Warner Bros. Discovery is betting big on live experiences — theme parks, studio tours, themed exhibitions and retail stores — and has created a new division aimed at making the most of that opportunity.
The new division will be called Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences and will encompass both company-owned and operated experiences, like studio tours and exhibitions, as well as licensed entertainment, such as deals with Universal Destinations and Miral (home of the Harry Potter theme parks).
WBD Studios COO Simon Robinson will lead the new division, reporting to WBD’s chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell, while content operations will continue to report to CFO Gunnar Weidenfels.
Peter van Rooden will serve as executive vice president of worldwide themed entertainment, leading the company’s Harry Potter and other licensed businesses, while Sarah Rootes will oversee the company’s UK and Hollywood studio tours and retail businesses.
“WBD delivers a variety of location-based experiences for fans around the world, from theme parks and tours to trade shows, retail stores and more,” Campbell said in a statement. “Bringing these two teams under one roof gives us the opportunity to leverage and align the talent and resources of all our experiential businesses to further delight consumers with even more authentic and engaging in-person experiences and events in every market.”
Weidenfels actually previewed the news at a Bank of America conference on Wednesday, saying that Experience Group is “approximately a $500 million revenue business.”
“This is an area that is growing very dynamically and where we have invested heavily,” Weidenfels said. “I love this business because it is the biggest return of our entire portfolio and a gift that will continue to pay off in the most positive way. So we are looking at the pipeline. We have been running the “Making of Harry Potter” tour in Leavesden for more than 10 years now. We opened in Tokyo last year, which is doing very well and is a big contributor to the growth, revenue and profitability of this division. We are looking at other opportunities and it is clear that we are willing to take a little more risk in this area, invest and have the confidence to reap the big rewards because the team really knows what they are doing and they have a mold that works very well.”
Live experiences are a fast-growing business for entertainment companies, led by mega-theme parks from Disney and Universal, but companies like WBD are finding their own way in through operating experiences like Harry Potter exhibits and studio tours, as well as licensing IP like Harry Potter and DC Comics, which Six Flags manages.