CBS Taps Facebook Executive for Digital Ad Push
04 August 2017 - 1:44AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
CBS Corp. has tapped a former Facebook marketing executive for a
senior post as part of a restructuring of its advertising sales
unit aimed at capturing more revenue from digital platforms.
David Lawenda, who was head of U.S. global marketing solutions
at Facebook until March, will become executive vice president of
digital sales and sales strategy for CBS Corp. Jo Ann Ross,
longtime head of CBS ad sales has been promoted to president and
chief revenue officer as part of the restructuring.
The hire of Mr. Lawenda is part of a broader push at CBS to
monetize the growing portion of its audience that is consuming
content on platforms other than its traditional broadcast network.
As more viewing is happening away from linear television, networks
fear money is being left on the table.
In the recently concluded television season, the audience for
CBS's entertainment programming grew an average of 53% per series
over the initial telecast when viewing from video-on-demand and
digital video recorders during a 35-day window are factored in,
according to Nielsen.
However, standard advertising sales don't cover that delayed
viewing and on-demand online viewing isn't part of the ratings
currency used in ad deals."
"Right now the main metric being used to sell advertising does
not take into account millions of viewers who are watching our
programming on a delayed basis, and on new platforms," said CBS
Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. "There is a huge opportunity here,
and it's why realigning our sales force is so important."
In announcing the hire, Mr. Moonves said he is counting on Mr.
Lawenda to "accelerate our multi-platform sales effort" and help
"position CBS for maximum growth as viewer habits continue to
change."
"We saw this as an opportunity to get one strong voice in the
marketplace," said Ms. Ross. "We're bringing in David to lead us
forward, he will bring new ideas and strategies." Mr. Lawenda,
reports to Ms. Ross.
CBS is not the only network rethinking its approach to
advertising and looking for executives with digital savvy to help
guide those efforts. In May, 21st Century Fox tapped Joe Marchese,
a digital advertising veteran, as president of advertising revenue
for its Fox Networks Group.
In recent years, Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal unit and Walt
Disney Co.'s Disney/ABC TV unit have restructured their advertising
units as well in an effort to both increase digital revenue and
better coordinate digital and traditional sale efforts.
Prior to spending four years at Facebook, Mr. Lawenda was
president of advertising sales and marketing at Spanish-language
broadcaster Univision. He is not a complete unknown within the
halls CBS, as he also spent many years in various sales roles at
Viacom Inc. when CBS was a unit there.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 03, 2017 11:29 ET (15:29 GMT)
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