NEW YORK—During its upfront presentation, Gain Warner Bros. Discovery announced WBD Stream, a new, unified digital video offering for advertisers that is designed to help the company tap into the shift of ad dollars to streaming and unveiled a new dedicated Client Partnerships and Inclusive Solutions Team to help advertisers build custom solutions that resonate with multicultural audiences.
The new WBD Stream offering provides advertisers seamless access to the most popular and premium content across Warner Bros. Discovery’s portfolio of sports, lifestyle, entertainment, and news, including the websites and apps of top brands like Bleacher Report, Food Network, TNT, Animal Planet, ID and HGTV.
The company said using WBD Stream partners can easily activate direct and programmatic marketplace (PMP) campaigns on mobile, desktop, and Connected Television (CTV) reaching 110 million adults each month.
“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 Keller, executive vice president, digital ad sales and advanced advertising, Warner Bros. Discovery. “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.”
WBD Stream includes digital inventory from owned and operated sites and apps, as well as through third-party partnerships with the use of dynamic ad insertion. For greater impact, advertisers can utilize audience targeting with the option to leverage their own data or select from Warner Bros. Discovery’s robust catalog of 140 audience segments. WBD Stream is sold separately from advertising for Max and discovery+.
At launch, WBD Stream will run across all OTT modalities, including mobile web and apps (iOS and Android), desktop, web, and CTV apps.
The Client Partnerships and Inclusive Solutions Team will help clients build custom solutions for marketers that resonate with multicultural audiences who are key to profitability including Black, Hispanic, AAPI and LGBTQ+ audiences. The team sits within the Warner Bros. Discovery Advertising Sales organization and is led by Sheereen Russell, executive vice president of ad sales and inclusive solutions, who reports directly to chief U.S. advertising sales officer, Jon Steinlauf.
The Client Partnerships and Inclusive Solutions team seeks to pair marketers with impactful opportunities across the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio of diverse voices, faces, creators and stories to reach multicultural consumers, with tentpole events, brands and talent, including CNN’s Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom; the HBCU Legacy Classic; coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup; OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network; Jennifer Hudson; Aarón Sánchez; Trixie Mattel; and more.
The team also offers sponsorships of year-round cultural moments through programming and streaming content hubs tied to Black History Month, Pride, AAPI Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Women’s History Month.
Additionally, the team is committed to pursuing equity, partnering with and investing in diverse owned and operated creative teams that provide reach and scale across best-in-class, quality programming, the company reported.
“Championing inclusion is a Warner Bros. Discovery Guiding Principle, and our sales organization is committed to creating opportunities that not only drive that initiative for our company, but also for our partners,” said Steinlauf. “I am proud of the innovative solutions we are offering clients to integrate their brands into our inclusive content while reaching critical growth segments and meeting their business objectives around Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.”
“As our team meets with marketers, it is clear to us that brands are seeking innovative ways to reach multicultural consumers, and our Client Partnerships and Inclusive Solutions offering is specifically designed to help clients achieve their marketing and sales goals in intentional and meaningful ways,” said Russell. “We know that reaching diverse consumer audiences is not just good for business, but critical for brands’ continued evolution and growth.”
