Within the 25 years MarketWatch has been reporting on enterprise and finance, Jeffrey Katzenberg has helped reshape Hollywood. He cofounded DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, produced the smash animation hit Shrek, and ran DreamWorks Animation, which made blockbusters like Madagascar.
Not all the things Katzenberg tried panned out. His massive wager on short-form streaming platform Quibi famously tanked. However Katzenberg typically has learn on the place the media and leisure enterprise goes, in addition to expertise normally.
As MarketWatch turns 25, we wished to ask Katzenberg for his five-year outlook on showbusiness and different areas he’s centered on, like cybersecurity. He’s at the moment backing cybersecurity startup Aura. Listed below are his flippantly edited feedback.
What alternatives do you see right now that you simply assume is perhaps extra clear in 5 years?
Katzenberg: While you look out over the subsequent 5 years and take into consideration what’s sooner or later, I’m going to return 5 years to form of make that prediction. For those who take a look at the final 5 years, the impression of digital expertise on each aspect of our lives, together with MarketWatch, has been spectacular. It has impacted each aspect of our enterprise lives, our private lives, our social lives. What is going to occur within the subsequent 5 years will probably be by an element better than the previous 5 years. So the speed of innovation and impression, I feel, will probably be extra dazzling going ahead than it’s going backwards. And going backwards, you’ll say, it has been fairly breathtaking.
What do you concern that you simply is perhaps studying in MarketWatch within the subsequent 5 years?
The factor I concern, it’s in our enterprise, it’s in our social world, it’s in our political world, is simply the weaponization of communication and the deterioration of truth. If we are able to’t have a basis of what’s and isn’t truth, I don’t understand how we keep collectively as a civilization. So while you speak about that, that’s why one thing like MarketWatch is crucial and invaluable. And let’s simply agree first on what’s truth and isn’t truth, after which we are able to go from there.
What alternatives do you see right now in films and leisure particularly?
I don’t assume you may take a look at the film and TV-streaming panorama right now and truly be predictive of the subsequent 5 years. The explanation for that’s that I feel that is nonetheless form of the middle of the storm. We’re in a really transformative, tectonic, shifting second for the patron. I truly don’t imagine the patron has but discovered what’s that steadiness by way of, the place the worth is for them, both of their residence, on the go, on their system, or in an out-of-home expertise. And people are all a part of that ecosystem. And so we’re on a rollercoaster. So you might sit right here and discuss concerning the demise of moviegoing in film theaters. After which I might say, ‘nice, we’ll go see Prime Gun: Maverick.’ And that can immediately, I feel, present the fallacy of that concept. Or watch Home of Dragons and see the tv continues to be an simple expertise. It’s the pleasure of having the ability to have a water cooler second round that on each Monday morning, which is extremely thrilling.
What alternatives do you see right now in cybersecurity that is perhaps extra obvious within the subsequent 5 years?
Cybersecurity is to me one of many lanes in which there’s nice readability concerning the subsequent 5 years. What that readability is, is that we’re all turning into increasingly weak, and due to this fact, our wants develop into increasingly important. There’s better theft from our digital lives right now than there may be theft and housebreaking. It already surpassed it 18 months in the past and continues to now speed up and outgrow it considerably. Why? As a result of if I come to your private home and I break into your private home it is rather excessive threat. And what’s the reward? Some shopper electronics, TV, laptop, just a little bit of bijou, just about no money. If I break into your telephone and I get entry as to whether it’s your credit score, your checking account, your Social Safety, the injury that may be executed and is being executed to folks every single day is extraordinary and rising. And in order we develop into increasingly related and extra of our lives exist on these digital gadgets. Cybersecurity doesn’t develop into a nice-to-have. It is going to develop into essential. So 5 years from now, I feel that enterprise will probably be explosive. It’s world. It’s not distinctive to the U.S. or anyplace. Everyone across the globe requires it.
What do you concern you’ll be studying about cybersecurity?
I don’t know since I feel we’re ambitiously and aggressively tackling it. I’d wish to be optimistic moderately than fearful that we (Aura) are an answer and we’re a really viable one. Possibly the reply is, if we might be to shopper security and safety for the household what Netflix
NFLX,
or Disney
DIS,
is for our media and leisure, which isn’t a vital, by the way in which, it’s a great-to-have, it’s a love-to-have, nevertheless it’s not essential. Whereas my argument is your cybersecurity is definitely going to be a need-to-have.
What do you concern you’ll be studying concerning the leisure trade?
I don’t concern for the leisure trade. I’m fairly optimistic about it. There’s by no means been extra content material being made. There’s by no means been extra content material being consumed. What just isn’t clear is the steadiness, or actually simply what’s the greatest shopper combine and expertise, of what we watch at residence, what we watch on our gadgets on the go, and what we’ll exit to a movie show to expertise. And so all of these issues, and whether or not it’s streaming or cable or, you realize, broadcast, all of these issues are in flux. To the purpose the place I don’t know how you can be predictive of what it seems to be like 5 years from now, apart from there will probably be nice alternatives and there will probably be huge winners. And it doesn’t imply they’re huge losers as a result of it’s not a zero sum recreation. There could be many, many winners. There are simply going to be winners at totally different scales and totally different sizes and with totally different ambitions. Apple’s ambition by way of what they’re doing within the leisure area is singular and distinctive. It’s model constructing they usually’re doing an excellent job, however they’re not taking a look at that funding. Neither is anyone investing in Apple
AAPL,
due to Apple TV+. That’s not there. It’s the ecosystem that it’s. All boats inside that system are rising. With that model constructing that’s happening. That’s not what anyone else is doing. So how do you examine that to, Warner Discovery
WBD,
or Netflix? You possibly can’t, it’s apples and submarines. They don’t have anything in frequent.