In Hollywood, there are one or more new sheriffs in town, according to Barry Diller. The IAC chairman said big tech companies like Apple have replaced older studios like Disney and Paramount as leaders in the entertainment world.
“What is the definition of Hollywood leadership? The definition is that it has moved to the technology companies. Netflix, Amazon and Apple are really the overseers of what we call the global film and television business,” Diller said. “It’s a far cry from our image of Hollywood, to say the least.”
His comments came at the FT Entertainment Business Summit in West Hollywood, California.
One of the main reasons for the power shift in the entertainment world, Diller said, is that tech companies have more money to spend. For example, Apple is worth $3.5 trillion and Amazon has a market value of $2 trillion. By comparison, Disney is worth $169 billion.
“The resource gap between these companies is astronomical,” Diller added.
It should be noted that Disney is still spending quite a bit of money on content. But tech companies are accelerating their spending as Disney and others try to rein them in.
Last year, Disney paid $27 billion for shows and movies, about $3 billion less than the year before. Netflix spent $13 billion on content last year and will spend up to $17 billion in 2024, while Amazon has increased annual spending by 14% to $18.9 billion in 2023.
For the uninitiated, Diller has a long and decorated history in Hollywood. He was CEO of Paramount from 1974 to 1984 before becoming head of 20th Century Fox, where he launched Fox as the nation’s fourth network in 1986. In 1995, Diller founded IAC, the digital media conglomerate behind publications like People Magazine and The Daily Beast.
“Hollywood’s hegemony over global entertainment that had lasted since the birth of the film industry in the early 20th century has disappeared. It is no longer there,” he repeated. “Hollywood no longer has that hegemony.”
