If you want a higher-level executive position in the business of media and technology, you must be able to respond to tough questions from equity analysts in a way that doesn't deliver a straightforward answer, but nonetheless offers something vaguely provocative and which keeps the discussion moving slooowly forward. They won't let you on an earnings call without that skill.
As for Andy Forssell, executive VP and general manager of HBO Max, he was asked on Twitter by prominent Lightshed Partners principal Rich Greenfield why HBO Max is encouraging customers to pay $149.99 for a full year of service by offering four free movie tickets for WarnerMedia's upcoming reboot of The Matrix.
Since the full-year offer represents a 16% discount from the monthly $14.99 price of ad-free HBO Max, Greenfield wondered if WarnerMedia and HBO Max are worried about churn.
Forssell, a grizzled veteran who's logged plenty of hours over center, responded Wednesday morning, acknowledging that it's a "challenge" for "external observers" like Greenfield--and the rest of us!--to understand the machinations behind HBO Max's go-to-market strategy.
And frankly, it still is.
"We're constantly doing many tests in parallel (volume would surprise you) of so many kinds of offers--really wide ranging, otherwise you don't learn fast enough or broadly enough," Forssell tweeted back, before asking Greenfield if he took advantage of the price discount. (He said he did.)
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