Andrew Georgiou, president of Warner Bros Discovery UK, said Olympics had been “fantastic” for the media company.
Giorgio was speaking at the end of a hugely successful summer in Europe for WBD, which held the exclusive pay-TV rights to the Olympics in most of Europe. “Subscribers increased after the fourth day [of the Olympics] “We’ve had more growth than we did in the entire Tokyo Olympics,” he said. “We’ve outgrown our linear games growth… so it’s done a great job for us in all markets. The challenge of course is to retain customers.”
Giorgio, who is chairman and managing director of WBD UK & Ireland and the company's European sports division, was speaking on a panel titled “How to Win and Influence Audiences” on Tuesday morning at the Royal Television Society conference in London.
Panellists included Sky Studios CEO and Chief Content Officer Cecile Frot-Coutaz, The Walt Disney Company’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development EMEA Nami Patel, and Sarah Rose, President of Channel 5 and Head of UK at Paramount. The panel was moderated by Financial Times journalist John Gaber.
What lives [TV] “What the World Athletics Championships does is give people a reason to participate at the same time,” Giorgio added of the championships. “It focuses the world’s population on one event.”
He also confirmed that WBD’s Max streaming service is set to launch in the UK in 2026, although it is unclear whether it will be in partnership with Sky – with whom WBD has a long-term exclusive content deal that has seen high-profile HBO shows including House of the Dragon and Succession air exclusively on Sky platforms in the UK – with Georgiou saying the two media giants have yet to reach an agreement. Max is already available in most of Europe. Frot-Cottaz added that from Sky’s perspective, the partnership deal with WBD has been a success and they are “hopeful” of finding a way to work together in the future.
The situation at Comcast-owned Sky has generally been less rosy, with a number of corporate shake-ups over the past year, which saw Frot-Coutaz expand her role into content and long-serving Sky CEO Zay Bennett depart for BBC Studios shortly after.
Frot-Coutaz acknowledged that the company, which creates and streams content, is competing — like other media companies — with a range of external factors from social media to video games for viewers’ time and attention. “The world is fragmenting, there’s no question about it,” she said.
“As a creative and curator, you have to think a little differently about what you order and what you acquire.”
Paramount is experiencing its own era of uncertainty, particularly in the UK, as its merger with Skydance Media approaches. The tie-up is of particular concern to Channel 5, which could find itself redundant. “It may disappoint you, but it’s a great relief to me that I can’t speak about this deal,” Rose said of the merger. “From a UK perspective in a US organisation, they have recognised the value of what we create and continue to invest in us, and they always have.”
Other speakers at this year's RTS conference, sponsored by Netflix, include Ted Sarandos, football star David Beckham, and UK PSB bosses Tim Davie, Carolyn McCall and Alex Mahon.
