CNN AND WBD SPORTS LAUNCH NEW PROGRAMMATIC MARKETPLACE, WBD CONNECT

• Unrivalled scale for brands to reach 350m global monthly digital unique users across multiple WBD platforms and channels. 
• Increased premium inventory with 2bn average monthly placements.
• Extended social amplification through proprietary technology, Launchpad.
• Magnite onboard as tech partner. 

The new offering, called WBD Connect, enables brands to reach 350m global monthly digital unique users with dynamic display and video ad formats across multiple channels, platforms, and devices including mobile, web, apps, desktop and CTV.

Accessed through a single buying point, brands can engage with vast global audiences across news and sport via high quality digital inventory spanning CNN, Eurosport, Bleacher Report and NBA.com.

WBD Connect is partnering with Magnite, the largest independent sell-side advertising company who will act as WBD’s technology partner to deliver the campaign efficiency through one Deal ID. WBD Connect will plan the advertising campaign, aligning objectives and relevancy to the premium digital platforms, content and inventory. Additionally, utilising data-driven insights, the campaign performance will be optimized in real time to maximize ROI for brand partners. 

For the first time, WBD Sports fans can also be reached on social using Launchpad, the internal social media agency at CNNIC, which utilises proprietary technology for targeting defined audiences across Facebook, Instagram, Snap and TikTok. This enables premium branded and sponsored content to reach highly engaged audiences through the social handles for Bleacher Report, CNN, Eurosport and TNT Sports (in the UK & Ireland). 

Rob Bradley, SVP of Digital at CNNIC: "This is another step forward for WBD in utilising the unique scale and influence we offer marketers when we combine the power of our portfolio and drive mass engagement from a single and efficient entry point. Our news and sports coverage is unrivalled on a global level and we’re enabling brands to tap into these passion points, reaching vast and active audiences plus the opportunity to elevate campaign targeting around major news events, cultural peaks and global sporting spectacles from the Olympics to the NBA championship. This is just the start of expanding CNNIC’s digital capabilities across the wider WBD ecosystem. WBD Connect is a great example of how a company with our size and scale can combine offerings across multiple brands using smart technology in new ways.”

“In unifying CNN and WBD’s digital capabilities, WBD Connect is enabling advertisers to reach audiences with greater efficiency across the numerous platforms and devices used by consumers,” said Rebecca Ackers, VP, DV+ Platform, EMEA at Magnite. “As advertisers increasingly lean into programmatic, we look forward to supporting WBD Connect with our technology and delivering streamlined programmatic access to their suite of premium inventory.”

Mike Rich, Head of International and UK Ad-Sales and Brand Partnerships at Warner Bros. Discovery, said: “The combination of News and Sports is an immensely powerful proposition and one which has a unique ability to captivate the attention of millions of engaged and passionate viewers around the world. No other media company possesses the portfolio of much-loved and trusted news and sports brands as we do, and by rolling out WBD Connect, we will super serve our brand partners with tailored marketing solutions that enables them to tell their stories at an unmatched scale to connect with the widest possible audience.”