Goldman Sachs Talks

Peter Chernin, The Future Of Digital Entertainment

In this episode, filmed at Goldman Sachs’ Builders + Innovators Summit, media executive Peter Chernin discusses the evolution of digital entertainment and how the business continues to adapt for a changing consumer.

On the competition for consumers: “I’m a big believer in try[ing] to think about where consumers are being underserved.… I think there’s one huge chokepoint in the whole thing right now, which is curation, recommendation. I think there is so much stuff out there and I think consumers are wildly underserved…. It’s not money that’s the scarce commodity in that sense, because Netflix is a great bargain. It’s time. It’s how do you figure out what is worth my two hours tonight?”

On brand identity in a digital world: “Branding is certainly enormously important.  I think that… the really interesting challenge from… a digital perspective right now is the balance between customer acquisition, marketing dollars and brand marketing dollars. In general, I think most certainly nascent digital brands are better off spending most of their money on customer acquisition marketing…. So, the brand is hugely important, but I’m not sure I would be marketing it.”