This week, MiC has enlisted execs from the Canadian media industry to offer their insights on the big programming and advertising announcements coming out of the 2024 Upfronts in New York. Today, Jeremy Johnston, director, activations for PHD, reports on Warner Bros. Discovery’s pitch to advertisers.
With media buyers and planners looking to find the right mix of content, planning and data to move audiences and drive results, there has a been a mix of excitement and uncertainty at this year’s upfront events.
The theme of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)’s upfront was “Make It Happen Here,” underlining the company’s ability to combine its programming and marketing solutions for advertisers. The company introduced “One WBD,” a system that lets advertisers take advantage of all of the company’s assets, from streaming and linear networks to movies and licensing.
Building off the success of this model to amplify partnerships across Barbie, Wonka and The Color Purple, the company is striving to push upcoming releases that advertisers can activate around. With a slate of new releases coming this year – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Beetlejuice, Mindcraft and DC’s Superman – WBD is confident that it is in the place to be once again.
WBD also announced that it has finally ordered a Dune prequel series, sharing a first-look teaser for the show, titled Dune: Prophecy. Slated for a fall premiere, the series’ first season consists of six episodes, which is on the low end for an original scripted series.
It also claimed to have the most powerful creators of unscripted content across platforms and places, saying that they draw the biggest collective audience in cable. WBD is also trying to make things easier for consumers, announcing it would offer its streaming services — Max, Disney+ and Hulu — together, marking the first streaming bundle of major services (in the U.S.). The two companies, along with Fox, are also working on a sports streaming joint venture.
Along with this joint venture WBD announced a new tool to help agencies and advertisers named Olli. It’s a platform designed to help advertisers reach their core markets wherever they are going for entertainment, whether it’s on linear or digital. This is a first-party platform that combines data and audience insights to help advertisers better identify when and what their core audiences are watching.
CNN CEO Mark Thompson revealed his strategy for the news network, stating that “no news brand on Earth is in a better place to deliver all of those things than CNN.” Its plan is to double down on news on the all-news channel.
Looking to capitalize on the strength of sports and sports programing, the network is also launching Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants, which will follow the Daniel Jones-led New York Giants organization as the team prepares for its highly anticipated 100th season.
With that, WBD sports chief Luis Silberwasser addressed the fate of the NBA on TNT as chatter continues to focus on new basketball deals at NBC and Amazon, potentially edging WBD out. But the NBA remains a critical part of the TNT Sports strategy. To emphasize its importance, the WBD upfront ended with Shaquille O’Neal chatting with Conan O’Brien — and displaying his importance to advertisers via his endorsement deals.
