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Silicon Valley now holds more power over the entertainment industry than Hollywood, according to the billionarie media mogul Barry Diller.
Diller’s long career, which began in the mailroom of the William Morris talent agency, has seen him scale the heights of the Hollywood system, including a 10 year stint as the head of Paramount Pictures, from 1974 until 1984, where he oversaw the release of classic films like Grease and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The 82-year-old, who is the current chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group, also helped create Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network, greenlighting shows like The Simpsons and also established the QVC shopping channel.
Such is his vast wealth, which totals at a net worth of around $4.6bn, that he opened up his own public floating park in the Hudson River in New York City in 2021.
Now, with decades of wisdom under his belt, Diller is left with the belief that Hollywood’s hold over global entertainment is no more. “Netflix, Amazon and Apple are really the controllers of the worldwide film and television business,” he told The Financial Times.
Netflix, which now claims that its overall users consume more than 183 billion hours of content a year on its platform, is also expanding into sports broadcasting in the near future with the upcoming Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight but Diller fears their influence is having a detrimental affect when it comes to creativity.
“I will believe forever that creatively the best organisation for making content — movies, television, whatever — is a linear and narrow one,” he says.
“Meaning that it is not part of a giant conglomerate. It does not have any other activity [going on] other than deciding: what is the idea, what is going to be made.”
Diller also feels that the quality of content produced by the likes of Netflix should be overseen by the people at the top of organisations, but believes that it isn’t. He adds: “That is not something you can delegate. It should be your very being! The most senior person [at the company] should be on the line for the success or failure of their product.”
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In July, the media mogul made a surprise bid to take over Paramount that would have also given him control of brands like CBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon.
Diller withdrew the bid after being unable to compete with rival and eventual winner Skydance, owned by David Ellison, despite feeling “I thought I knew what to do with it.”
“I never think it’s a good thing to be in an auction with someone with a vastly better balance sheet than you,” he admits.
