Marketing shuffles at Warner Bros. Discovery with new Asia leaders

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Warner Bros. Discovery has reshuffled its marketing leadership in Asia. The company has handed Jason Monteiro (pictured left) the additional remit of head of integrated marketing for India, Southeast Asia, and Korea; and HBO Max's VP, marketing for Southeast Asia Daniel Tan (pictured right) the remit of marketing lead for streaming in Asia Pacific.

Monteiro, who joined the company in January this year as GM of HBO Max Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan will be reporting to Clement Schwebig, president and MD, India, Southeast Asia and Korea. This is in addition to his role as regional coordinator for streaming in the APAC region.

In an internal memo seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Schwebig said that Monteiro will manage marketing and creative services across all lines of business in his added role. This includes Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Television, TV networks such as Cartoon Network, Discovery and HBO, and brands and franchises such as DC, Harry Potter and the Wizarding World, and Looney Tunes. Monteiro will also work closely with the D2C marketing team.

Meanwhile, Tan will report to Pato Spagnoletto, marketing leader for streaming. Tan joined the team last November from Disney+ and has been responsible for all HBO Max marketing efforts in Southeast Asia to lead the brand and grow subscriptions to the new service.

In his new remit, Tan will be part of the regional marketing leadership whose teams will continue to focus on various areas of marketing including sub-growth, brand, content, and creative. The leadership will also work with the regional streaming leads, regional MDs, local GMs and teams, and functional leaders. Warner Bros. Discovery is currently hiring Tan's counterparts in EMEA and Latin America. Spagnoletto said in a separate internal memo that Tan's current team and the Discovery+ marketing growth and retention teams in the region will now report into Tan.

The leadership changes come after WarnerMedia completed its merger with Discovery in April. Warner Bros. Discovery’s global streaming business includes discovery+ and HBO Max (though the current streaming service in eight territories in Southeast Asia is called HBO GO). In APAC, discovery+ is available in the Philippines and India.

At the same time, Athreyan Sundararajan, VP, group marketing - WarnerMedia India, Southeast Asia, Korea will be departing the company. "He has been outstanding in uniting and leading the marketing and creative teams of the legacy WarnerMedia businesses," Schwebig added.

Leadership changes in Asia

Just last week, Warner Bros. Discovery said it plans to cut up to 30% of global ad sales team, impacting nearly 1,000 jobs. The company is also reportedly offering its US ad sales team a chance to voluntarily leave the company. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE previously understood that the effects have not been felt here in Asia, and the team is relatively lean compared to the US.

Nonetheless, there are still leadership changes to the Warner Bros. Discovery leadership team in India, Southeast Asia and Korea. Vikram Sharma will now lead consumer products licensing while continuing to oversee ad sales for Southeast Asia.

Joining him in leadership roles are Jae Chang, who will continue to lead TV distribution and home entertainment, and Kurt Rieder, who will continue to lead theatrical distribution as well as being part of the international theatrical operations led by Andrew Cripps.

In Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Shonali Bedi will lead affiliate distribution and digital partnerships for Southeast Asia, while she continues to head business development and insights region-wide. Cindy Ma will lead affiliate distribute and ad sales for Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Yasmin Zahid, who Schwebig said has been synonymous with HBO/WarnerMedia affiliate distribution for the past three decades will be leaving the company following a transition period. "It has been a true privilege to work with Yasmin and she deserves all the credit for our fantastic affiliate relationships," Schwebig said.

On the content side, which includes programming, original production, and acquisition, Warner Bros. Discovery will be operating three verticals. Magdalene Ew will continue to head entertainment, while Christopher Ho and Lynn Ng will lead kids and factual and lifestyle respectively. Ng will also continue her current role for content ops for the wider region.

With these appointments, Leslie Lee, VP, kids, Asia Pacific, will be leaving the company.

In Korea and India, Jeeyoung Lee will be GM for Korea while Arjun Nohwar has been named GM of India. Megha Tata, MD of Discovery Communications India will be leaving the company.

According to Schwebig, this structure makes Warner Bros. Discovery "well-positioned to achieve its ambition of being the best and most dynamic media company in the region".

His next plan of action is to meet with employees and their team members. "We are committed to building a diverse workforce and well-balanced representation from both legacy companies. I will also be working closely with the newly appointed India, Southeast Asia and Korea leadership team to finalise our key priorities for the next 18 months," he said.

Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery owns iconic brands and products including Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO Max, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, and New Line Cinema, among others. The WarnerMedia-Discovery merger was announced last year and the deal amounted to US$43 billion.