Jon Steinlauf, an industry veteran who has supervised ad sales for Warner Bros. Discovery since it was formed in 2022 as well as several of its predecessor companies, including the Scripps cable networks, will leave the company later this year.
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“We are very grateful for all Jon has done for us, and while supportive of his personal desire to seek other directions in his life and career, we will clearly miss him,” said Bruce Campbell, the company’s chief revenue and strategy officer, said in a statement Friday. Steinlauf is expected to stay in place while the company seeks a successor.
Steinlauf, who has worked in senior roles at both the Warner TV division once known as Turner and at Scripps before it was acquired by Discovery, during his Madison Avenue tenure developed a reputation as a thoughtful, academic who devised non-traditional advertising packages across a broad media portfolio. One effort created packages of commercial inventory in top programs that encompassed not only lifestyle shows from Discovery outlets like Food Network and TLC, but also sports properties; movies that might turn up on TNT and TBS; and tentpole events at CNN.
In recent years, however, he has had to grapple with pressures from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav , whose demands for new volume from the company’s TV sponsors to help offset massive amounts of debt taken on to merge the Discovery and Warner outlets has left top sponsors dismayed . In 2022, for example, Warner Bros. Discovery told potential advertisers in that year’s discussions during the industry’s “upfront” market that if they did not add to their usual level of volume commitments, then the company would not give them access to sports programming or inventory on HGTV. For some media buyers, the demands spurred them to put down more money at Warner Bros. Discovery rivals.
Ad sales at Warner’s TV networks in the second quarter were off 10%, with the company citing a 13% tumble in linear audiences as well as a “soft advertising market” in the U.S.
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Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to consider a range of candidates from its internal ranks and from the outside. One potential company candidate could be Ryan Gould, who oversees its digital ad sales. Warner Bros. Discovery has placed increasing emphasis on the ad-supported tier of its Max streaming service, and Gould and his team have represented many of those efforts. Steinlauf’s team also includes veterans such as Marybeth Strobel and Greg Regis, as well as Jon Diament, a longtime sales executive who is tied closely to sports.
“I have had the privilege of representing this great portfolio of brands for the last 32 years — at Turner, Scripps, Discovery and now at WBD. I’m grateful for the opportunities that David Zaslav, Bruce Campbell, and other leaders have given to me. This is the right time to begin a new chapter both personally and professionally,” Steinlauf said in a statement. “It is incredible to look back at my early years at ESPN, and the birth of cable, to see how the business has grown and transformed. I have had the good fortune to have always worked with, and for, the best companies, brands, and people. And this includes all of you. I couldn’t be prouder and more appreciative of this ad sales team and what we accomplished together in both the prosperous and challenging times ”
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