Roku executives spent some time today talking about M&E and the company’s Media & Entertainment advertising business that they expect to take a hit in the second half of the year as Hollywood strikes disrupt the television calendar.
“As an illustration of the M&E marketplace change, it’s taken place in really less than one year,” said President Charlie Collier, the former Fox and AMC exec who joined Roku last fall, on a conference call after the company’s quarterly earnings.
“It feels like a long time ago, but in just August and September of last year, that’s when HBO Max, now Max, launched its Game of Thrones spinoff [House of the Dragon]. It’s when Amazon launched its Lord of The Rings, The Rings of Power TV show. And you’re not going to see anything like that this year for all sorts of obvious reasons. And so what a difference a year makes,” he said.
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HBO’s GoT prequel House Of the Drago and Prime Video’s LOTR prequel Rings Of Power launched within days of each other, on August 21, 2022 and Sept. 1, 2022, respectively.
Both big-budget fantasy dramas have been filming their second seasons in the UK and have not been affected by the WGA or SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Roku reported earlier today that second quarter revenue rose 11% on decent advertising despite a broad slowdown.
“I do think it [having two strikes] puts added pressure on M&E in the back half, and of course there is added pressure on our partners,” including upcoming fall schedules,” said Collier.
“We hope the AMPTP and both guilds reach a fast and equitable resolution.”
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