Warner Bros. Discovery Closes Upfront With Nearly 50% Volume Growth

  Rassegna Stampa, Social
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Warner Bros. Discovery has wrapped its TV upfront talks, the company confirmed during its second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

During the call, CEO David Zaslav said streaming service Max’s volume grew by almost 50% as clients saw value in its upscale and younger-skewing audience as well as sponsorship opportunities in Max’s programming like the third season of The White Lotus.

Zaslav said the company’s linear revenue also saw strong sports pricing and double-digit volume growth led by increased demand from their coverage of March Madness, Major League Baseball, NBA, the NHL, and the Stanley Cup finals. Newer sports programming like NASCAR and the French Open also drove growth.

The company did not address or share CPMs (or the cost to reach 1,000 viewers) during the earnings call.

Zaslav also noted that the studio business with films like Twisters is strong, which he said is still in the midst of what will be a “multi-year turnaround.”

Warner Bros. Discovery joins NBCU, Fox, Disney, and TelevisaUnivision in closing their upfronts.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $9.1 billion non-cash impairment charge, or write-down, on its TV linear networks division. However, the company’s streaming business saw some minor gains and ended the quarter with $240 million in streaming advertising revenue.

Additionally, WBD announced that it’s taking legal action against the NBA after the league chose to go with Amazon for its massive 11-year media rights deal, despite WBD saying it had matched the streamer’s offer.

The company also has a new sports offering coming in the fall with its joint venture for Venu Sports with Disney and Fox.

The upfront news comes at a tumultuous time for Warner Bros. Discovery. The company recently announced layoffs that affected nearly 1,000 people.

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