With Discovery completing its acquisition of WarnerMedia, the two companies' scheduled upfronts are being combined into a single event next month.
The first Warner Bros. Discovery upfront will be held during the week once reserved for the broadcast networks’ presentations on May 18 at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden — about four weeks after the transaction closed.
With HBO Max having launched an ad supported version earlier this year, it will be the first time the HBO brand has been presented to advertisers at the upfront. Discovery Plus, Discovery’s direct-to-consumer product also has a light-ads version that will be offered to media buyers.
Other Warner Bros. Discovery brands include the Turner Networks, TNT, TBS and truTV; Discovery’s channels, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, TLC, ID and OWN; and CNN.
The announcement about the unified upfront came from Jon Steinlauf, the Discovery ad sales head last week named chief U.S. advertising sales officer for Warner Bros. Discovery.
In 2018, Steinlauf had to pull together a similar last-minute combined upfront when Scripps Networks Interactive, where he headed ad sales, was acquired by Discovery.
The upfront will also feature Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports properties and the two companies’ advanced advertising products. ■
