The film industry has witnessed rapid growth for our love for entertainment. From the film studios to the movie theatres, from the orchestras to the operas, everything has bloomed over the past century. Every business has its ups and downs, but the annual revenue of the entertainment industry is rather hefty. Moreover, the pandemic has opened a huge slot of making money for the modern ways of entertainment, that is, the internet. The video streaming websites are having far more visitors during this lockdown than ever. Among these famous websites like Netflix and YouTube, Hulu has quite a remarkable journey. Founded in 2007, Hulu’s majority is owned by Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International. Jason Kilar founded the company along with five other founding executives and he became the CEO of Hulu in late 2007. John Stankey, CEO of WarnerMedia announced that Jason Kilar will be replacing him as the new CEO effective 1st May 2020.
Early Life of Jason Kilar
Born in Pittsburgh, Jason went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989. He acquired a double major in journalism and business administration and later went to Harvard Business School. After completing his bachelor’s, Jason worked as an Analyst at The Walt Disney Company for two years. He graduated from Harvard in 1997.
Career Life
In 1997, he joined Amazon as Director of Retail and left the company in 2006 after his post as Senior Vice President. Next year, Jason founded Hulu and became the CEO of the company. He also co-founded Vessel and served as its CEO for four years. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors for Univision Communications Inc, Opendoor, Habitat for Humanity International, and Wealthfront Inc.
New Responsibilities
As a grave position of responsibility is passed to a person with lucrative former experience, both the company and the audience embark on a new journey. For the starters, Jason’s responsibility will start with launching the ad-supportive HBO Max and making it a hit. But, Jason has said he would prefer sitting at the backseat while praising the work of Bob Greenblatt, CEO of WarnerMedia Entertainment and Director to Consumer.
Given what are the consequences of the global pandemic, the timing to welcome the new CEO of WarnerMedia is a bit odd. Movie theatres are closed for over a month, the advertising market is collapsing and negativity is winding up. So, to lighten up the mood in the room, Jason will just order pizzas and drinks for the team members of the project. And, he will give the liberty to take decisions and support them for the commendable work they have done so far.
Leadership at Hulu
Jason had shown an immense sense of responsibility and leadership at Hulu which has brought him here today. It is believed that the main reason for Hulu’s success is its smooth user experience. Hulu always had an easy and clean user interface with less load of advertising. And, most users found it very appealing although many media partners criticized it.
Jason understands how the approach of a website can change the preference for the users. For years, he has been dealing with customers in this industry. So, he always prefers establishing a trustworthy relationship with the audience and listen to their feedback carefully. Because, at the end of the day, the company is selling its product to the global audience. So, if any new invention or changes are amended, it should be for their better experience.
Future Goals
Jason has also spoken of the future planning for the company. According to him, the world has started becoming a fan of VOD. In a population of approximately 7.5 billion, only 200 million users pay for video services. So, the platform for video streaming has only started gaining popularity, and it has to go way too far. Jason also plans to invest in the right technology.
For the time being, the industry has taken a pause and it will bounce back hard after the novel coronavirus crisis. He also says that a pandemic like this will bring changes in the mentality of the customers. So, they have to play accordingly as well. The consumer behavior will change in the next ten years which will bring significant changes to how WarnerMedia thinks today.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more