Warner Music Group Launches WMX to Streamline Ad Buys

Warner Music Group, long known as a titan of the recording industry, is grouping its multiple editorial brands under a new division to make it simpler for marketers and artists to reach its avid audience of music fans. The entertainment and music company announced the launch of a new division called Warner Music Experience (WMX), which brings all of its editorial operations—as well as a slew of marketing and commercial services—under the same umbrella. WMX is functionally a rebranded, expanded version of its predecessor, WEA, though it will offer advertisers unified access to its slate of offerings. WMX includes youth culture and music publisher Uproxx, live music app Songkick, hip-hop publisher HipHopDX and song cover-based media brand Cover Nation, as well as a host of smaller owned and operated properties. Collectively, the publishers and the YouTube channels of WMX-affiliated artists and record labels reach a global audience of 249 million monthly unique visitors and generate a combined 46 billion monthly video views, according to the publisher. Its owned and operated YouTube channels attract around 1 billion monthly views, according to Comscore data. By consolidating its editorial efforts into a standalone division, WMX aims to streamline the media-buying process for advertisers, allowing brands to buy inventory across its properties in one purchase. The restructure also helps the artists, who gain access to a large, music-obsessed audience, said WMX president Maria Weaver. “WEA is an established 50-year-old brand that has been successful for Warner Music Group in the distribution and production space. Simultaneously, WMG has expanded its owned-and-operated content through acquisitions,” Weaver said. “But there really hadn't been a way of tying that together into a way for artists to access these different opportunities, so the launch of WMX is the perfect opportunity to do that.” The consolidation effort comes as publishers compete for advertising budgets by adding scale and making the buying process easier for marketers. Rather than a loose confederation of editorial titles, WMX now offers an effective vehicle for marketers to reach a massive base of music fans. WMX details Weaver, who joined WMG one year ago, spearheaded the rebrand, which she breaks into five key functions: commercial services; media business; artist and fan experience; ecommerce and retail; and audience strategy. The commercial services and marketing network originally operated under WEA, but will join WMX as part of the rebrand. The in-house creative team has a strong background in areas such as merchandise, streaming, ticketing, vinyl and other music-centric areas of focus. As a result, through WMX, the publishing arm hopes to both attract a specialized audience and help marketers reach it. Warner Music Launches Its IPO The editorial arm of WMX will be led by president of media and creative content Ben Blank, and the division has recruited Erin Moran, formerly of Google, to join as its global chief revenue officer of content and media. Ad-buying boost The editorial properties within WMX will remain editorially independent, but marketers will now be able to buy inventory across the titles in one purchase, according to Blank. "Our ability to reach specific audiences at scale, with targeted campaign executions and creative, is a huge advantage," Blank said. "Bringing the family of brands together is not only an operational advantage but most importantly allows advertisers to transact and engage across our properties with a singular buy at scale globally." The ease of accessibility will appeal to advertisers, said Scott Bender, a partner and global head of client strategy at Prohaska Consulting, because marketers increasingly want to execute bigger deals with fewer partners. The combined titles will also allow marketers to create packages and allow the WMX team more flexibility in their ad offerings, Bender told Adweek. How Brands Can Win Over Consumers by Sourcing Music Responsibly “It gives the aggregated-audience opportunities to advertisers and brands that are looking for them, but it still allows them to sell specific content executions around particular properties that aren't tied directly to an audience-based buy,” Bender said. “So it creates new bundling and packaging opportunities.”

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Warner Music Group Launches WMX to Streamline Ad Buys

The rebranded, expanded division houses Uproxx, HipHopDX, Songkick and Cover Nation

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