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Indiana University Narrator
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Podcast Producer/Announcer
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio
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Interviewer Lisa
News I am here with Derek Chang. He is the CEO of Liberty Media, also sitting on the board of the Overs, Liberty Media's subsidiary that oversees Live Nation. Derek, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.
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Derek Chang, CEO of Liberty Media
Lisa, thanks for having me.
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Interviewer Lisa
So I want to start with the idea that everyone here is talking about scale, getting enough scale, merging up, particularly in the media space. You moved in the opposite direction last year, breaking up into a host of different entities. Can you talk about why you decided to do that?
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Derek Chang, CEO of Liberty Media
Well, I think if you look at Liberty Media over its history, it's had a history of sort of expansion, contraction. You know, we kind of go with the flow a little bit depending on, on what' circumstances are and what the market is, is, you know, asking for and what we think that we should be doing for our shareholders. So I don't think in this particular moment it was a specific strategy of where we're ultimately going on a, on a trail of, of just sort of getting smaller. It was clarifying and simplifying the structures and so delivering to shareholders sort of what assets they want in what places at this particular moment. But you know, over time we have had tracking stocks, we have spun out companies and now we're sort of back to a more SIMP by structure and it's really to provide that clarity for shareholders.
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Interviewer Lisa
So you oversee your two main properties at Liberty Media are Formula One and Moto gp, which is relatively new in the us Very big in Europe and Southeast Asia. I'm just wondering how you're thinking about a media strategy. You just signed this five year deal with Apple in terms of streaming rights. Is it the same between streaming and legacy cable networks? Is this sort of all the same at this point when it comes to sports licensing?
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Derek Chang, CEO of Liberty Media
Well, I think it's still depends on market, on what markets you're actually in. And so in a lot of markets like the US at this point, the streamers have a, you know, you just spoke about scale, a lot of scale. And I think that historically people said, oh, you got to be on a broadcast network, otherwise you're not going to have the reach. I don't think that's true anymore. And I think the deal that we did with Apple basically has shown that that is, you know, for us, Apple has, we've seen no real drop off in terms of viewership. And in fact engagement overall is higher than it was in the early sort of going here, the first three or four races that we've had this year. And I think what that speaks to is, is streaming platforms certainly in the US have reached a level of maturity and even beyond, you'd say, and you see it right now with sort of what's going on at the NFL, their recent deals that they're doing. So clearly it's part of sort of mainstream viewing habits and this whole concept, I think that people with the knock on streaming was also you don't. You lose sort of the sampling effect. And I think what you see with our deal deal with Apple is, is that people sample in different, go into an Apple Store or you watch other content that's on Apple TV or Apple Music or what they do with Apple Maps, which they did in the Miami race where they, they sort of created an apps, you know, integrated into Apple Maps with the stuff around the Miami race and that special content for that race. So you've got platforms now that because of the technology they have, because of their sort of an Apple's case singular focus on Formula one, the ability to actually expand your audiences in different ways than you ever have.
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Interviewer Lisa
Do you think that you're to move to a Netflix type of model that you did with F1 when it comes to MotoGP in the US where you have a TV series about it and you sort of broadcast it to popular consumption in a way to democratize exactly what it is?
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Derek Chang, CEO of Liberty Media
Well, I think what you're going to see with MotoGP is a lot of what we did with Formula One. There will be similar applications of that. So the biggest thing for us with Moto GP is how do you take the sport, which at its core is a very pure sport and a huge passionate fan base. And how do you. You expand that, how do you get more people engaged, whether it's in the US or worldwide? And I think you do that by telling a story and we haven't told. MotoGP has never really told that story. And you do that through riders. You do that through the action on the track and you do that sort of in multiple ways through content, through. Through fan activation at races, through the licensing partners and the sponsorship partners that you have. So I do think the content piece of this is a very important part. Whether you do a just like drive to survive, I don't know if that's necessarily going to happen because it's a different sport. And you want to remain authentic to your fan base and to the fans that you're trying to attract. So we will figure out things that we can do in and around MotoGP that sort of creates the same impact and making it available and making it accessible to as broad a fan base as possible.
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Interviewer Lisa
You also help to oversee Live Nation, the Alive Nation investment through the Liberty Board. And I'm curious from your perspective. Ticket prices are really expensive. Everyone talks about, everyone complains about it, that the inflation in ticket prices to go see events is incredibly high and then they still go. How do you understand the inflation at ticket prices, whether it's World cup and what's going on there, or whether it's basketball at Madison Square Garden and understand what's the right pricing? How do you do that strategy?
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Derek Chang, CEO of Liberty Media
Well, the reality is it's, it is simple supply and demand. And so I think what you're seeing is there's huge demand for live entertainment, live events. And you know, I see this through the Formula one lens where our paddock club is for the most part sold out through the, through the rest of the year. Here, the high end club, that's the high end, you know, ticket, tickets and hospitality that we offer. And I think there's just so much demand for these sorts of experiences that the reality is you could probably, you know, create multiples of, of availability and it's still going to sell. I don't know about, you know, the specific event, specific ticket pricing, strateg those, but I think ultimately what you're speaking to is, is there's just this demand, this pent up demand for live entertainment that, that you know, you continue to see despite the fact that there are a lot of different things that people can go to. But I think it's the allure of that and the appeal. And for different people it's different reasons, right? Some people go specifically for the racing, some people go for the racing and for the food, some people go for the racing and for the celebrities. Whatever it is, there's this just attraction and I think we're bringing that to the fans.
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Interviewer Lisa
Derek Chang, thank you so much for being with us. Derek Tang, CEO of Liberty Media.
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Podcast Producer/Announcer
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