Italy is a strategic market for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and CEO David Zaslav plan to increase investment there.
talk to locals every day Corriere della Sera, Zaslav praised the Italian team’s creativity and highlighted their success in revenue generation and diversification of income sources. He said WBD will invest in both linear TV and streaming in Italy.
The company will become the top Hollywood studio for the first time in Italy’s box office in 2023 and plans to continue producing local content.
Despite the focus on streaming, linear TV remains a key growth area for Italy WBD, according to Zaslav. In 2023, WBD became the third national broadcaster in share (more than 8%), and compared to 2022 it increased by 8%, affecting advertising revenue.
He announced that the launch of the Max streaming platform in Italy will likely be in 2026 to coincide with the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, for which WBD holds exclusive digital rights.
WBD currently has an exclusive agreement with Sky Italia for the distribution of HBO content until 2025.
Zaslav noted that for WBD, “content is king” and the company will continue to invest in creating high-quality content for the Italian market.
In addition to its Discovery+ OTT service, WBD produces 17 multiplatform channels in Italy.