Randall Stephenson on media industry decline
From Randall Stephenson, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T · · Boston College Chief Executives Club
“Media companies at least the older media company set Netflix and Google and Amazon aside for a moment the media companies don't know who their end-user customers are they have no relationship with them they don't know what they're watching they don't know when they're watching it and where they are when they're watching it this this is just that they're they're selling their content to others who then distribute to their customers Direct TV we own a Direct TV we know who's watching TNT when they're watching etc Time Warner does not know that so think about pairing distribution with the media and the media companies are in decline because they don't know who is watching their content and as a result what's happening to advertising revenues people are saying it's too expensive and we don't have any way to target the advertising so they're going to Google they're going to Facebook and as a result you look at the advertising industry roughly a hundred percent of all advertising growth is those two companies and while traditional media advertising is in decline but we actually happen to think that if one could pair the knowledge of the customer that a distribution company has with a media company you could drive a lot of value to a media company we actually think this is a very powerful opportunity”
On , Randall Stephenson, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at AT&T, spoke about media industry decline during Randall Stephenson, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T on Boston College Chief Executives Club.
About Randall Stephenson
Randall Stephenson, former chairman and CEO of AT&T, has spoken publicly about the company's strategy regarding its proposed merger with Time Warner, 5G technology, and broader economic policy. In 2016 testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Stephenson argued that the merger would benefit consumers by providing more choices and lower-priced options, and he stated that AT&T would not withhold Time Warner content to disadvantage competitors. He also said that AT&T had been the largest investor in the United States for five consecutive years and that he expected that to continue. At the 2019 FinTech Ideas Festival, Stephenson discussed the potential of 5G networks, stating that the technology would enable precise location tracking of devices within centimeters, which he said could change how authentication and identity are handled in digital transactions. Stephenson has also addressed social and political issues. In a 2018 interview, he discussed a 2016 speech he gave to AT&T employees about Black Lives Matter, saying he was glad it went viral because it initiated conversations about race within the company and among other CEOs. On economic policy, he stated in 2016 that a 2% growth rate was "unacceptable" and called for tax reform and the approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to stimulate growth. He also noted that regulatory and tax policies had influenced AT&T's investment decisions, including its expansion into Mexico.