In its
upfront ad presentation Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced a number of advanced advertising products for its streamer, Max.
Chief U.S. advertising-sales officer Jon Steinlauf said
these products include shoppable ads, advanced contextual targeting and new interactive video formats. These offerings are in addition to products and services that are already on the market.
Steinlauf said Max’s shoppable content ads will allow viewers to explore featured products during the show as well as find more ways to purchase.
Max will also get the benefit
of advanced contextual targeting, customizing advertiser messages to match the emotional tone of specific content moments -- along with targeting a special ad-break in the content, identifying the
ideal moment for that message.
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There will also be new interactive advertising formats: With "click-to-contact," viewers can actively engage with a brand -- to receive information, offers,
sweepstakes entries, and for direct conversations.
It will also provide brand-relevant trivia and poll ads for viewers, as well as the ability to offer viewers a choice to select the ad
that best matches their interests.
WBD says its shoppable and contextual solutions were built in partnership with Kerv.ai. Interactive ad formats were developed in partnership with
Brightline.
These products are in addition to its other advanced ad products -- including its InFront, Brand Block, Sequential and RE/FORM ads.
WBD
also said it would be expanding its Warner Bros. theatrical film sponsorships that come to Max.
This recently included "Wonka" with State Farm and AT&T as title sponsors; "Barbie"
sponsored by Olay, Adobe, AT&T and Shipt on Max when it started up late last year; and "The Color Purple" exclusively sponsored by Target.
First-quarter advertising revenue for Max grew
70% to $175 million in the year-ago period. TV network advertising revenue sank 11% to $1.99 billion from the year before.
By far, the biggest portion of WBD's direct-to-consumer (D2C)
revenues comes from Max and its subscription fees -- up 1% in the first quarter to $2.2 billion.
WBD says the Max ad-supported tier averages less than four minutes of ads per hour, and that the
Max ad-supported tier subscriber base doubled in the past two years. With regard to the latter, it did not disclose specific details.