This week, Warner Bros. Discovery executives took a page out of Jay-Z’s book and made a bold reintroduction. Its streaming service known as Max, previously known as HBO Max (and even more previously known as either HBO Go or HBO Now, depending on if you were a cable subscriber or not), will now be called, once again, HBO Max.

The return-to-roots rebrand for the streamer was just one of several announcements the media company made at its upfront presentation on Wednesday, which focused on Warner Bros. Discovery’s culture-driving content and ad opportunities like new IP-based partnership offerings that will let advertisers partner with iconic franchises and shows like Harry Potter and Friends.

During a nearly two-hour presentation at Madison Square Garden, execs emphasized WBD’s ability to drive action and awareness with its zeitgeisty entertainment; exhibit A was White Lotus’s impact on increased tourism in Maui, Sicily, and Thailand, triple-digit growth in the Four Seasons’s website visits, and almost seven times more sales of a particular caftan worn by Parker Posey’s character in the show’s third season. Stars and athletes like John Cena, Shaquille O’Neal, and Noah Wyle helped tout their respective sizzle reels while execs made the case for spending advertising dollars with them amid a fractured entertainment landscape.

“Honestly, our industry is starting to feel like an episode of Fixer Upper,” Ryan Gould, co-president of ad sales, said onstage. “The house we built together worked beautifully for so long, but we’ve outgrown it. It just doesn’t meet our needs anymore. The house still has its own foundation and great moments, but it’s time to renovate, modernize the design, improve efficiencies and build something even more valuable for the years ahead.”

Continue reading here.—JN

Disney’s 2025 upfront presentation started with a bang.

The House of Mouse kicked off its 80-minute presentation to advertisers Tuesday evening with a performance from the Brooklyn United Drumline. Drum Major Mickey Mouse himself even made an appearance, and he was hardly the only recognizable face to take the stage at the Javits Center.

In typical Disney fashion, the event was packed with famous actors and athletes, who occasionally ceded the spotlight to Disney execs underscoring the media company’s audience reach, breadth of content, and ad tech capabilities.

“Our portfolio spans sports, streaming, and stories that connect, [and] content, technology, and culture in ways like no one else can, while building meaningful connections at scale, because to truly reach audiences and be of real brand value, you need three things: an unrivaled content portfolio, technology built for streaming, and a data infrastructure designed for outcomes,” Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global ad sales, said onstage. “That’s where the real magic happens.”

All in one: After Mickey and the marching band, Super Bowl rivals Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles took the stage to introduce Disney CEO Bob Iger and set the tone for a sports-heavy hour and a half.

Peyton and Eli Manning performed a musical number (only the second most-embarrassing moment for a former pro athlete of upfronts week so far), Stephen A. Smith showed off the new ESPN app, Glen Powell and the Mannings introduced their new Hulu football show Chad Powers, and Mahomes previewed an upcoming ESPN docuseries about the Chiefs called The Kingdom.

Earlier in the day, Disney announced its new DTC sports streaming app that will roll out this fall will be called ESPN. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who has roasted Disney and the industry for years, was quick to call out the potential confusion between the ESPN network, the new app, and the sports property’s other streaming app, ESPN+. “That’s why they call us ‘Imagineers,’” he said.

Continue reading here.—AM

For the second year in a row, Amazon joined the upfronts line-up and made the case to advertisers that bigger is, in fact, better.

Over the course of its nearly hour-and-a-half pitch Monday night, the company put its full platform suite on display, from Prime Video to Amazon Music, Wondery, Twitch, and Amazon MGM Studios, making the case that advertisers needn’t look anywhere else for all their advertising needs. The term “full funnel” came up more than a few times throughout the presentation to some presenters’ confusion. “I’m not sure what that even means,” Kansas City Chiefs’ player Travis Kelce told the audience.

“Eighty-eight percent of [Prime] customers shop on Amazon, which means a product they saw on Cross…can be in their home the very next day,” Tanner Elton, VP of US ad sales, said onstage. “That is full funnel advertising.”

Amazon’s ad-supported reach in the US is now 300 million, up 25 million from last year, the company announced, and there are 130 million Prime customers. Earlier this month, Amazon reported that it made nearly $14 billion in advertising revenue during Q1 of this year.

“You’re no longer forced to choose between scale or precision, between creativity or performance, between branding or sales,” Alan Moss, global VP of advertising, said in his closing remarks. “You can have it all in one place with one partner.”

Read more here.—KH

Pour yourself a fresh cup and hit play on The Refill, your AI-voiced audio recap of the week’s top Marketing Brew stories with industry insights, the latest trends, and zero boring bits. Listen to the newest episode, out now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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• Business Insider wrote about how brands outside the US are “de-Americanizing” their looks in response to tariffs.
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