Zaslav Has Fandom, CNN+ Not So Much

Few executives have been treated to as much fawning coverage as David Zaslav, the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, who has started meeting with employees of CNN and HBO in New York and D.C. this week.

The merger that closed on Friday brought WarnerMedia (HBO, CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA with its iconic logo water tower) and Discovery (Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and TLC, and its own streaming service, Discovery+) all under the same corporate umbrella

Monday was the first day of Warner Bros. Discovery’s official existence, now trading on the NASDAQ index as “WBD.” Combined, the new company has roughly 36,000 employees and a big slice of both the entertainment and news industries.

Zaslav, at the helm of that new empire, has been the subject of glowing reporting.

“Hollywood is about to get a jolt of emotional intelligence,” CNBC extolled in a piece that included a series of generous quotes from Zaslav’s pals, including Lloyd Blankfein and Graydon Carter.

The CNBC story — it’s worth a read — mapped out Zaslav’s impressive career and how he rose to the top of the news and entertainment businesses, and what that means for the companies he now oversees.

He’s “a smooth operator with sharp people skills,” gushed Axios.

Zaslav has a lot on his plate. As all these reports have noted, the new company has roughly $55 billion in debt. And while Mediaite reported he spent Monday reassuring CNN talent and praising their Ukraine coverage, reports about the woes of CNN+ (see Loser column) will certainly attract the attention of the famously frugal executive.

Oh, and while we’re at it, we would be remiss not to mention Zaslav’s handsome pay package as the new emperor of news and Hollywood: $246 million per year.

CNN’s recently launched streaming service, CNN+, is already under fire for lackluster growth, according to a new Axios report out Tuesday.

Axios’ Sarah Fischer reports that CNN’s initially planned investment in the streaming service of $1 billion in its first four years is likely to be cut by the hundreds of millions “in response to a low adoption rate.”

CNN+’s distribution has been under scrutiny since its launch on March 29th. Insider reported on the streamer’s “small” impact on the CNN app’s overall downloads – CNN+ is wrapped up in the CNN app.

“Sensor Tower estimates that CNN app installs grew 33% to 70,000 in CNN+’s first six days compared to the prior six-day period,” notes an Insider report from last week, which argued CNN+ has “come out of the gate with more of a whimper than a bang.”

The streamer’s prospects may be looking up, however, as CNN+ was finally added to Roku on Monday – one of the country’s largest smart TV platforms.

“To date, around $300 million has been spent on the subscription service, which includes a sizable marketing investment,” notes Fischer of CNN’s investment in the streamer, $100 million of which was reportedly spent on a major ad blitz.

Fischer details the expectations of the streamer, writing that execs "originally expected to bring in around 2 million subscribers " in the first year. She adds that with the expected cut in funding, that will likely to be revised down.

A CNN spokesperson told Mediaite, “We continue to be happy with the launch and its progress after only two weeks.”

However, CNBC cited anonymous sources to report this morning that "fewer than 10,000 people are using CNN+ on a daily basis two weeks into its existence, according to people familiar with the matter."

That shocking number puts the Axios report in stark perspective. Even for such a new service, it would understatement to say the start has been inauspicious. It has been downright grim.