AT&T's WarnerMedia Absorbs Xandr Ad Tech Unit
April 30 2020 - 6:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Sahil Patel
AT&T Inc. is combining its WarnerMedia and Xandr business
units -- which has long been expected by company insiders -- in an
effort to have a single advertising sales and technology offering
across the company.
Xandr has been at the center of AT&T's efforts to build a
so-called advanced advertising business. It aims to use the
telecommunications giant's wireless, broadband and pay-TV customer
data to help advertisers reach custom audiences across screens.
Xandr also offers digital publishers and TV networks tools to help
sell their ad inventory.
AT&T built Xandr in 2018 from existing ad businesses
including its advanced TV unit AdWorks and the advertising
technology company AppNexus, which it acquired that year.
The Xandr business unit generated $489 million in first-quarter
revenue, up nearly 15% year over year, according to AT&T's
earnings report. Some of the revenue booked under Xandr comes from
AT&T's pay-TV businesses including DirecTV.
AT&T's WarnerMedia unit houses TV networks including TBS,
TNT, Cartoon Network and CNN as well as various digital properties.
It was formed following AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner in
2018.
Xandr has previously faced criticism from WarnerMedia ad sales
executives who called AppNexus's technology underwhelming, citing
the company's background in display ads, not video.
Current and former WarnerMedia and Xandr executives have long
expected that the two units would eventually combine.
Xandr's chief executive officer, Brian Lesser, resigned in
March.
A combined WarnerMedia and Xandr will accelerate work on new ad
formats next year for AT&T's forthcoming streaming service HBO
Max, the company said. HBO Max is scheduled to debut on May 27
without ads, but an ad-supported version is in the works.
Xandr will remain a separate team under WarnerMedia, said a
Xandr spokesman. Both groups will be overseen by Gerhard Zeiler,
chief revenue officer of WarnerMedia and president of WarnerMedia
International. Mr. Zeiler will now be responsible for all
advertising functions across AT&T, the company said.
Kirk McDonald, chief business officer of Xandr, will continue to
lead the unit and will report directly to Mr. Zeiler.
There are no layoffs planned, the Xandr spokesman said.
Write to Sahil Patel at sahil.patel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 30, 2020 18:15 ET (22:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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