Fresh off Discovery Communications’ acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, President and CEO David Zaslav dished about the newly merged company, dubbed Discovery Inc., and mass consolidations in the media industry.
“We have more IP [intellectual property] now,” the CEO said. “We are global. We have the most compelling brands like Oprah or Food and Cooking.”
Zaslav touted the rise of voice-activated technologies from Amazon and Google and mobile, adding that Discovery’s “functional” channels are primed for that.
Mobile is “driven much more by affinity and function. People won’t be watching ‘The Crown’ … they are going to be looking up spaghetti Bolognese.”
Discovery’s $11.9 billion acquisition of Scripps allows the company to take a strong foothold in unscripted entertainment content. Zaslav cited Discovery’s differentiation from giants like Netflix, Disney and Amazon, which are focusing on scripted originals.
“We’re on the other side. If the media business is a soccer field … they are all around the ball,” he said. “On the other hand, we have the majority of the rest of the field.”
Zaslav added that company has targeted at least $350 million in cost savings and expects to get more than $3 billion in free cash flow over the next few years.