Grab your popcorn and settle in for a tale not of dragons and mythical thrones, but of the evolving kingdom of streaming media.
Today's focus is on Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD 2.11%), which seems to be shifting its streaming strategy ever so slightly. The move may be small, but it could still serve as a sign of maturity for the newfangled industry of digital-media services.
According to the well-respected entertainment reporters at Deadline Hollywood Daily, Warner is hammering out a licensing deal that would put the HBO show Insecure on Netflix (NFLX -0.61%).
That would mark the first time an HBO show sought viewers on a rival video-streaming service, with potentially game-changing implications for the streaming market as a whole. It's not quite a Game of Thrones-level plot twist but still an interesting and mostly unexpected move.
Small moves, big implications
Now, before you get as excited as George Costanza's father celebrating Festivus on Seinfeld, let's clarify. I'm not talking about HBO auctioning off crown jewels like Game of Thrones or Boardwalk Empire. Licensing those classic titles to Netflix -- or any other media-streaming rival -- would signal a sea change of epic proportions. Earthshaking, window-rattling stuff. And that's not what is going on today.
Instead, this is more of an experimental move, an exploration of new territory, with a lower-risk asset like Insecure. While well-reviewed and popular in its own right, this social comedy hasn't brought home the Emmy and Golden Globe haul of its bigger siblings. Also, the viewership figure dropped off dramatically in the fifth and final season. In other words, Insecure was a solid performer but not the kind of classic you'd build a network schedule around.
The rumored Netflix deal may not be a "hold-the-front-page" revolution, but it does hint at the streaming industry's evolution. Like a teenager morphing into an adult, it's starting to mirror the behaviors of its more mature predecessor, traditional broadcast and cable television.
Could this deal be the first gray hair in the streaming market's youthful mane?
Are we getting old already? Image source: Getty Images.
In the game of profits, every penny counts
At the heart of this plot twist is a strategy as old as TV itself: syndication. The potential deal suggests a strategic pivot by Warner Bros. Discovery to maximize its content's profitability, much like TV networks have done for decades. This isn't about the battle for viewership but the war for profitability.
Deadline says that the streaming deal probably wouldn't be exclusive to Netflix, leaving the window open to shop this title around to various digital-streaming channels. Warner might also continue to publish Insecure on the Max platform.
Once again, that's not an outrageous idea. TV studios have published their stuff on competing channels since the dawn of television. For example, the hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy is produced by Disney's (DIS -0.32%) ABC Signature studio for the in-house ABC broadcast station, but Netflix has all 19 seasons on tap. Also, fuboTV keeps the latest available season -- just like Disney's own Hulu service. Standard operating procedure, you know.
Of course, a less exclusive license would also come with lower licensing fees. That's another sign of Warner dipping a tentative toe in the digital-syndication waters before trying anything truly groundbreaking. The long-term implications of this rumored strategy shift remain to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Warner leaning into the content-licensing opportunity if this experiment works out. After all, the company's digital-streaming segment keeps showing deeper operating losses over time even though the subscriber count rises.
The streaming saga continues
As investors, it's crucial to remember that the ever-changing future of streaming media remains a Stranger Things situation -- hard to predict and full of unexpected twists. If it happens, the first HBO licensing deal could mark a strategic change in the streaming landscape, or it could simply be a fizzled experiment and a one-time venture.
Either way, it seems the streaming industry is exploring more strategies from the time-honored playbook of traditional TV channels, maturing with each new season.
So, is the streaming market getting ready to drive, vote, and get a job? This HBO-Netflix rumor might be the first sign of its unpredictable adolescence ending. It's not quite a Game of Thrones-style climax, but like the smaller story arcs of that landmark show, this test may hold significant influence over the broader narrative. And if so, investors should expect the companies in this space to start acting more like experienced market leaders than wild upstarts.
Grab your remote, investors. The next episode in the streaming saga promises to be interesting.
