Time Warner’s Warner Bros. Television Group yesterday moved to cash in on audiences and ad dollars gathering around shows streaming on the Web with the launch of its new teen TV-themed Web hub, TheWB.com.
The new site, targeting viewers aged 16-34, is a mix of original programming for the Web from the likes of big-name producers such as McG and Josh Schwartz, coupled with Warner Bros.’ back catalog of youth-oriented TV hits including “Friends,” “The O.C.,” “Veronica Mars,” and “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.”
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Finding new outlets for Warner Bros. content is an increasingly important imperative for Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes as he positions the studio to be a bigger driver of revenue in a slimmed-down media giant.
TheWB.com is one of multiple-niche TV programming plays the company is pursuing on the Web. A new kids TV hub targeting children aged 6-12 called KidsWB.com, is also being tested.
That effort marks the first time that characters from across Warner Bros. Animation, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics have been assembled in a single online destination.
Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Bros. Television Group, has called the moves a “reimagination” of the WB brand, which previously existed as a youth-oriented broadcast network before it was merged with CBS’ UPN in 2006 to form the CW network.
A source close to Time Warner said launching TheWB.com has no bearing on the fate of the CW, which has been struggling to attract viewers.
This source noted that the CW still buys programming from Warner Bros., and the content being put online at TheWB.com was never intended for the broadcast network.
Instead, Time Warner sources said the portals are new non-exclusive release options for its back catalog of content, a library that ranks among the industry’s largest.
Warner Bros. will also distribute its shows online through select third party distribution partners.
Industry observers note that the new site could become a potential new online outlet for programming from The CW.
However, the CW was quick to distance itself from the initiative yesterday, noting in a statement, that it “has no bearing on The CW’s digital platform.”
The move also comes at a time when distribution windows for movies, DVDs, cable, broadcast and syndication are collapsing.
Bewkes has been bullish on making content available more readily on video-on-demand platforms, online and on cable.