Skydance Media LLC founder and chief executive David Ellison expects to establish a tech-media hybrid company with their $28 billion merger deal with US media giant Paramount Global amid Hollywood’s efforts to garner an audience against major tech firms participating in the space.
Ellison stated that it is important for the New York-based conglomerate to further its technological capabilities to become a media and tech enterprise, considering the significant number of tech companies currently racing to tap into the entertainment industry’s potential.
Achieving such a goal will require introducing some changes to Paramount’s streaming platform, Paramount+, particularly its user recommendation algorithm and advertising tech functions, according to Ellison.
The Skydance boss aims to see Paramount+ become profitable, and modifying its algorithmic engine should improve the platform’s average user time and content execution.
The upgrade could help decrease the churn rates or subscription lapses, while stepping up the ad tech capabilities may provide marketers further insights into the type of audiences they are promoting their products and services to.
The son of Oracle Corp. co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) Larry Ellison also pitched using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to ramp up content creation, fuel production efficiencies, and simplify operations.
Ellison Combining Art and Technology in Skydance
Ellison’s tech scion status has reportedly contributed to the merger securing approval from Paramount non-executive chairwoman Shari Redstone.
Redstone, a controlling shareholder of the entertainment company, allegedly said Skydance worked to team up with Paramount because of its achievements over the years. She added that Ellison’s media firm has the means to utilize the CBS television network owner’s competitive advantages to lead it to success.
Ellison said Skydance Animation had partnered with Oracle to set up the “studio in the cloud”, which partly produced Netflix Inc.’s animated movie, “Spellbound,” due to be released on November 22.
The move helped the firm shore up efficiency and cut costs, according to him. They plan to expand the cloud-based animation business across their production workflows and use AI to potentially improve creativity and competency.
Ex-NBCUniversal Media LLC Jeff Shell shared Ellison’s sentiment, saying animation would be vital to Paramount’s feature slate.
Shell, who will be appointed president of the merged entity, also stated that Ellison is well-suited to guide the entertainment sector’s technological transformation, considering his experiences in scriptwriting, acting, and coding. He expects Ellison to uncover Paramount’s new identity.
