Recently on John Arezzi’s podcast “Pro Wrestling Spotlight,” discussions broke out regarding Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to air All Elite Wrestling (AEW) commercials during sports broadcasts.
With the Major League Baseball (MLB) Playoffs currently going on, both Warner Bros. Discovery and AEW have decided to take advantage of the moment and are running their commercials during the games.
What Is Warner Bros. Discovery’s And AEW’s Strategy?
Co-host of “Pro Wrestling Spotlight,” Bob Smith, was curious about both companies of Warner Bros. Discovery and AEW and what exactly their strategy is. He questioned it, bringing up how the advertisements feature Chris Jericho attacking ring announcers and wrestlers being slammed through tables, and why they would want to advertise that to sports fans.
According to Arezzi, he said that sources have told him that Warner Bros. Discovery is quite pleased with AEW‘s content, and that the commercials being aired are a strategy from the company.
“They’re trying to make it a sport,. That’s what the strategy is. The strategy is that they are pushing AEW into the sports category, not the entertainment category. They’re increasing that because of the new ownership because Warner Bros. is now Warner Bros. Discovery.
Everything I hear of what’s going on even with TNT, it’s gonna be turning into a more sports-centric network. So they are now putting their resources behind these promo announcements to increase ratings. So whether or not they’re tasteful in regards to the violence and the blood, there’s a method to the madness.
I’m privy to a lot of insider conversations at least on the Warner Bros. Discovery side. I have a lot of people there in very high executive positions that I’ve known for many years that I worked for when I was in television here in Nashville. The same people who are now the leaders of Warner Bros. Discovery on the ad sales front.
They see this property, AEW, as someone they want to be in business with long-term. They had a contract which was absorbed by them when they merged that wasn’t the sweetest deal for TNT and TBS. It was kind of one-sided.
So now what they are trying to do is to kind of collaborate and work together so they can work on the next long-term deal with them. I can’t get into it too much but there’s a lot of faith behind the AEW product right now from the folks at Warner Bros. Discovery.”