1 Obvious Reason to Avoid Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Like the Plague
https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/10/02/1-obvious-reason-avoid-warner-bros-discovery-stock/
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Legacy business segments might be the ones generating the bulk of operating profits for Warner Bros. Discovery, but one thing is obvious: Streaming is only going to grow in popularity. According to data from Nielsen, streaming accounted for 39% of overall TV viewing time in the U.S. in July, a greater share than both cable and broadcast TV.
There is a MAJOR caveat to this observation that Zaslav or any of the other legacy media CEOs don't understand. It's not "streaming" that is growing in popularity. It's the quality of content coming from independent creators posting their own videos to streaming platforms.
The method by which viewers are consuming content is almost irrelevant so targeting Netflix as the primary competitor is a fool's errand. The real competition are the independent content creators building out entire production studios in their basements, none of whom are hamstrung by ideological scams like DEI that only alienate the audience.
Debt blew a gigantic WB-shaped hole in the side of the ship for sure. But the ESG/DEI initiatives are basically like a couple of firehoses pointed directly at the deck.