Australia – Nine has been appointed by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) as Max’s exclusive sales partner to commercially maximise its ad-supported Basic With Ads tier. This comes ahead of the streaming platform’s anticipated launch in Australia on March 31.
Leveraging Nine’s cutting-edge technology, Max will play a pivotal role in Nine’s digital video offering for advertisers, represented nationwide by Nine Sales.
With the addition of 9Now and Stan Sport, Nine’s partnership with WBD significantly expands its audience reach across the leading Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) and Broadcast Video On Demand (BVOD) sectors.
Built on Max’s extensive library of premium content, this inventory will be integral to Nine’s high-value revenue strategy, led by Powered (premium integrated sales and strategy). Meanwhile, Nine’s Centre of Digital Excellence (encompassing digital solutions, data, product, and programmatic) will underpin the overall sales approach.
This collaboration enables Nine to provide agencies and clients with seamless and innovative advertising solutions across SVOD and BVOD platforms, ultimately driving stronger business outcomes for advertisers.
Michael Brooks, general manager for ANZ at Warner Bros. Discovery, said, “This is the first time WBD’s premium slate of content has existed in one place in Australia. Launching Max with an ad-supported tier creates a compelling offer for viewers and advertisers alike, while partnering with Nine allows us to tap into their deep experience, strong relationships and proven capabilities.”
Meanwhile, Matt James, acting chief sales officer at Nine, commented, “The combination of Max’s amazing content and world-leading advertising products with Nine’s local expertise, sales infrastructure and scale is a unique opportunity for clients in this country. This relationship with WBD will accelerate our strategy into the digital video market and offer clients better return on investment.”
It is worth noting that WBD recently appointed Foxtel Group as its launch partner for Max in Australia, wherein Max’s expanded content offering will be available to Foxtel’s 1.4m residential subscribers at no additional cost to their Foxtel subscription. It had also recently tapped Special Group and EssenceMediacom for their creative and media mandate respectively–both related to Max’s launch in Australia.
