Heated Rivalry is pumping up book sales, too.
The HBO Max series (a Canadian import from the Crave service) has propelled sales for the Game Changers book series (including the namesake title), from author Rachel Reid. HarperCollins holds the publishing rights, and revealed in its fiscal second quarter earnings Thursday that revenue at the book publisher soared 6 percent to a new record of $633 million.
“The core creative value of our books was highlighted by the continuing success of our Wicked collection and the stunning sales of Heated Rivalry, which inspired the steamy streaming series,” News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson told Wall Street analysts on the company’s earning call. “Ice hockey stereotypes are melting away as players pursue each other, and a puck.”
Of course, gay hockey romance novels and musical inspirations weren’t the only driver for the publisher (Thomson also called out “particularly strong growth in our faith segment as readers searched for meaning amidst the contemporary chaos”) but it’s hard to ignore the pop cultural phenomenon of the program. Looking ahead, he predicted strong sales for new Bridgerton titles alongside the release of the Netflix series, and the first book from Pope Leo this summer.
Overall, News Corp. beat expectations, with revenue of $2.36 billion, a 6 percent increase compared to $2.24 billion in the prior year, and net income from continuing operations in the quarter of $242 million.
For Thomson, AI was top of mind, and he used the call to outline his thoughts on the topic, as only he could.
“It is clear that expectations of AI’s impact are evolving, and that the more perceptive players have come to realize that provenance is paramount and that our proprietary content is valuable,” Thomson said. “Let us be clear, Anthropic has already agreed to pay $1.5 billion for using pirated books. We and our authors at HarperCollins naturally expect to receive our fair share of that payout starting later this calendar year.”
“What is the point of acquiring cutting edge semiconductors if they are being deployed to repurpose gormless, feckless, feckless content sets. What is the point of spending billions on energy generation when that energy is powering the prosaic not the profound?” the News Corp chief added. “We do believe an increasing number of insightful AI creators understand this content contradiction, and will indeed pay a premium for our premium content. AI companies must provide meaningful services with reliable, relevant, contemporary information, not biased bilge or retrospective rubbish. Ignoring the obvious need to fund fecundity will mean that AI stands for artificial intransigence.”
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