Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery Restructures Ad-Sales Staff

Story from Variety:

Warner Bros. Discovery is the latest traditional media company to reorganize its advertising-sales team to meet the demands of a rapidly shifting market.

The media conglomerate said it would rework its ad sales staff, overseen by Chief  U. S. Advertising Sales Officer Jon Steinlauf, so that individual media buying agencies would have a direct contact who can help them secure inventory across the company’s media portfolio.

“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 Warner Bros. Discovery,” said Steinlauf, in a statement. “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.”

New teams will be led by Marybeth Strobel and Greg Regis and will be responsible for sales across the company’s portfolio. Among the top six holding companies, Publicis, Group M, and Horizon accounts will sit with Regis, and Omnicom, Magna, and Dentsu will be led by Strobel.

Jon Diament will lead a dedicated team for the devoted to the Warner sports portfolio. He will also manage relationships and development with over 100 clients who are official partners of the NBA, NCAA, MLB, and NHL.

Warner is employing a model that others have tested, including Paramount Global, which organized its staff along similar lines earlier this year.

TV companies have been grappling with a tough climate for ad spending on the medium, with many advertisers shifting dollars to streaming outlets and sports. Those are two categories in which the TV companies play, but the changes undermine their mainstay product — advertising time in primetime linear TV series.