Netflix has found a new leader for its North American advertising business. The streaming giant has hired Nicolle Pangis to be its VP of advertising, overseeing sales for the U.S. and Canada. Pangis was most recently the CEO of the advanced advertising firm Ampersand, where she built that company into a power player in addressable TV. She will report to...

Netflixs chief communications officer Rachel Whetstone and global public policy VP Dean Garfield are leaving the company. The moves come as co-CEO Ted Sarandos seeks to streamline the positions into a newly created role of chief global affairs officer, who will oversee both policy and corporate communications. Garfield does not have comms experience and Whetstone was said to not be...

Paramount Global, which has agreed to be acquired by Skydance Media, is going through another executive change. In this case though, a veteran executive is moving into a new key role. Marva Smalls, executive vp, global head of inclusion at Paramount and executive vp, public affairs at Nickelodeon is stepping away from her current roles at the end of 2024...

Range Media Partners wants a piece of the celebrity chef pie. The management firm is getting into the food business, acquiring FRESH MGMT and launching a new division called Range Culinary. FRESH MGMT was founded by Andrew Chason and Danielle Kim, who previously led CAAs culinary division. Its clients include chef and humanitarian Jos Andrs and Top Chef host Kristen...

Starz and YouTube have renewed their distribution partnership with a new multiyear deal that promises more bundling opportunities. Starz is the U.S. cable and streaming brand behind theOutlanderandPowerfranchises, as well as recently debutedThree Womenand the thrillerSweetpea. We are excited to deepen our partnership with YouTube TV, the fastest-growing pay TV distributor. This partnership further enhances our ability to deliver Starzs...

Advertisers have bought in to womens sports. GroupM, the WPP-owned media buying agency, says that it has exceeded its goal to double the annual media spend on womens sports programming. The agency had announced its intention to double its spend in the area earlier this year, in connection to the NCAA womens college basketball tournament, which drew record-shattering ratings. Now...

The supervisory board of Vivendi, led by chairmanship Yannick Bollor and CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine, has approved a plan for a split into four companies, with shareholders set to vote on it on Dec. 9. If approved, it will lead to the separation of pay-TV giant Canal+, advertising powerhouse Havas and publishing firm Louis Hachette Group, which consists of the...

Sony Pictures Television on Tuesday unveiled the launch of Hot Sauce, a Belfast-based production company run by investigative journalists-turned drama creatives Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, known for such projects as Netflix film Rogue Agent and BBC police drama Blue Lights. The backing from SPT will supercharge Hot Sauce and see it launched as a full production company, Sony said....

The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos wrote in an op-ed on Monday that the papers choice to cease presidential endorsements was borne from an attempt to regain the trust of its readers. Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election, Bezos wrote. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence....

NBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Anthony Davis is launching production banner Jakm3n Productions, looking to work on projects across the film, TV and gaming spaces. Jakm3n has set key executives in Arik Burks and Keith Chamberlain as COO and CAO, respectively. The company has also announced that it will co-finance and co-produce Toonz Media Groups animated featurePierre the Pigeon-Hawk....

Samsung wants to send a message to Hollywood: It is officially a major player in streaming video. The South Korean tech giant is for the first time releasing user data on its free ad-supported streaming service Samsung TV Plus, disclosing that the FAST service now has 88 million monthly active users (MAUs), and is the number one app on Samsung...

When I was abruptly laid off from the Los Angeles Times in June 2023 by a form email no call, no meeting, no personal touch, just a mass email sent to some 74 employees I spent time wondering whether the newspapers management was so dysfunctional that it no longer knew how to carry out a simple staff reduction, or whether...

MasterChef. Supergirl. The Kelly Clarkson Show. These productions all initially filmed in California but were convinced to leave at least in part due to more lucrative tax credits in others regions. Now, as runaway production and Hollywood cost-cutting threatens the states hold on the film and television business, Gov. Gavin Newsom is stepping in. An early budget proposal looks to...