With the launch of Warner Bros. Discovery’s combined streamer Max just a week away, the company today took the stage at Madison Square Garden for its annual upfront presentation. The launch represents a year in progress for the company, which could only tease the platform during its May 2022 upfront, just weeks after its merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia.

Like most presentations throughout the week, the show was scaled back compared to the typical star-studded glitz of upfront week. And while the likes of NBCUniversal, Fox and Disney marched out a roster of news and sports talent, Warner Bros. Discovery decided to feature executives only.

“What you’re about to see is not exactly the show we expected to do today,” said Jon Steinlauf, Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief U.S. ad sales officer. “We made the decision to only have executives on stage out of respect for our talent and the WGA,” which is currently on strike. 

However, the show did include a handful of pre-recorded segments, including one featuring Guy Fieri, another showing Anderson Cooper discussing CNN from the network's set and a clip starring the cast of TNT's “Inside the NBA”—Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson—to add humor and entertainment to the show.

Max with ads

Max, which represents more of a makeover for the existing HBO Max app, will become a reality on May 23. Its ad tier, priced at $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually, will feature what the company described as the best of HBO Max and Discovery+’s ad capabilities.

The products fall under three categories: reach, reward and interact, each containing familiar products for streaming advertising. Reach includes traditional pre- and mid-roll ads as well as takeovers, which allows brands to be the first pre- and mid-roll ad a user sees on a selected date. In the reward category are longer pre-roll ads that sponsor an ad-free experience for the rest of an episode as well as brand blocks, which allows one advertiser to populate all inventory in a piece of content. 

For Max’s interactive inventory, the streamer will feature pause ads, carousel ads in which multiple products can be displayed and/or extendable ads that allow users to open a branded hub on their mobile or CTV device. Reveal ads enable trivia or a surprise message if viewers engage with the spot, and locator ads will push purchases by informing the user of nearby stores.

During its upfront, the company was promoting the May 23 launch of Max on social media.

More news: See the Max ads that launched in April

As for the content that Max will have at launch, in addition to content from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, Discovery and Max Originals, sports will join the streamer in the future, Warner Bros. Discovery announced. New originals include travel series “Conan O’Brien Must Go” and a series about Robert Downey Jr. revamping vintage cars to be more sustainable, “Downey’s Dream Cars.”

No new scripted content for Max was revealed. The company reiterated that series based on Stephen King’s “It,” “The Conjuring” franchise and “The Big Bang Theory” are in the works, as well as upcoming seasons of “Hacks,” “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” “Tokyo Vice” and DC’s anticipated “The Penguin,” some of which have halted production due to the writers’ strike, per reports.

WBD Stream

Notably separate from the company’s push for Max is a new digital advertising platform separate from Warner Bros. Discovery’s primary streamers Max and Discovery+. The media company unveiled a new sales platform called WBD Stream, which reflects similar pushes throughout the week from NBCU’s One Platform or Fox’s One Fox to battle viewer fragmentation with targeted advertising with cross-screen buying.

WBD Stream will be available to advertisers through both direct and programmatic dealmaking and will place ads across its owned and operated digital platforms, including streaming and apps for Bleacher Report, Food Network, TNT, Animal Planet, ID and HGTV, as well as third-party partners. The ads will reach users on streaming, mobile apps, desktop and web.

An inclusion-focused sales team

During the show, Warner Bros. Discovery formally announced an arm of its sales division focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, led by Sheereen Russell, executive VP of ad sales and inclusive solutions. The team will lead efforts for branded content, sponsorships and event integrations for diverse audiences.

The company also announced “inclusive content stacks” in which brands can sponsor hubs of aggregated content featuring diverse content.

Read more: Jon Steinlauf on selling the new Max

Data gets its time in the limelight

Despite the buzz around media measurement, the topic has been addressed briefly throughout the week’s presentations. While media companies Disney and NBCU hosted their own events earlier in the year focusing on tech and data, Warner Bros. Discovery spent a few minutes of its upfront showtime discussing alternative currency and addressable advertising capabilities. 

During his remarks, Steinlauf called up a screen featuring the logos for VideoAmp, Comscore and Nielsen—the companies Warner Bros. Discovery will use as currency partners in this year’s negotiations.

“When it comes to currency, we believe in optionality, competition, innovation, collaboration and we think there’s more than just one currency game in town,” said Steinlauf.