TV Execs and Ad Sales Chiefs Reveal Their Top Priorities for 2022

For the past two weeks, the Convergent TV team has looked back on the highlights, lowlights and lessons learned of 2021. But now that it’s a new year, it’s time to look ahead to 2022. We asked the TV industry’s top execs and ad sales chiefs to tell us what’s on top of their to-do list for the new year. Here’s what they had to say: What’s your top priority to tackle in 2022? Frances Berwick, chairman, entertainment networks, NBCUniversal television and streaming: With the oceans of content being created and presented across myriad platforms, a top priority is making sure that our shows are being sampled and seen by the largest audience possible. The strong brands within our portfolio help us deliver a compelling experience, and we need to continue to build upon that by being creative about getting the word out and raising awareness for our new shows and IP. JP Colaco, president of ad sales, WarnerMedia: Our priority in 2022 is continuing to scale HBO Max, inclusive of our ad-supported tier. This effort is in partnership with the many teams across our company who bring this best-in-class streaming service to life. We are already seeing month over month increases in engagement, young audiences signing up and we couldn’t be prouder. This is in combination with developing more big IP partnerships that feature quality storytelling while celebrating equity and inclusion, like our current partnership with DC and Ally for The Milestone Initiative. Craig Erwich, president, Hulu originals and ABC Entertainment: Two things: continuing to work with our creative partners to have the most entertaining and inclusive series that are available to our audiences at the right time; and ensuring a safe and healthy work environment for our team as we begin to return to our offices. TV Ad Sales Chiefs and Buyers on the Marketplace’s Biggest Changes in 2021 Kathleen Finch, chief lifestyle brands officer, Discovery Inc.: Continue to build new talent— especially diverse talent—and then create innovative ways to capitalize on their popularity. We have a successful track record of identifying and developing breakout talent across all the Discovery lifestyle brands. Marianne Gambelli, president, advertising sales, Fox Corp.: Many priorities as we enter 2022, but right at the top is working with our clients to drive value and develop solutions that meet their marketing needs in new and meaningful ways that are reflective of today’s marketplace. Across our portfolio, we pride ourselves on being fully ad-supported. With the unrivaled breadth and depth of our entertainment, streaming, sports and news portfolio, we offer the value, scale and content necessary to help our clients grow their brands. Kelly Kahl, president, CBS Entertainment: We want to continue to bring new eyeballs to our new shows. With so many choices out there, it’s definitely a longer game now when it comes to promoting series and growing an audience. Qualitatively, I’ll stack our slate of daytime, primetime and late-night shows up against anyone; we need to keep working hard to let people know about them. Kim Kelleher, president of commercial revenue and partnerships, AMC Networks: My top priority in 2022 is my team at AMC Networks. Like the whole world, we have all been through a lot and in the coming year I want to do everything I can to forge a work environment that takes all we have learned about each other and ourselves over these past 20 months and build a supportive workplace that fosters great results and inspires us all. John Landgraf, chairman, FX: By the end of 2022, we want to see the leading edge of FX’s creative output at full force. Wonya Lucas, president and CEO, Crown Media Family Networks: In 2022, one key focus is to listen to our advertising partners and work in tandem with them to navigate these unique and unprecedented times. We know advertisers value their association with our brand, with our audience and with the strength of our linear channels. We want to collaborate as they shape their goals impacted by the marketplace. We expect to build on advanced advertising and data-driven solutions, and we want to create stronger marketing partnerships, including integrations and custom content, to create new value propositions as viewers migrate to streaming platforms, fast channels and OTT viewing. Where the viewers go—and that's all viewers of any age—we have created options so that our advertising partners can continue to reach and engage Hallmark’s loyal and valuable audience. Farhad Massoudi, CEO and founder, Tubi: As a proudly ad-supported, technology-first platform, our top priority in the new year is to reinforce our position as a transparent and trusted partner to both Madison Avenue and Hollywood, and remain the leader in the AVOD space by satisfying the increasing demand for “free” given the increasing number of SVOD services. For brands, our objective will be to enhance our industry-first ad tech, specifically our Certified Measurement Program, and ensure that advertisers can take full advantage of leveraging our hard-to-reach audience and incremental value that complement any linear TV spend. For the entertainment creative community and our production and content partners, our mission has always been to reach deep into viewers’ passions, and we will continue to actively engage with a variety of authentic and diverse voices. This commitment to programming and development, coupled with our Content Intelligence technology that keeps content recommendations relevant and tailored, has kept our viewers coming back and remaining loyal. Chris McCarthy, president and CEO, ViacomCBS media networks and MTV Entertainment Studios: I’m laser-focused on ensuring a smooth transition for our team when we return to the office and continuing to always look at every obstacle as an opportunity. Even though we’ve (all) endured a seismic shift living through this pandemic, I remain in awe of the remarkable creative adaptability, innovation and resilience—our team has locked arms and collectively made our brands and our business stronger than ever. I am inspired by their heart and hustle every day. Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios, AMC Networks: 2022 will be the biggest programming year in the history of AMC. We are bringing three landmark and beloved series back into port, in ways that will be positively satisfying for the fans. The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul and Killing Eve are shows filled with stories, moments and characters that have meant so much to so many, so we all feel a collective responsibility to bring them to a close in an elevated way that honors the significant time viewers have spent with them. Simultaneously, we have several exciting new originals that will captivate our audience; shows like 61st Street, Dark Winds, Moonhaven, Tales of the Walking Dead and two new series in a potential Anne Rice universe we are incredibly excited about: Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches. Peter Olsen, president, ad sales, A+E Networks: We still believe in this foundational formula: audience discovery + contextual relevance + creative amplification will lead to the best results. Whether this plays out on linear, VOD, digital or addressable … whether traditional audience target or advanced target ... whether GRP/tonnage focus or business outcomes guarantee. :et’s not over-think it. Let’s focus on results. TV, while changing, still works! Michael Paull, president, Disney+ and ESPN+: In 2022, I am focusing on continuing to expand the subscriber base for our streaming services in the U.S. and around the world. Our world-class content studios at The Walt Disney Company have created incredible stories and our unparalleled sports rights will entertain fans throughout the year. Even more importantly than that, I am focused on creating an environment where our incredible team can do their best work and be fulfilled doing it. Mark Pedowitz, chairman and CEO, The CW: After getting back to the office, exploring new ways to thrive. Scott Rosenberg, svp and gm, platform business, Roku: Roku will continue to focus on innovation and delivering value for the brand and the consumer alike. Not only will we see TV ad budgets move to TV streaming, marketers will go beyond the traditional 30-second ad. For example, we launched the Roku Brand Studio as a resource to marketers to create streamer-first campaigns on America’s No. 1 TV streaming platform. We are also working to enable dynamic linear ad replacement. 14 Top TV and Streaming Execs on the Most Important Thing They Learned in 2021 Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer, domestic advertising sales, ViacomCBS: My commitment to DEI is steadfast, and I’m laser-focused on supporting initiatives that can evolve not only how we do business, but also how we grow and attract talent to our team. Fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging is a main priority, and we’ve been full steam ahead on an action plan that’s galvanizing transformation at every function and level of the ad-sales organization—including recruitment, internal mobility and education. ViacomCBS is recognized as a critical partner in helping clients reach and serve diverse audiences, and having a team of dynamic voices and perspectives that genuinely reflects the world we live in is absolutely crucial. Additionally, top of mind heading into 2022 is our return to office and supporting my team as we transition to a hybrid work model—I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone back in-person. Rob Sharenow, president, programming, A+E Networks: With an ever-expanding universe of choices, viewers want clarity. One of our top priorities is to solidify our core brand identities and what viewers can expect from each: core history and exploring curiosities on The History Channel; edgy, unscripted on A&E; and movies on Lifetime and LMN. Further, we’ll continue to build upon our areas of industry leadership: maintaining our award-winning and truly special employee culture; vehemently championing DEI across all facets of our company and our content; valuing the full scope of our audiences, especially in an 18+ environment; and sharing our compelling stories across all platforms. Kristina Shepard, head of agency partnerships and national brand team lead, Roku: Our top priority next year is to continue adapting to the needs of our clients. Whether it’s developing streaming-first creative, providing more precise audience building and campaign measurement, or adjusting campaigns due to supply-chain constraints, helping them win is the most important thing on our mind. Donna Speciale, president of ad sales and marketing, Univision: While we made great inroads this past year, my charge remains the same: to educate marketers to see the potential growth opportunity in the Hispanic audience and Univision as their growth partner. It’s bigger than one product or one offering. Univision’s client list shouldn’t be a subset of the English language advertisers–it should be all of them. It is important that we keep doing everything we can to break down barriers and make it turnkey for brands, so we can show our advertising partners how valuable the U.S. Hispanic community is to their businesses, and just as important, how valuable their brands can be for the U.S. Hispanic community. Execs Grade the TV Industry on How It Tackled Measurement Problems This Year Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer, Discovery Inc.: At Discovery, our top priority is to maximize the value of our best-in-class audience engagement with our invaluable content across all platforms. That will always be our unique market advantage. I [earlier] mentioned the need to address the measurement challenges we all face and another key priority for 2022 is how we can bring data and enhanced targeting to linear at scale. On the digital and streaming front, in addition to ad supported scale in 2022 we want to offer a fantastic user experience, robust content offerings and relevant ad experiences. Rob Tuck, evp, national sales, The CW: We continue to challenge ourselves to make sure we can provide clients with unique opportunities to reach the younger consumer. It is also our goal to be transparent with our clients with the intent on delivering the promises we agreed to for any and all deals. Brett Weitz, general manager, TBS, TNT and truTV: Staying No. 1. TBS, TNT and truTV see 200 million people come through their air each year. Our acquired programming, sports programming and original programming is at the top of every chart. I’m not pollyannish about linear-cable growth, but being in 85 million households domestically isn’t going away tomorrow. In a world where streaming businesses are far from great profitability, there ain’t nothing basic about basic cable anymore. Jana Winograde, president of entertainment, Showtime Networks: To launch eight freshman series, a record for Showtime. Linda Yaccarino, chairman, global advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal: [Last] year, I [was] incredibly proud of the transformative partnerships we’ve built across every corner of our industry. And [this] year, as part of that, one of our top priorities is data. Our team is leading a companywide data initiative to create a unified system—from Fandango to parks to Peacock– in the most privacy-safe way possible. Harnessing this data will allow us to deliver strategic insights for our clients that no other media or tech company has—and it will only make our partnerships stronger. (Additional reporting by Mollie Cahillane and Kelsey Sutton.)