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A branding deal between Warner Bros. Discovery and Jefferson’s Bourbon for The Penguin is the latest partnership helping the media giant master the delicate task of putting ads on the long-ad-free HBO.
Ryan Gould, head of digital ad sales and a key overseer of the ad tier of Max, said at a panel Wednesday at Advertising Week in New York that the endeavor requires discipline. Brand messages, he stressed, must always be “super-endemic and aligned to that audience” watching the show.
“The easy thing for us to do as a company,” he added, “would be to have consistently high ad loads, sell into these assets with multiple creatives that break every seven to 12 minutes. We don’t believe that’s a long-term, viable option for IP that, quite frankly, drives culture. HBO IP has driven culture for 40 years and we want to make sure when we introduce brands into that ecosystem that we drive culture for 40 years longer.”
In the case of The Penguin, an HBO limited series derived from DC’s latest Batman film franchise from Matt Reeves, that means a single linear ad for Jefferson’s preceding each episode. No rolling-stock ads play during the episodes, which Gould said is crucial for encouraging viewer engagement and maintaining the prestige image of HBO. Along with the pre-show ads, the bourbon maker took part in a promotion last July at Comic-Con as well as a dinner in New York for online influencers, with the goal of melding the image of the spirit with the gritty intrigue of the show’s Gotham City milieu.
The show is a commercial success and also a hit with critics, rated 94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Last month, The Penguin debuted with 5.3 million viewers across platforms in the U.S. It drew the biggest 4-day audience for a new series on Max in every region globally since The Last of Us in Jan 2023.
Ads have appeared on HBO originals on Max only since early 2023, with maybe a handful of shows to date receiving the full brand treatment. The platform was a major component of the company’s upfront pitch to advertisers last May, with Warner Bros. movies also positioned as key titles. To the angst of many both inside and outside the company, HBO was identified as a candidate to start carrying advertising soon after AT&T acquired its then-parent, WarnerMedia, in 2018. By the time the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger came about in 2022, the streaming landscape had shifted, with most players embracing advertising.
As Max’s ad tier continues expanding (WBD has not shared any metrics for it, but continues to roll it out globally), upcoming new seasons of shows like The White Lotus and The Last of Us are in line for similar brand partnerships.
Fielding a question from the audience about The White Lotus, Gould noted that its upcoming third season had already caused a spike in room rates at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, the on-screen stand-in for the titular White Lotus resort.
In evaluating potential brand partners for the Mike White series, the exec said the company has tried to assess whether they have “the same pedigree” as the show itself. “There’s co-marketing opportunities, there’s IP licensing opportunities. I can’t share too much, but we’re going to have some events where brands will show up. You’ll also see White Lotus-themed products and environments. You’ll see traditional sponsorships. You may see a product or two that’s organically in the show.”
Season 3, which was delayed from a planned 2024 release due to the writers and actors strikes last year, is now due out in the first half of 2025.
