WBD's Zeiler Wins 2026 International Emmy Directorate Award
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- Gerhard Zeiler has been tapped for the 2026 International Emmy Directorate Award, joining Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria, who was previously announced as this year's founders award honoree.
- Zeiler and Bajaria will accept their awards at the 54th International Emmy Awards Gala on Monday, Nov. 23, in New York.
- HBO Max footprint expanded to more than 130 countries in just over three years under Zeiler's leadership at Warner Bros. Discovery, and he helped oversee the integration of WarnerMedia and Discovery.
- Zeiler first joined Time Warner's Turner in 2012, expanding international operations including regional sports and pay-TV businesses, and was named WarnerMedia International president in 2020; prior to Turner, he was CEO of RTL and held senior roles at Austria's ORF.
- The directorate award is presented to individuals or organizations for "outstanding contributions over a period of time to the arts and sciences of international television," per the International Emmys.
- Recent directorate award winners include Grupo Globo president João Roberto Marinho (2025), Gaumont CEO Sidonie Dumas (2024), Balaji Telefilms' Ekta Kapoor (2023), CJ ENM's Miky Lee (2022), and ZDF's Thomas Bellut (2021).
Why it matters: The award pairs Zeiler with Netflix's Bajaria as the two streaming-era executives honored by the International Academy this cycle, spotlighting the global push behind HBO Max's rollout to 130+ countries and the completion of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger on Zeiler's watch.
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