Warner Bros. founded in 1923, Warner Bros. Entertainment, a fully integrated, broad-based entertainment company, is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms. A WarnerMedia company, Warner Bros. stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD and Blu-ray, digital distribution, animation, comic books, product and brand licensing and broadcasting.
In addition to its long-standing position as the industry’s preeminent creator and distributor of feature films, television programs, animation, video and DVD, Warner Bros. Studios has also become one of the foremost authorities on utilizing licensing and merchandising to grow and reinforce its brands, on pioneering new forms of distribution, and on marshaling its vast creative and business resources to build world-renowned entertainment franchises that become appreciating assets in its unrivaled library.
One of the most respected, diversified and successful motion picture and television studios in the world, Warner Bros. Studios began when brothers Albert Warner, Sam Warner, Harry Warner and Jack L. Warner incorporated their fledgling movie company on April 4, 1923. In 1927, the release of the world’s first “talkie,” (synchronized-sound feature film), The Jazz Singer, set a character and tone of innovation and influence that would become synonymous with the name Warner Bros.
Today, the vast Warner Bros. library, one of the most prestigious and valuable in the world, consists of more than 100,000 hours of programming, including nearly 8,300 feature films and 5,000 television programs comprised of tens of thousands of individual episodes. To date, Warner Bros. remains the only studio to cross the $1 billion mark domestically and internationally 17 years in a row—an industry record. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment was also the industry’s leader for the 17th consecutive year with an overall 18% market share. WBHE was #1 in both digital and physical sell-through and topped the family, TV content and theatrical catalog sales categories. Warner Bros. Television Group’s WBTV, Warner Horizon Scripted Television, Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, Shed U.S., Telepicture, Warner Bros. Animation and Blue Ribbon Content continued to produce the most popular and successful series for the broadcast, cable, pay and digital marketplaces, with nearly 70 series in the 2017-18 season. Working across all platforms and outlets, the Studio continued to be a category leader and trendsetter in the digital realm with VOD (transactional and ad-supported), original content, apps and anti-piracy technology. Warner Bros. Digital Networks is responsible for creating and building the Studio’s digital video services, producing digital-native content and growing Warner Bros.’ direct-to-consumer capabilities. 1