• by Wayne Friedman , July 31, 2023

Warner Bros. Discovery is restructuring its U.S. ad sales operations. 

WBD will be reducing its headcount by around 20 to 30 executives, according to media executives.

A year ago around this time, the U.S.-based TV network and digital platform company also had a major restructuring that included some senior executive departures, including Katrina Cukaj and Laura Dames.

The company is close to wrapping its upfront advertising-sales negotiations and will offer more details during its Thursday earnings call, according to executives close to the company.

The main goal of the restructuring is to give agency holding company teams “direct access to Warner Bros. Discovery’s entire portfolio of brands, including lifestyle, entertainment, sports, news and streaming under one umbrella,” according to a company release.

“This new structure will allow us to deliver what matters most for all – creating a single and seamless interface into the full world of WBD,” says Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales Officer, Warner Bros. Discovery, in a release.

Two of WBD's executive vice presidents of advertising/partnership sales --Marybeth Strobel and Greg Regis, will oversee the top six holding companies -- Publicis, GroupM and Horizon Media with Regis and Omnicom, Magna and Dentsu with Strobel.  

-- Jon Diament, executive vice president of sports advertising sales, will continue to oversee WBD’s Sports portfolio -- which has over 100 clients who are official partners of the NBA, NCAA, MLB and NHL.

-- Ryan Gould will take on a new role heading up all things digital -- including Max, discovery+, WBD Stream and CNN digital. He’ll also oversee advanced advertising, programmatic sales and data strategy.

-- Sheereen Russell will take on leadership of a new client partnerships team across the linear and digital platforms, and also work with theatrical, distribution, gaming and licensing.

-- Laura Galietta will continue to lead integrated advertising-sales marketing across all digital and linear platforms and genres.

-- Also continuing in his role, Robert Voltaggio will head up advertising sales revenue, planning and operations for all U.S. Networks and digital platforms.

-- Andrea Zapata will also remain in her role -- overseeing ad sales research, measurement, data and insight. Her duties will also include marketplace intelligence, category, client insights, and outcome-focused research for clients. This also includes data-driven linear, addressable and convergence work.