Supernatural’s Future: A Family Business
The Green Cooler’s recent article predicting future homes of Supernatural‘s reruns got me wondering about The WB’s company affiliations that dictate where and how we all enjoy Supernatural. So I did a little digging (and by little, I mean the Warner Bros. Discovery website and a very helpful summarization on Wikipedia) and discovered how the Warner Bros. organization is set to control Supernatural’s delivery to us in all it’s various shapes and sizes!
Bottom Line: Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.‘s (WBD) nine business units control Supernatural‘s original home (WB TV and part of The CW), Supernatural’s daily US reruns (TNT and international portals), probable streaming platform of the future (HBO Max), and DVD distribution for our in-home viewing pleasure (WB Home Entertainment). WBD also owns DC Comics, which controls Batman (Jensen’s dream character and Misha’s new series), and several movie studios that could produce a Batman (or other DC hero) movie. That’s a fortuitous coincidence, don’t you think? I created this simplistic company chart to make this easier to understand:
(Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American-based, international entertainment conglomerate, formed after the spin-off of Warner Media by AT&T, and Warner’s subsequent merger with Discovery, Inc. on April 8, 2022.)
Brand logos are probably more recognizable than the company names by themselves. This is only a third of their brand logos on the Warner Bros. Discovery website:
Warner Bros. Discovery International opens up many outlets to distribute Supernatural all over the world for second run syndication and streaming. HBO is also international, so it is conceivable that Supernatural could end up streaming on HBO or HBO Max in other countries until the US agreements change. According to my tracking of Supernatural’s current home OUSA (in the comments section of Green Cooler’s article), that move has already started happening. Supernatural will find some form of a streaming outlet no matter which country it airs, and in house is usually the preferred option each time.
Warner Bros. Discovery also owns a 25% stake in Fandango Media, which owns streaming service Vudu. If anyone has bought a DVD set recently and gotten digital copies of Supernatural episodes, those digital copies are housed on Vudu.
Supernatural makes money for Warner Bros. Discovery no matter when, where or how we watch it! It’s all part of the master plan, taking fully owned content and assuring a stream of revenue for years to come by spreading the income through as many internal divisions as possible, all which rolls up to the parent. It’s why various franchises constantly spinoff and are marketed for years, so the already established brand can stay viable for a long time. It’s one of the biggest ways these multi-media conglomerates make their money and they aren’t going to let any franchise go that adds to that success. Proving its value, Supernatural has been a continuously popular viewing choice on Netflix even after the series itself ended.
Cr to @khailmagno for bringing this to my attention on Twitter
So the future is bright for Supernatural reruns – and potentially reboots, spinoffs, and short run series – as long as the money keeps flowing throughout the WBD family business.
Please add your insights and business knowledge of this entertainment giant in the comments below!
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