Warner Bros. Discovery took the upfront stage final Wednesday amid a swirl of unknowns, together with the destiny of its NBA rights package deal, the way forward for the Venu sports activities streamer and the viability of its bundle alongside Disney.
Nonetheless, the corporate additionally made one factor notably clear: After a writers’ strike and a posh merger, WBD’s full potential is lastly changing into obvious.
Particularly, the media firm unveiled one of many strongest slates of content material of any tv community or streamer. The bonanza of forthcoming franchises—together with new seasons of Home of the Dragon, White Lotus and And Simply Like That—will hit Max in tandem with a bevy of blockbuster theatrical titles, resembling Dune 2, Furiosa, Wonka and Joker 2. New titles, together with The Penguin and The Sympathizer, add additional heft to the portfolio.
With such a “scorching hand,” as advert gross sales chief Jon Steinlauf calls it, WBD internally referred to its upfront final week because the IP Upfront, an opportunity for it to showcase these moments as alternatives for manufacturers to succeed in viewers throughout a second of heightened attentiveness.
ADWEEK’s post-upfront conversations (see Disney, TelevisaUnivision, Fox, and NBCU) proceed with Steinlauf, who informed us about WBD’s 2024 upfront occasion, the business alternatives obtainable with the corporate’s “Display screen to Stream” technique, and the backstory on how CNN landed the primary presidential debate dwell throughout its Wednesday morning presentation.
What had been the primary priorities, by way of messaging, that WBD wished to speak on the upfront?
It was cut up between the facility of our mental property and our superior promoting capabilities.
For my portion of the presentation, we wished [HBO Chairman and CEO] Casey Bloys to guide me as a result of Casey was going to speak in regards to the Authentic Sequence, which he did, and I used to be going to inform advertisers what they may do round that. I used to be additionally capable of decide up on the theatrical alternatives and fold them into that bigger dialog. What we’re providing advertisers—a possibility to sponsor theatrical releases and unique sequence once they debut on Max—is one thing we now have by no means performed earlier than.
