SVG All-Stars: Anne Graham, Manager, Media Strategy & Project Planning, Warner Bros. Discovery This former university-library archivist is one of TNT Sports' secret weapons By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Tuesday, February 25, 2025 - 9:58 am
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In an era when sports production is evolving faster than ever, a new generation of leaders is beginning to make its mark on the industry. The SVG All-Stars series explores the journey of the industry's rising executives, showcasing their experiences and career highlights in the business, overarching philosophy and leadership strategy, technological and creative innovation, and where they see the industry headed. Join us as we uncover the story behind their ascent and the impact they are having in an ever-evolving industry.
Anne Graham is manager, media strategy and project planning, at Warner Bros. Discovery in Atlanta. Here she speaks at a RISE event at WBD's Techwood headquarters.
In today's relentless media world of more, perhaps there's no more underrated part of the content-production process than storage and organization. From building historical archives to empowering today's projects with streamlined workflows, the asset-management group is truly the unsung arm of any top-flight media organization.
At Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT Sports in Atlanta, Anne Graham is the invaluable head of one such group. As manager, media strategy and project planning, she does much of the dirty work: establishing consistent and effective metadata schemes, preserving historical video, and making WBD's dense content archive browsable, actionable, and, most important, monetizable. The work she and her team preserves and circulates all the company's content - from live productions of NBA and MLB games to documentaries, even digital and social-media giant Bleacher Report.
Interestingly, Graham got her start in archiving at universities, serving as a program-development specialist at Emory University's Woodruff Library and as a digital-collections archivist at Kennesaw State University. In 2017, she made the unexpected leap to sports media, joining then Turner Sports as an assistant manager of media management. In the years since, she has seen a flurry of changes at the organization - various owners and company names - but, through it all, has remained a steady leader, enhancing not only her team but the entire organization's ability to put on great broadcasts and tell exceptional stories.
In this week's edition of SVG All-Stars, Graham shares her unique journey from library science to sports media, why it's important to her to balance a love of preserving history with a passion for boosting the next generation, and why it's always valuable to remain open-minded to new opportunities.
Graham originally began her career as an archivist in university libraries. She made the move to Turner Sports in 2017
What are the key responsibilities of your current role?
Like everything else, they've evolved over time. Initially, I was responsible for providing access to sports content for production, both internal and from external sources. My role shifted from day-to-day operations to implementing strategy through systems, workflows, and metadata management for sports and postproduction. A lot of my job now involves planning projects, documenting workflows, and thinking of ways to measure everything we do.
What is one key industry trend that you believe is having a major impact on your organization right now?
There are so many to choose from! For me, the most impactful trend is media consolidation. Our company and the industry as a whole have been in a state of flux for several years. Mergers, new technology, and the pandemic caused a lot of upheaval and instability for people. We've all had to adapt quickly to change. There are a lot of negative connotations with so much disruption, but I've found that change can also be the catalyst for new opportunity and creativity. I'm working on many projects right now. It's exhausting but exhilarating, too.
What is one core philosophy you try to live by when managing your team/operation?
It depends on your focus. For the teams we support, I never say, No. If I can't fix the problem or deliver the requested content, I say, I can't help you, but let me find the person who can.
For our team, I always want to explain why we do something, not just what we do. I think context does a few things: it gives people a deeper understanding of what we're doing, and it provides the opportunity to reexamine and challenge those decisions. We should never be doing anything just because that's the way it has always been done.
I think both of these come from my background in libraries and archives and in working with students.
What is your favorite event(s) you've ever worked?
I've never really gotten to work remote events. Our team is always at Techwood, making sure content is delivered, ingested, maintained, and preserved. But, when I first started at Turner Sports, I got to go to the PGA Championship in Charlotte. It was an incredible experience, because it was my first year at Turner and my first year in broadcast. I came from universities, so it was mind-blowing to be in the compound and to talk to the operators, engineers, and directors. It gave me a taste of just how special sports production is and how incredibly lucky I am to be part of it.
Graham speaks at the 2024 SVG Sports Content Management Forum. She has served as the event's chairperson for the past few years.
How did you get started in sports production? What was your first real job in the business?
I have degrees in library science and information systems and worked primarily in academic libraries and archives a
