Listen: WarnerMedia, Spotify, NBCU Execs Discuss Coronavirus Industry Impact

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The media business is starting to absorb “the new normal” of life amid the coronavirus crisis.

In a panel discussion held Monday in the Variety Streaming Room webinar featuring executives from WarnerMedia, Spotify, NBCUniversal and PwC, they shared their outlook for the industry in conversation with Variety Intelligence Platform chief media analyst Andrew Wallenstein. Highlights from that exchange are featured in this week’s episode of the “Strictly Business” podcast.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Sean Kisker, exec VP and chief strategy officer of WarnerMedia Direct-to-Consumer, notes that for all the hardships coronavirus has presented society in recent weeks, one consolation is that increased video consumption at home opens new opportunities for services like his own upcoming HBO Max. “Obviously engagement is way up,” he said. “From a product point of view, it’s probably created a bit of tailwind, but it’s created a whole host of challenges that go along with that.”

“It’s just really important that we’re making sure we’re being thoughtful in how we’re approaching that listener experience,” said Julie Clark, global head of advertising revenue innovation at Spotify. “It’s made us really have to adapt to that environment and make sure we’re extremely authentic to the overall experience.”

Also joining the wide-ranging conversation was Greg Boyer, technology, media and telecommunications partner at PwC, and Josh Feldman, exec VP, head of marketing and advertising creative for NBCUniversal.

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of entertainment. Past episodes include conversations with Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Dana Walden, co-head of 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Television Group. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher and SoundCloud.stream

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