The 2025 Warner Bros. Discovery upfront started lengthy earlier than advert gross sales leaders Ryan Gould and Bobby Voltaggio took the stage.

The Friday earlier than its upfront occasion, WBD shared particulars about its new adtech tools—the linear demographic tracker DemoDirect and the forthcoming, data-driven, full-portfolio advert platform NEO. As well as, the corporate introduced WBD Storyverse, which opens the WBD content material library of IP like Harry Potter or Pals to manufacturers for potential partnerships, and the re-rebranding of Max to HBO Max, with Spider-Man memes of assorted model iterations all teed up for the event. 


WBD gives upfront some HBO Max prestige as everything from sales to TNT Sports gets an upgrade.

The bulletins set the stage for Gould and Voltaggio’s first upfront as advert presidents since replacing Jon Steinlauf in February, as the corporate doubled down on status and got here to market as one streamlined WBD.

ADWEEK’s upfront postmortem interviews have already included NBCUniversal, Fox, Amazon, and Disney, and now WBD’s Gould and Voltaggio are opening up about how manufacturers can make the most of WBD Storyverse, the corporate’s adtech, the worth of tolerating titles and tales, and in the event that they’ll do that all once more subsequent yr.

This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.


WBD Storyverse wants Friends, Family Matters, and other IP in your next ad.

Warner Bros. Discovery teased WBD Storyverse, DemoDirect, and NEO earlier than the upfront, however are you able to focus on how all of them assist advert consumers join with the corporate extra effectively?