HBO Max has started bringing ads to HBO originals that have previously been running on the cable network sans commercials, and that model is starting to take shape with the final season of “Succession.”
While HBO Max started running ads midway through the first season of “The Last Of Us” earlier this year, this is the first time it will be doing so through an entire season of an HBO original show.
Inventory is extremely limited, with just two advertisers—Mercedes-Benz and Vital Farms—purchasing what is being called “HBO Original Title Sponsorships.” The sponsors appear before each episode of the show’s fourth season, with eight-second and 15-second pre-roll ads that rotate between multiple pieces of creative.
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The sponsorships, which Warner Bros. Discovery is also shopping for upcoming seasons of “The Gilded Age” and “The Righteous Gemstones,” are also being added to the HBO Originals catalog on HBO Max.