Warner Bros. Taps Jay Levine to Oversee Operations of Digital Networks Group

Jay Levine has been promoted to executive VP of Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group, responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations including ad sales, distribution, finance, business development and planning.

Levine previously was SVP of business and strategic planning in Warner Bros. Television Group. He will continue to report to Craig Hunegs, president of business and strategy for Warner Bros. Television Group and president of Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group. In the new role, Levine will work with Hunegs to guide the division’s development and launch of direct-to-consumer internet video services and digital-native content.

Formed in June 2016, Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group encompasses the forthcoming Boomerang cartoon subscription VOD service, developed in partnership with Turner; Machinima (which WB acquired in full last fall); Korean SVOD provider DramaFever; Warner Archive; Stage 13; Uninterrupted, a partnership with LeBron James and Maverick Carter; and Ellen Digital Ventures in partnership with Ellen DeGeneres. The company says Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group has multiple additional services in the pipeline that will be announced this year.

“Jay has been instrumental in helping us define the company’s digital strategy and build the Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group,” Hunegs said in a statement. “I have worked closely with him in our TV Group and I am pleased he is now taking on a key leadership role in this fast-growing, impactful, direct-to-consumer hub at Warner Bros.”

At Warner Bros. Television Group, Levine is credited with the expansion of the CW through digital partnerships with Netflix and Hulu, the development of new linear and on-demand distribution windows for Warner Bros.-produced series, the acquisition and growth of Alloy Entertainment across books, TV and film and the buildout of Blue Ribbon Content, WBTVG’s short-form programming production unit. Prior to that post, which he assumed in 2012, he had been VP of business planning since joining the company in 2009.

Prior to Warner Bros., Levine worked at Disney as an associate in its corporate strategy and business development group. Prior to that, he was senior manager of finance and business development for ESPN.com. Levine began his career at Bear, Stearns & Co.’s investment banking division as media and entertainment analyst.

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