HBO Max AVOD plans remain secret, but children and family point the way – Deadline

As time passes towards the planned launch of an ad-supported layer for HBO Max during the second quarter, important details like pricing, viewer experience and which schedule will display ads are still under wraps. Even so, it is increasingly clear that children’s and family programming is likely to be a key element in the selling point of the streaming service to advertisers.

WarnerMedia today turned the dial, announcing dozens of new shows on HBO Max and linear networks, as well as a new focus on Cartoon Network as a central brand for children and families. The network has also adopted a new self-empowerment slogan that can serve as a company-wide slogan: “Redesign your world”.

JP Colaco, who worked closely with WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar at Hulu and then at Vessel, a video start-up company, joined WarnerMedia last fall as the company’s head of ad sales. In an interview with Deadline, he declined to offer any details about the AVOD offer. But he said there was a reason to make a splash before the company’s May launch, which is likely to be revealed in full.

“What I see is that this new initiative that we are presenting, which is reaching pre-school in the morning, girls and boys in the afternoon and families at night, creates a truly holistic approach for marketers and their ability to make a living marketing cycle in our network, ”he said. “We are creating unique experiences. We will see existing marketers make progress because of the quality of the content, the IP experience and the audience they can reach with it. And we’ll see new advertisers interested in connecting with the whole family in an attractive way. “

With the launch of the list of children and family – including 300 hours for children and 1,000 for preschoolers – in the fall, Colaco said, marketing initiatives around the back to school and Halloween season will offer options for advertisers.

An AVOD level of HBO Max has been underway for more than two years, but the venture is complex for a number of commercial and technological reasons. To begin with, many interested in HBO programming have contractual guarantees that their work will remain in an ad-free display environment. This has led to speculation that Turner’s programming would be more likely to show ads, but shifting HBO’s balance goes against WarnerMedia’s efforts to break down silos that have long existed between Turner, HBO and Warner Bros. While streaming services like Hulu and CBS All Access added ad-free options after starting with ad support, none on a large scale went in the other direction. In the history of the media, a parallel is the evolution of cable networks like AMC and Bravo.

Tom Ascheim, who helped lead Nickelodeon’s dominance over the children’s sect before his most recent stint as a senior executive at Disney, joined WarnerMedia last year as president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics. In the interview with Colaco, he said that WarnerMedia’s digital reach is twice that of Nickelodeon, giving access to social and digital platforms to 1 billion people worldwide.

The multiplatform nature of the company’s assets, Ascheim said, sets it apart in the increasingly competitive area of ​​children and families, where tech giants are battling media companies like Disney, WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS and others. WarnerMedia will continue to emphasize a combination of its linear networks, which reach 440 million people globally, and subscription VOD, which started in 2021 with 41.5 million subscribers on linear HBO and HBO Max.

“We have the history, the unity and the modern approach to rival any other child and family player in the world,” said Ascheim during the initial online presentation. “And wherever we are, unlike most of our rivals, we want you with us every step of the way – in linear, streaming and all parts of the digital ecosystem.”

Ascheim told Deadline that the company is “reimagining the way we are going to talk to the public”. He admitted that HBO Max last May had a “slightly slower start than we wanted”. Many users criticized what they saw as confusing consumer messages about how to access the service, which is free for existing HBO subscribers, but $ 15 a month for new ones. Until the end of 2020, in another source of frustration, HBO Max was also unavailable via Roku or Amazon Fire TV, which together control nearly three-quarters of the U.S. streaming market.

Since that initial friction, things are looking up, Ascheim said. Warner Bros. strategy of launching its 2021 slate on and on the date in theaters and on HBO Max “turned out to be a smart way to play the game,” he said. “We will do this throughout the year.” Upcoming releases Tom Jerry and Space Jam 2 are two key titles for all ages that will allow cross-pollination between the children’s programming drive and the effort to scale HBO Max. Teen Titans Go, a major Cartoon Network franchise soon going to HBO Max after a run at Hulu, will have a “party to watch” – Mystery Science Theater-style – from the original Space Jam film in a synergistic effort.

Streaming “is a great home for our content,” said Ascheim. “HBO means so many incredible things in the universe. It is a nickname of incomparable quality on television. But that doesn’t mean children. I think part of our job is to complete the brand’s presence. “Despite the power of DC, Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and other brands, Ascheim continued:” We’ve never put it all together before. “

The live action lineup will also hit Cartoon Network this fall, with major franchises like Harry Potter and Wonder Woman changing the mix fully animated. Ascheim said there is “proof of concept” in other countries, where audiences are more readily adopting a mix of live action and animation. Girls as young as seven, he added, show interest in watching live-action movies.