ProSiebenSat.1 buying Warner Bros. Discovery out of Joyn, takes full control of streamer

Rainer Beaujean

German commercial broadcast group ProSiebenSat.1 is buying Warner Bros. Discovery out of their joint-venture streaming platform Joyn.

The companies are currently 50:50 partners on the AVOD, which was established with Discovery in 2017, and has been operating under the name Joyn since 2019, but ProSiebenSat.1 will now acquire the other half of the business.

Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to fully transfer its shares in Joyn to ProSiebenSat.1’s Media SE’s Entertainment segment as a fully owned subsidiary. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ProSiebenSat.1 said that it plans to make the streamer “an integral part of its value chain” and place Joyn “at the center of its digital entertainment presence.” The streamer currently averages around four million unique users a month.

In addition to content from ProSiebenSat.1 and other content partners, Joyn users will continue to have on-demand access to free, advertising-supported content from Warner Bros. Discovery. Users of the Joyn PLUS+ subscription offer can also obtain access to Discovery+ for 12 months.

Earlier this year, ProSiebenSat.1 discontinued all the individual stations’ apps and made Joyn the single point of contact for ProSiebenSat.1 content on connected TVs, smartphones and all other devices.

Rainer Beaujean, group CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, said: “By acquiring all shares in Joyn, we are continuing the digital transformation of ProSiebenSat.1 Group. With Joyn having launched as a pure streaming platform three years ago, we are now making it the first point of contact in our digital ecosystem and thereby benefiting from synergies within the group.

“In line with our strategy, we are extending our reach, especially among young target groups, and creating new opportunities for monetization. Full control over Joyn gives us the entrepreneurial flexibility we need.”