Warner Bros. Discovery’s Kazi On The Evolution Of Programmatic Buying

Warner Bros. Discovery is leaning heavily into programmatic transactions, with nearly half of its demand coming through automated channels.

The media company sees programmatic as a way to drive operational efficiencies, enable advertisers to match against desired users, and fill inventory during peak live events.

“We like to give programmatic the best shot possible,” says Huda Kazi, VP of Ad Technology & Operations at Warner Bros. Discovery, in this video interview with Beet.TV. “We are very much of a no gate shop. We like to be easy to work with, and what we’ve seen is the numbers have proven out our success in that.”

Balancing Brand Safety and Relevance

However, Kazi believes there is still room for the industry to evolve, particularly when it comes to enabling demand against sensitive content. Political advertising is one area where Warner Bros. Discovery faces challenges, as it strives to balance brand safety with serving relevant ads to viewers.

“It’s (about) balancing it out with messaging that we feel is appropriate for our brand, and that’s where it does get a little bit sensitive,” Kazi explains.

“We really want advertising to be relevant to our customers, to our end viewers because that’s when it drives value both for them as well as for the advertisers themselves.”

Shifting Buyer Expectations

Kazi has also observed a shift in buyer expectations, with more interest in non-guaranteed buys that allow advertisers greater control over where their spend is going. While this enables them to find the users they want, it presents forecasting and pacing challenges for Warner Bros. Discovery.

“Less of the budgets are guaranteed,” Kazi notes. “In the past it was always a guarantee, and we knew they purchased a million impressions, they were going to deliver a million impressions. Now there’s more interest in doing non-guaranteed spend so that they can find the users that they want.”