difficult decision to end her relationship with CNN chief Jeff Zucker after revealing a personal relationship with one of her main lieutenants, chief marketing and communications Alison Golust. Although this relationship was cited when Zucker left, the company also investigated Zucker’s behavior towards former Prime Minister Chris Kumo’s efforts on behalf of his brother, abused by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Asked about the status of Chris Cuomo’s $ 125 million arbitration lawsuit against CNN, Killard did not comment.

He talked about another topic on CNN: the launch of CNN + last week. The idea of ​​launching a standalone stream is at odds with WarnerMedia’s recent move to solidify its previous standalone capabilities. Discovery will merge HBO Max with Discovery +, which means the future of CNN + is uncertain. “I think there is a market for people who just want to subscribe to a digital news service, as we have seen with the New York Times,” she said. When asked if it would be packaged, he said, “The viewing has always been on CNN + as part of the HBO Max subscription.”

Asked about the characteristics of his two-year tenure, Killar said what is “most important right now” is WarnerMedia’s growing inclusion in the company. “The global team is made up of 41% people of color and 27% women. This is one of the things that makes me smile a lot “.

The continuation of the integration work of HBO, Warner Bros., Turner and CNN, which began in 2018 under the direction of John Stanke, who is now the CEO of AT&T, is another important part that Killard leaves. Not long ago WarnerMedia was Time Warner and was a holding company with four different businesses. These companies acted as silos, sometimes competing with each other. It was just the way of the world. “Today,” he continued, “we really are a company with a very well designed strategy.”

Partly due to the merger of previously Balkanized business units, he added: “Creatively, we are now in a rut, unlike any other company in the industry.”

When asked about his regrets, Killard replied: “I wish I had more time.” He explained that the comment had two meanings: the first was that he wanted to be there more than 24 hours a day. In addition, he wants to have more gateways for future business, with the growth and attacks of HBO Max in gaming, NFT and other emerging fields.

Discovery has pledged $ 3 billion in synergies to Wall Street as soon as it merges with WarnerMedia. Achieving this goal will result in a significant number of layoffs, post-curtailment rounds in addition to what company veterans experienced in 2018 and 2019 during Killarney, when dozens of top executives left the service. When asked what advice he would give to Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who will manage the joint venture, Killard said WarnerMedia is a “much bigger” company than Discovery. “I would advise them to get used to the narrative of this business and to continue investing in services.”

Killard was the founding CEO of Hulu and created YouTube rival Vessel, which he sold to Verizon after a long initial run on Amazon. As for his next action, he said he would likely be “at the intersection of fun and technology”.

The media, entertainment and technology landscape will continue to consolidate, he predicted long after the formation of Warner Bros. Discovery.

“I think we will see some changes. Substantial changes in the next 36 months, ”she said. Currently, only Netflix, Disney, and WarnerMedia, according to Kilar, have the resources and intellectual property to exist as full-fledged streaming players. “There are a lot of streaming services with an ambition to achieve scalability,” she said. But if you are not in this circle [of three] Now I think it’s a challenge. “