• by Wayne Friedman , July 18, 2023

Warner Bros. Discovery’s big upcoming “Shark Week” summer TV effort has pulled in new sponsors -- including Budweiser, Chili’s Grill & Bar, Domino’s, Mountain Dew, Long John Silver’s and University of Phoenix. 

Cross-platform marketing/advertising components include custom vignettes, tagged tune-ins, billboards and in-program messaging, as well as social-media campaigns across TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Returning sponsors this year include Gorilla Glue, PNC Bank, Sport Clips and Wayfair.

This year the 35-year-old “Shark Week” will air from Sunday, July 23 to Saturday, July 29 on Discovery Channel, and on WBD streamers Max and discovery+.

Shark Week 2023 will be hosted by Jason Momoa, with nearly 20 new hours of TV content -- three hours per night in prime-time Sunday through Friday, with two hours of prime time on Saturday.

A year ago, Discovery Channel’s heavy “Shark Week” -- also airing the last week in July -- helped to amass 2.2 billion in impressions from 5,750 commercial airings, an estimated $11.7 million in national TV ad revenue, according to EDO Ad EnGage. Results here include. all original and re-airs of its shark-based content.

The year before, from July 11, 2021 through July 18, 2021, Discovery Channel had 2.9 billion impressions and an estimated $13.1 million in national TV ad revenue.