➤ Warner Bros. Discovery has all but sold out its expanded coverage of NBA All-Star Weekend, with alternative telecasts and content enabling brands to reach audiences beyond linear.
➤ The company is seeing high demand from advertisers for its live sports content across all leagues.
➤ The company is enjoying strong sales during its third season of NHL coverage, as the puck sport draws brands to an audience that includes many young and upscale viewers.
With the 2024 Super Bowl in the books, basketball and hockey are taking center stage for many US sports fans. Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is heading into a busy stretch with the NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis from Feb. 16–18, March Madness, the 2024 MLB season, and the upcoming NHL and NBA playoffs.
S&P Global Market Intelligence recently caught up with Jon Diament, executive vice president of ad sales at Warner Bros. Discovery. Diament discussed the NBA All-Star Weekend, which features a host of alternate content on truTV (US), streaming service Max and X (formerly Twitter). The additional content comes alongside the simulcasts of the Saturday night events and game telecasts on TNT (US) and TBS (US). Diament also assessed the company's sales positions with its other various sports properties. An edited transcript follows.
S&P Global Market Intelligence: How are sports ad sales at Warner Bros. Discovery?
 Jon Diament, executive vice president of ad sales at Warner Bros. Discovery Source: Warner Bros. Discovery. |
Jon Diament:
Are we going to see a lot of advertisers from the Super Bowl?
You are. They don't always promise that it will be the same ad. It may be new, or perhaps a different version themed to an NBA flavor. We have 12 Super Bowl advertisers, including Anheuser-Bush, DoorDash Inc., Alphabet Inc., Pepsi, State Farm and T-Mobile US Inc. This is kind of a new area to look at, but with the proximity and popularity of the two events, it makes sense.
This year, more than ever, brands spent a lot of money to secure the time and allocated a lot to production, on talent, on celebrities. They want to maximize their investments. NBA All-Star Weekend is the next biggest thing in February compared to the Super Bowl. [Editor's note: 30-second spots in CBS (US)' coverage of Super Bowl 2024 were sold in the $6.5 million to $7 million range.]
Where do you stand in terms of sell-through?
We always do well with NBA league sponsors — whether AT&T Inc., State Farm, FanDuel Inc. — all of which activate in a huge way around All-Star. A significant portion, upward of 50%, of our All-Star revenue comes from the official marketing partners. The balance is sold in the upfront and in scatter.
I'm proud to say we're completely sold out on Saturday. And as of Feb. 14, we're virtually sold out on Sunday.
WBD is really going big this week with different All-Star productions on TNT and truTV, as well as on streaming services and social media platforms. Y
Yes, we have other creative juices. When you have Golden State Warrior forward Draymond Green, you want him on the mic, talking to different players. Why not have some fun with it? All-Star is entertainment.
In addition to the main feed on TNT, the altcast of the Florida Panthers-Pittsburh Penguins was on truTV, which has more than 35 hours of alternate things this week. You want to bring new angles and viewers to the games.
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Warner Bros. Discovery will have different All-Star productions across its various network and streaming properties. |
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How are NBA ad sales for the rest of the season and playoffs?
It’s a little early to see how the playoffs are going to fully shape up, but I think we'll be in good shape. We've had record ratings and revenues for the last five years. This season, we have the Western Conference finals. There are a lot of interesting teams. The Warriors are starting to play better. The Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers, the Denver Nuggets, the Phoenix Suns. All these teams have high-profile players. Selfishly, I'm a big fan, rooting for the New York Knicks.
We all are.
They got to get healthy. [Editor's note: Mike Reynolds, who conducted this Q&A, lives in New York.]
What about March Madness? A large portion of ad sales on your air and on CBS Sports are laid in via corporate sponsors and multiyear deals?
The corporate partner program is growing, accounting for upward of 50% to 60% of the inventory. There is also more activity in the upfront market. For three weekends, the men's college basketball tournament is a very good product. We look for prime-time gross rating points.
MLB?
We have one, sometimes two games a week during the regular season. About 90% of our impressions are in the postseason. We have to see how things are lining up, which teams have the momentum heading into October. Go Yankees!
Is a good amount of the inventory bought by MLB sponsors?
Yes, we work with a lot of league sponsors. Baseball is also part of our upfront pitch. Obviously, we're not there yet for the next TV season, but I'm assuming it will be healthy. Sports have been in demand — they are the new prime time. Baseball provides stable ratings and a stable audience. We’ll see what teams are really playing well.
The Match, your golf event, is teeing off later this month with Rory McIlroy, Lexi Thompson, Matt Homa and Rose Zhang.
Feb. 26. It's our ninth match, the first with women. It's taking place in West Palm Beach at a public course. It's a great venue for diversity and inclusion.
Hasn't The Match usually been held in May or June?
There's not a lot of big sports competition on that day. It's under the lights, in prime time.
And the NHL? The puck drops on the Stanley Cup playoffs in two months or so.
The NHL is very innovative, with great demographics and quite an upscale audience. It's one of the youngest sports audiences. This may not necessarily be the case in the arenas, but with what Nielsen Holdings PLC reports, it's very corporate. It's what they used to call POMs: professional, owner and managerial. Playoffs inventory is comparatively inexpensive and is pretty sold out. We're sold out for the regular season; we sold out The Winter Classic.
Do a lot of advertisers buy the NHL and NBA playoffs?
They do, but it's almost coincidental because advertisers want to be in flight at that time. They are looking for opportunities in the sports market. Coincidentally, we're running both leagues' playoffs simultaneously. But it's not because we're sandwiching them together.
So, you're not selling combined NBA and NHL postseason packages, per se.
No. The leagues also have different sponsors. One might have Coke, the other Pepsi. One might have Budweiser, the other Miller.
And Jägermeister, the official shot of the NHL. It doesn't equate in my mind — Jägermeister with rough and tumble hockey.
It warms you up.