As TV Ad Market Stumbles, Warner Bros. Discovery Restructures Sales Organization

Alex Weprin
·3 min read

Warner Bros. Discovery is the latest major media company to reorganize and restructure its advertising sales division, seeking a new way of doing business with major brands amid what has been a lackluster year for ad sales.

On Monday, the company unveiled its new structure, one that will be built around an agency holding company model.

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Under the new structure, Marybeth Strobel and Greg Regis will lead the agency-specific teams, with Strobel working with Omnicom, Magna and Dentsu, and Regis responsible for Publicis, GroupM and Horizon Media.

There will also be executives tasked with specific strategic areas.

Jon Diament will oversee WBD’s sports portfolio and also work with WBD’s clients who are also official league partners with MLB, NBA and the NHL.

Ryan Gould will lead WBD’s digital ad team, including Max, Discovery+, WBD Stream and CNN digital, as well as programmatic sales.

Sheereen Russell will lead a new client partnerships team. “This team will work more closely with other WBD divisions like theatrical, distribution, gaming and licensing for topline revenue optimization,” the company says.

Meanwhile, Laura Galietta, Robert Voltaggio and Andrea Zapata will continue to oversee integrated ad sales marketing; ad sales revenue planning and operations; and ad sales research, measurement, data and insights, respectively.

“Over the past year, we have been listening to our clients and partners and have seen firsthand what is delivering real value for them and great performance for us. This new structure will allow us to deliver what matters most for all – creating a single and seamless interface into the full world of WBD,” said WBD ad sales chief Jon Steinlauf. “We are leveraging the power of our world-class content, platforms and partnerships to drive how the market works now – and for years to come.”

WBD’s restructure follows similar moves by Paramount and NBCUniversal over the past year, and with Disney, AMC Networks and others also seeing major changes to their advertising divisions.

Paramount last year (under new ad chief John Halley) also leaned into an agency holding company model, and earlier this year NBCUniversal (then led by current X Corp. née Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino) made changes that combined brand and agency teams and sought to lean into streaming.

At Disney, the return of Bob Iger meant the dissolution of Bob Chapek’s Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division. As a result of those changes, Disney ad sales chief Rita Ferro is overseeing a division that works with both Disney Entertainment and ESPN on sales.

And AMC Networks reworked its ad structure ahead of the 2023 upfronts.

It likely is not a coincidence that the restructuring across the industry comes amid a tough advertising environment. Everything other than sports is facing pressure, and the upfronts (most of which have been completed). Ad revenue across most companies has been down compared to last year.

According to sources, Paramount’s upfront results saw low- to mid-single-digit gains, driven by sports and streaming; NBCUniversal saw upfront results in line with last year; and Fox wrapped up its upfront with sports and Tubi driving much of the growth.

However, many brands are said to be leaning into the spot ad market, betting that they can scoop up better deals closer to the date when they plan to run (sports being the big exception).

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