WBD Upfront: New Advanced Ad Products For Max, Film Sponsorship Push

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.
1 comment about "WBD Upfront: New Advanced Ad Products For Max, Film Sponsorship Push".
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  1. Darrin Stephens from McMann & Tate, May 15, 2024 at 2:26 p.m.

    The broadcast and cable networks have been pitching this idea for decades. No one is actually interested, but it's proof that you can fool some of the people all of the time.

    I already hear the cries of, "But it's different this time!" 

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