Warner Bros. Discovery displayed its strong portfolio of brands at its annual Upfront event on Wednesday from The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Due to the continuing Writers Guild of America strike, however, the company chose to have none of its talent make in-person appearances at the event. Outside of the venue, members of the organization picketed in a show of expostulation as a result of the inability to reach a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
While some of its programming has undoubtedly been affected, the company is confident that it can continue to penetrate forward and bring audiences plenty of compelling and engaging content. Throughout the 90-minute presentation, the Max streaming service was at the forefront and a significant talking point for all of the company’s executives. It is the culmination of the merger between Warner Bros., Inc. and Discovery, Inc. last April, and a moment the company has been preparing for over the last year.
“Shared experiences and human connection fueled by can’t miss moments driving the cultural conversation. That’s what makes us different,” Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer at Warner Bros. Discovery, said. “We’re determined to capitalize on these differences, shake things up and take some big swings. That’s what it means to dream bold here.”
Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav was present at the event, but did not address the crowd and was instead merely acknowledged at its start. He and other attendees watched as Steinlauf shared how Max will augment the linear portfolio of the company, which boasts six of the top 10 cable networks including TNT, TBS, TLC, Discovery, Food Network, and HGTV.
On Sunday, May 9, the company earned a 59 audience share fueled by NBA and NHL playoff broadcasts. It has determined through research that its aggregate properties reach 90% of U.S. households monthly. Moreover, the company reaches 85% of adults age 25-54, and has 41 of the top 100 shows that drive online searches following an advertisement. The new WBD Stream digital video product suite will give advertisers the ability to integrate direct and programmatic marketplace campaigns throughout the company’s portfolio.
“WBD Stream represents a critical step forward in our journey to provide our advertising partners with simple, high-quality digital products that reach engaged and passionate audiences, wherever they choose to watch our content,” said Jim Kelly, Executive Vice President of Digital Ad Sales and Advanced Advertising for Warner Bros. Discovery in a statement. “This offering pairs well for partners advertising across our premium streaming services Max and discovery+ and extends advertisers’ incremental reach to connect with fervent fans who watch their favorite shows, series and sports, again and again.”
As it pertains to sports media, this type of innovation is significant because of the wide array of programming Warner Bros. Discovery plans to bring to consumers over the next calendar year. TNT is the exclusive home of the 2023 NBA Eastern Conference Finals and broadcast the first game of the series Wednesday night with an announcing team of Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Stan Van Gundy and Allie LaForce. The Emmy Award-winning studio program Inside the NBA will be on-site to cover the series, featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.
“Our secret sauce is our approach to production,” said Luis Silberwasser at his first Upfront as chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports. “We harness chemistry both in front of and behind the camera, and our shows are unique because we have the time and the resources to focus on quality over quantity.”
During the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, O’Neal’s “Shaq Cam” videos presented on Bleacher Report went viral and generated substantial engagement. As a result, O’Neal is expanding his partnership with the brand to create more “Shaq Cam” experiences next year. Combined with an unparalleled selection of audio and video distinctly tailored to digital platforms, including interview-based series with athletes Von Miller and Mookie Betts, NFL draft shows and immersive chat rooms, it seeks to shape the future of both content and consumer interaction in sports media.
This year, viewership for the NBA Playoffs on TNT is at its highest mark in nine years, including the most-viewed NBA Conference Semifinals since 2012. In fact, its telecast of Game 5 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors averaged 7.5 million viewers, making it the No. 1 television program of the day.
In addition to basketball, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports will broadcast the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in network history, concluding the second year of its seven-year media rights agreement with the NHL. Before that starts though, TNT will present the Eastern Conference Finals between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes with Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, Keith Jones and Jackie Redmond on the call. Studio coverage will be hosted by Liam McHugh, who will be joined by analysts Paul Bissonnette, Anson Carter, Wayne Gretzky and Henrik Lundqvist. Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper will serve as a guest analyst for Game 2 of the series. There will also be plenty of highlights disseminated across Bleacher Report’s Open Ice digital platform, reaching an expansive younger demographic.
“We maximize our sports rights across all the platforms to establish an emotional connection with fans, and we do it better than anyone else,” Silberwasser expressed, “through powerful storytelling, the most authentic talent and by embracing the intersection of sports and culture.”
Before turning the presentation over to a pre-recorded video from the cast of Inside the NBA, Silberwasser made mention of the network’s presentation of March Madness. Next year, TBS will be the home of the NCAA Men’s Final Four and National Championship Game, fostering more unforgettable and captivating play sports fans will not want to miss. Both Smith and Barkley said that they enjoy March Madness the most out of all events the network presents each year, evidenced by Barkley’s reaction when Villanova won the tournament in 2016.
“It’s special,” O’Neal said regarding how it feels to win a championship. “[It’s] special for your family, for your teammates [and] for the city. To finally get to the top of the apex is a great feeling.”
“It’s a culmination of your work, not from that moment, but from many moments,” Smith added. “It’s almost a reflective kind of feeling.”
Prior to the start of college basketball season though, TBS will present Major League Baseball postseason games, including the National League Division Series and National League Championship Series. Throughout the regular season, TBS presents 26 Tuesday night MLB games, including postseason rematches and battles between rivals. Its lead broadcast team features Brian Anderson, Ron Darling and Lauren Shehadi, with in-studio contributions from Jimmy Rollins, Pedro Martínez and Curtis Granderson among others.
Just a few weeks before the MLB All-Star Game, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports will present its eighth iteration of Capital One’s The Match from Wynn Las Vegas, featuring Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs vs. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
There will be more information regarding the presentation of the event disclosed at a later date, but previous editions have made use of drone cameras, open microphones and comprehensive digital coverage. The Match is played and presented for a good cause, raising over $35 million for philanthropic organizations and donating over 27 million meals to Feeding America.
The Inside the NBA cast accentuated the importance of advertisers and their partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports to ensure the brand can continue cultivating new content and engaging sports fans, blending tradition with innovation. Each part of the presentation promulgated the new and enhanced Max streaming service, set to launch next Tuesday, May 23.
“I asked Shaq one day and I said, ‘Hey man. You’ve got a lot of endorsements. How do you do it?,’” Smith said. “He said, ‘No Kenny, I have a lot of partnerships.’ He said, ‘When you look at it as a partnership, you’re going to give them ideas. You’re going to get feedback and then you’re going to create something great.’ I learned a piece of business from him, and I think as what we are, we are great partners.”
“No disrespect to Kenny – me and Shaq are in a position [where] we can pick and choose what we want to do,” added Barkley, offering a moment of levity to the packed crowd. “I’ve turned down some things. Both Shaq and myself are so lucky that we get a lot of endorsements, but it’s always going to be stuff I truly believe in.”
In addition to his role on Inside the NBA, Barkley will be teaming up with CBS News journalist Gayle King for a new weekly prime time show titled King Charles. In a prerecorded video, Barkley’s colleagues offered alternative names for the program, along with advice for King on how to best work with him. It will feature a new on-screen look with a revamped graphics package across CNN, one that network CEO Chris Licht referred to as a “long overdue makeover.”
“We’re all excited for the debut of King Charles later this year, and you can always expect the unexpected with those two,” Silberwasser said. “It is such a great example of harnessing the strength of the WBD portfolio to create compelling new content.”
What was arguably a presentation devoid of new programming and sports news had a big finish when All Elite Wrestling unveiled its third television show titled AEW: Collision. The two-hour, live program will air on Saturdays from 8 to 10 p.m. EST and premiere on Saturday, June 17, making it the first time a Turner network will feature Saturday night wrestling in over two decades.
“We’re doubling-down on wrestling with AEW: Collision, which gives fans two more hours every week,” said Jason Sarlanis, President, Turner Networks, ID and HLN, linear and streaming in a statement. “AEW’s roster of talent has expanded so quickly that we felt it needed another night to bring our audience the epic rivalries, unforgettable matches and stars they love to watch. Adding Collision to our programming mix on TNT will allow us to satisfy the massive demand we’ve felt from our hardcore fanbase and be the ultimate complement to AEW: Dynamite on TBS.”
Through its professional sports rights, digital brands and additional entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports aspires to continue pushing boundaries and redefining what it means to consume live sports. Just how it will be implemented in the Max streaming service remains to be seen, but it will ostensibly continue to operate with consumer affinity at the forefront centered around exhibiting some of the best athletes and talent sports media has to offer.
“How do we measure success?,” Silberwasser rhetorically asked. “By our ability to create value for our partners and, importantly, serve the sports fan. It’s as simple as that.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
