Discovery Deal Deepens Uncertainty Over WarnerMedia’s Bleacher Report

Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young during yesterday's game against the New York Knicks. Photo by AP

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Shortly after Jason Kilar took over WarnerMedia a year ago, he met with executives at Bleacher Report to discuss the future of the scrappy digital sports business, according to people familiar with the discussions. In the meeting, Kilar and the team discussed how Bleacher Report could play a role in the company’s upcoming HBO Max streaming service, which was about to launch.

The Bleacher Report crew were hopeful for a friendly and powerful ally in Kilar, who is seen as a more forward-thinking digital executive. One of the few digital success stories within WarnerMedia—which had acquired it in 2012—Bleacher Report’s team felt their ambitious plans for growth had been stalled after AT&T acquired the TV and film giant three years ago. They came out of the meeting happy. Kilar, a veteran of the streaming business, told them he saw the potential for the media brand, which primarily produces sports highlights and other short video for Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube as well as written news on its website and app.

But ultimately, nothing materialized from the encounter. While Kilar has talked publicly about eventually including sports in HBO Max, Bleacher Report insiders say they were never given a direction about what role the website could play. The business ended up having a bad year: Revenue fell 15% to $140 million, say people familiar with the matter, thanks to the pandemic, which shut down live sports and halted ad spending.