A shifting TV panorama
In an earnings report in August, the corporate introduced a $9.1 billion non-cash impairment cost, or write-down, on its TV linear networks division. WBD can be presently combating the NBA over media rights, submitting a lawsuit towards the basketball league over what it known as an “unjustified rejection” of the corporate’s matching rights proposal.
Chatting with ADWEEK following WBD’s upfront presentation in Could, Steinlauf famous how the TV trade is altering and that digital could be massive transferring ahead.
“Issues have modified, and entrepreneurs are saying that in the event that they wish to wrap themselves round massive IP, they must look to the streaming universe to seek out these cultural moments,” Steinlauf stated. “Thankfully, between our theatricals and new unique collection, we’ve a scorching hand proper now.”
See Campbell’s full be aware to employees beneath:
All,
I’ve information to share that will come as a shock to a lot of you. After over 30 years at WBD and its predecessor firms, Discovery, Scripps, and Turner, our Chief U.S. Promoting Gross sales Officer Jon Steinlauf has determined to depart Warner Bros. Discovery later this yr.
Jon is without doubt one of the trade’s most revered and well-known advert gross sales executives and has had an unbelievable profession right here at WBD via the main mergers, transformations, and trade pivots. He’s been a crucial a part of our management on the firm, and somebody each David and I’ve come to depend on for a few years.
Jon turned well-known to us in 2018 when Discovery acquired Scripps Networks, the place he was Scripps’ president of advert gross sales, and helped make HGTV and Meals Community into a number of the strongest manufacturers in tv. He then led the mixed Scripps-Discovery gross sales group, managing one of the vital highly effective promoting portfolios in all of cable. Jon pulled off a hat trick with the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger by creating the advert gross sales group that WBD has right now – a money engine that drives such great worth for the corporate.
Jon additionally established the Max ad-supported gross sales enterprise final yr and led the group that’s now delivering double- and triple-digit progress on that platform. He additionally built-in sports activities and digital gross sales into the broader gross sales construction to create the One WBD portfolio we now supply to all our companies and purchasers.
We’re very grateful for all Jon has executed for us, and whereas supportive of his private need to hunt different instructions in his life and profession, we are going to clearly miss him.
