- Business Insider is recognizing the leaders who are helping shape the rise of free ad-supported streaming video in 2019.
- We are highlighting 16 power players, based on a mixture of reporting, nominations from readers, and conversations with industry experts.
- Click here for more BI Prime stories.
Ad-supported streaming services are taking flight in 2019, as more tech companies, digital startups, and legacy-media brands clamor to capture the billions in advertising dollars that are moving away from traditional TV.
US spending on digital-video advertising will reach $36 billion this year, 20% more than last year, according to eMarketer estimates.
With this inaugural list, Business Insider is recognizing the leaders who are helping shape the rise of free ad-supported streaming video in 2019.
These power players are pushing the industry forward: Their companies have either recently been acquired or are on the verge of being bought; they’re trying to broaden their reach and raise funding; and they’re expanding their content libraries and ad formats to speak to underserved audiences and attract advertisers.
These leaders are helping their companies navigate the evolving TV landscape and shaping the future of ad-supported video.
Methodology
We relied on a mix of our own reporting, nominations from readers, and industry experts to narrow down the finalists. We chose them based on the breadth of their roles and responsibilities and their influence on company performance and the industry.
The list encompasses a variety of streaming companies, including advertisment-based-video-on-demand (AVOD) players like Tubi, ad-supported streaming-TV services like Pluto TV; niche services that have cornered a segment of the ad-supported-video market, like Revry; tech companies that are playing in the video space, like Twitter; and media companies that have been strategic in programming for these platforms, like Viacom Digital Studios.
The list does not include executives at ad-supported services like Hulu or ESPN Plus, which charge subscription fees. But it does include freemium offerings like Hotstar that offer a free ad-supported tier.
The power players are listed in alphabetical order.
Susanne Daniels, global head of original content, YouTube
Susanne Daniels, the global head of original content at YouTube, is trying to scale the audiences for YouTube's originals in a way the company couldn't when its exclusive shows, movies, and specials were locked behind a paywall.
After a few years of offering originals like "Cobra Kai" to YouTube Premium subscribers who paid $9.99 per month for the service, YouTube this week began releasing its new original programming to all of its 2 billion monthly users who watch for free with ads.
Daniels, who held top roles at MTV, Lifetime Networks, and the WB before YouTube, is overhauling the video platform's content strategy as it pivots from a subscription-on-demand (SVOD) model to an AVOD model.
The new lineup hopes to attract audiences and advertisers at scale. Daniels also told Wendy Lee at the Los Angeles Times that she was looking for programming that could be done only on YouTube.
Her slate for 2019 includes a handful of continuing scripted series, like "Cobra Kai," "Impulse," and "Liza on Demand," as well as more unscripted programming with themes that are closer to YouTube's ethos, including music and learning, and its popular creators and personalities.
Recent and upcoming releases include:
- "A Student's Guide to Your First Year of College with Michelle Obama"
- An exclusive live special with the pop star Taylor Swift
- An upcoming interactive special, "A Heist with Markiplier," hosted by the popular YouTube creator Mark Fischbach. Viewers will be able to control Fischbach's decisions.
- A upcoming docuseries that dives into the world of artificial intelligence on the way, which will be hosted and narrated by Robert Downey Jr.
- An upcoming documentary called "The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash"
The platform's pivot from subscriptions to AVOD comes as more companies like Disney and Apple invest heavily in content for subscription services. The LA Times reported that Daniels and her team were spending less on original productions this year than in the past.
Kelly Day, president, Viacom Digital Studios
Viacom Digital Studios President Kelly Day is leading one of the more prolific producers of ad-supported streaming content within a legacy media company.
With traditional TV audiences waning, Day, a former exec at AwesomenessTV, was brought into Viacom in fall 2017 to launch and lead a division directed at expanding TV brands like MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, and Comedy Central to as many digital platforms and audiences as possible.
Since then, Viacom has revived MTV's "The Real World" on Facebook Watch, made a YouTube reality series about the influencer Tana Morganeu, brought "Wild 'n Out" to Twitch, released "Cribs" on Snapchat, extended Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" to most social platforms, and even introduced Comedy Central to TikTok.
Viacom's cornucopia of digital channels made it the sixth most viewed media and entertainment property in August across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch, according to the social-video-research firm Tubular Labs. It ranked behind the digital-media group the LADbible and Comcast.
Day has also focused on bringing in a variety of revenue streams, including advertising, branded content, live events (Viacom acquired VidCon in 2018), content licensing (it also acquired Awesomeness, which makes shows like "Pen15" for Hulu and "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" for Netflix. This diversification is meant to make the company less susceptible to changes in platform algorithms.
Mark Earner, head of IMDb TV
With advertisers clamoring for more video inventory on Amazon, the tech giant this year debuted a new ad-supported video service called IMDb TV (formerly IMDb FreeDive).
The service, which has a standalone app on Fire TVs, as well as a free channel within Prime Video, is being led by the longtime Amazon exec Mark Earner, who serves as vice president of IMDb TV.
Earner has been with Amazon since 2000, minus a four-year stint at Zillow. He helped build some of the early pricing models for Prime subscriptions and Amazon Web Services early in his career as a financial analyst at Amazon, and he has since worked on a variety of teams, from the old Amazon Local deals platform to Prime Video.
At IMDb TV, Earner has been focused on licensing popular content for the platform that can be offered for free with ads. The early library included reruns of shows like "The Bachelor" and "Duck Dynasty," older shows like "Fringe," and classic movies like "Rain Man."
Recently, he has pushed for more exclusive content deals for IMDb TV and explored programming linear channels, similar to Pluto TV or Xumo, Sahil Patel at The Wall Street Journal reported.
Amazon has not revealed the size of IMDB TV's audience.
Kay Madati, global vice president and head of content partnerships, Twitter
Twitter isn't trying to be the new TV, like Facebook or YouTube are.
The social-media platform's push into video creation, under the leadership of Kay Madati, has been focused on partnering with publishers like BuzzFeed, Bloomberg, and MTV to bring more clips, highlights, and live events onto its platform.
Madati, who joined Twitter in 2017 as global vice president and head of content partnerships, is pursuing more news, sports, and entertainment deals that leverage the way audiences already use Twitter during live moments.
The company recently announced a deal with NBC to air some live coverage and highlights of the 2020 Summer Olympics, The New York Times reported. During the VMAs in August, Twitter created a "Stan Cam" with MTV that let users on Twitter decide which celebrities to focus on during Twitter's live stream of the awards show. Twitter did something similar with the NBA and Turner during the latest season where users could vote for a player to focus the camera on during the second half of the game.
Typically, Twitter gets a cut of the advertising or other revenue from the videos. Advertising revenue rose 21% year over year during the second quarter to $727 million, the company reported. Twitter does not break out video advertising but said its video-ad formats continued to show strength.
Madati worked all over the media and advertising industry before coming to Twitter. He was BET Networks' chief digital officer just before joining Twitter, and he previously oversaw digital for CNN. He was head of Facebook's media and entertainment business and also worked in marketing at a major advertiser, BMW of North America.
Farhad Massoudi, cofounder and CEO, Tubi
Tubi CEO Farhad Massoudi is on a mission to build the largest free AVOD service.
Already, the platform has amassed a library of more than 15,000 movies and TV shows, from old classic-rock musical performances to popular, but less in-demand, titles like "Witness" with Harrison Ford, "The Bachelor," and "Dog the Bounty Hunter."
Massoudi is trying to avoid the bidding wars around top-tier rights like "The Office" or "Friends" by going after the other 99% of content that he says has passionate audiences but isn't as expensive.
He says Tubi's content library, combined with its personalized recommendation engine that is somewhat rare in the ad-supported space, sets Tubi apart from other ad-supported platforms. Tubi also doesn't program linear channels, like the free ad-supported streaming services Pluto TV and XUMO do. The service is entirely on demand.
Massoudi, an engineer who worked at Yahoo and other tech companies, launched Tubi in 2014 out of the ad-tech startup adRise after seeing the ad dollars that were shifting away from linear TV and toward digital video.
Tubi generates most of its revenue through advertising, though the company has not disclosed revenue figures.
The service hit a milestone in May when it said it reached more than 20 million monthly active users.
Sean Mills, head of original content, Snapchat
Snapchat has been innovating ad-supported mobile video since 2015, when it launched its Discovery platform with vertical-only video.
Sean Mills, the head of original content, is driving the company's latest push into character- and creator-driven original series that are created just for Snapchat's young audience watching on a small screen.
Mills, the former president of the video startup NowThis, oversaw the first slate of Snapchat Originals the company released in October, including the reality series "Endless Summer" and the scripted crime drama "Dead Girls Detective Agency."
The shows were designed to be intimate, often revolving around only a handful of characters. They used quick cuts, graphics, and split screens that lent themselves to mobile viewing, like in "Two Sides," a scripted series about a couple's breakup that is told simultaneously from each character's point of view. And, averaging about five minute apiece, the episodes featured six-second unskippable ads sold by the platform.
Snapchat says its originals are starting to gain traction. "Endless Summer" racked up 28 million unique viewers in its first season, and more than 90% of those who finished it watched season two in its first month. "Dead Girls Detective Agency" also retained 80% of its season two viewers going into season three.
Mills announced a fresh slate today, including a docuseries about rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine.
Damian Pelliccione, cofounder and CEO, Revry
Revry CEO Damian Pelliccione leads one of the only ad-supported streaming platforms dedicated to LGBTQ+ community.
Revry, which streams original and licensed queer movies and TV shows, was founded in 2015 by Pelliccione, his partner Christopher Rodriguez, an entertainment lawyer; Alia Daniels, another attorney; and LaShawn McGhee, a film and TV editor. Pelliccione and Rodriguez had the idea after buying an Apple TV and struggling to find programming that represented them.
Revry started with an SVOD service that offers movies and TV shows, plus podcasts, music, and other content made by and for LGBTQ+ audiences in more than 100 countries around world, including places like Saudi Arabia.
Today, Pelliccione says Revry makes most of its revenue through ad-supported channels that it programs for streaming-TV services like Pluto TV and Xumo. Revry counts brands like Lexus among its biggest advertisers, and has also attracted names like Gilead and Dollar Shave Club.
The startup said it tripled its revenue from 2017 to 2018. It is not yet profitable. It has raised about $1.3 million in funding, according to PitchBook. The company said it is currently raising a fresh round.
Revry said it expanded its reach to about 50 million households this year with a new distribution deal with Comcast, in addition to services like Pluto and Xumo.
Colin Petrie-Norris, CEO, XUMO
Colin Petrie-Norris is the CEO behind Xumo, an ad-supported streaming service that competes with Pluto TV.
Petrie-Norris, who joined Xumo in 2013, has led the company's efforts to integrate its linear TV channels to more smart TV ecosystems like Vizio SmartCast and LG Channels Plus to expand the service's reach.
The company told Business Insider in April that it had about 5.5 million monthly active users.
That's fewer than Pluto TV's 18 million and on-demand platform Tubi's 20 million. But Xumo also said it reaches more than 45 million households in the US.
Petrie-Norris, who spent seven years at Advertising.com, has been focused on developing ad delivery tools that support features like dynamic ad insertion to attract buyers.
The company's revenue grew more than 300% in the first quarter of 2019 versus a year ago while streaming hours doubled, Petrie-Norris said in April.
Variety reported in February that Xumo was in talks to be acquired by companies like Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Jada Pinkett Smith, Ellen Rakieten, Miguel Melendez, executive producers, "Red Table Talk"
"Red Table Talk" is one of the first Facebook Watch series funded by the tech company to really own its online format.
The series is executive produced by host, Jada Pinkett Smith; Ellen Rakieten, an Emmy-winning producer who worked for more than two decades on "The Oprah Winfrey Show"; and Miguel Melendez, from Pinkett Smith and Will Smith's Westbrook Entertainment.
Pinkett Smith, her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and daughter Willow Smith have candid discussions on timely topics, from confronting one's own racial biases to unconventional relationships, often with a guest.
Since "Red Table Talk" is on Facebook Watch, the show doesn't have a flashy set - just a round, red table set in the middle of the Smith's living room. Production times are short, so Pinkett Smith can jump on timely topics. It also offers a more intimate look at one of the most famous families in pop culture. Will Smith opened up about his recent issues in weight in the latest episode.
The talk show, which returned with new episodes on Monday, competed this year against long-running series like "The Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda" and "The Dr. Oz Show" for a Daytime Emmy in the informative talk show category.
The episode that earned the nomination featured an emotional interview with personality Jordyn Woods, who was accused of having an affair with NBA star Tristan Thompson, who is also the father of Khloe Kardashian's baby.
Dan Porter, CEO, Overtime
Sports programming is one of the more difficult media genres to offer for free because sports rights are expensive.
Dan Porter, cofounder and CEO of sports startup Overtime, is avoiding those challenges by working with rising young athletes to tell their stories through its free sports network.
Overtime's video platform features clips of high-school athletes or esports players rather than full matchups, as well as original productions geared toward its audience of young sports fans. One series called "KD Film School" features athlete Kevin Durant as he watches clips with young athletes and critiques their games.
The content lives on Overtime's app and website, and is also distributed on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Overtime doesn't sell traditional ads. It strikes deals with brands like Gatorade or Converse to sponsor its programming. It also does merchandising.
Porter, a former president of Teach for America, launched Overtime after seeing firsthand how sports media was changing during his three years at Hollywood agency William Morris Endeavor. Porter launched the OTT and esports businesses as head of digital there. Prior to that, he was CEO of OMGPOP, the company behind the Draw Something app, and stayed with the company for a year after it was acquired by Zynga in 2012.
Porter's goal for Overtime is nothing short of building the "biggest global sports network in the world," he told Peter Kafka at Recode.
The sports startup has raised $33.5 million in funding, as Business Insider previously reported.
Scott Rosenberg, SVP and GM of the platform business, Roku
Scott Rosenberg is leading Roku's effort to become an advertising powerhouse in an OTT world.
As senior vice president and general manager of Roku's platform business, Rosenberg oversees Roku's advertising, content, and services arms, which have been centered on free, ad-supported content for the last two years.
In 2017, Rosenberg helped launch of The Roku Channel, which aggregates free movies, TV shows, and other programming from publishers on Roku, as well as content that Roku licenses for the channel. The Roku Channel now also sells subscriptions to services like HBO Now and aggregates the content, in an effort to become the default hub for streaming within Roku's ecosystem.
The company sells ads against the free content in The Roku Channel, and Rosenberg has been instrumental in developing new ad formats that are less disruptive to viewing, like banner ads on the home screen and sponsorships.
Roku, which went public in 2017, has more than 30.5 million active accounts, but has not disclosed how many of those are regularly watching the ad-supported programming.
Platform revenue, which includes advertising, was up 80% year-over-year last quarter at $168 million, the company reported. The company is not yet turning a profit. Gross margins are higher in the platform than the player business, which includes Roku TVs and players.
Tom Ryan, cofounder and CEO, Pluto TV
Pluto TV is perhaps the buzziest free, ad-supported streaming TV service of 2019, after being acquired by Viacom for $340 million earlier this year.
Cofounder and CEO Tom Ryan runs the company, now under its new legacy-media umbrella. Ryan, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor in companies like Trunk Club and Smule, founded Pluto TV in 2013 on the premise that there would still be a space for ad-supported, linear TV in an on-demand world dominated by Netflix and YouTube.
Pluto TV had 18 million monthly active users as of July, up 50% from a year ago, Viacom reported.
The service has about 150 linear channels, including networks from Cheddar, CNN, Fox Sports and other publishers, as well as channels it programs itself around genres like travel, food, and science.
About 30 of Pluto TV's channels are loaded with Viacom content. Easier access to programming from MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and other Viacom brands was one perk of Pluto TV's new ownership, Ryan told Decider in an interview.
Viacom has also been programming pop-up channels around shows like "The Hills" to promote brands and franchises that are airing on its other platforms.
Viacom CEO Bob Bakish has touted Pluto TV as a key element of its digital strategy, which also includes subscription services for brands like Noggin and BET Plus, and selling shows like "The Real World" or "Pen15" to platforms like Facebook Watch and Hulu.
Sidharth Shakdher, EVP and business head, Hotstar
Sidharth Shakdher, executive vice president and business head, is leading the AVOD business at India's largest streaming service, Star India's Hotstar.
The service clocked 267 million viewers during a three-week period in April when it aired the India Premier League, and Shakdher wants to grow that audience to 300 million, he told the Economic Times
Shakdher also said the company is on track to double is ad revenue year over year.
The service, now owned by Disney through its acquisition of Fox assets including Star India, offers Bollywood movies and a limited selection of other content for free with ads, and sells subscription tiers with live sports and Hollywood movies and TV shows.
The company was reorganized in 2018 create two divisions, one for its subscription business and another focused on its free AVOD offering. Shakder was put in charge of the latter.
Shakder was Hotstar's CMO before taking the AVOD reins. He was a marketing exec at Amazon prior to that, and spent five years at UK-based CPG giant Reckitt Benckiser.
Emmett Shear, cofounder and CEO, Twitch
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is trying to grow the streaming site beyond gaming.
As tech rivals like YouTube and Facebook move into game streaming, Shear has been pushing the Amazon-owned service he cofounded into other kinds of pop culture content, like live sports and entertainment, as Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw previously reported.
"Thursday Night Football" games now stream on Twitch through a deal with Amazon and the NFL. Twitch also has an agreement with the NBA to stream USA Basketball and youth games. It's landed exclusive deals with personalities and media companies. And it streams marathons of TV shows that are popular with gamers, like "Saturday Night Live," "Pokemon" and "Doctor Who."
All that content is free with ads, like the other programming on Twitch.
The company generates most of its revenue through advertising and sponsorships, as well as fees from the donations that users make to Twitch streamers. It sells a Prime subscription that comes with perks, as well.
It's unclear how much Twitch's latest content push is taking hold. Amazon said Twitch helped boost viewership for "Thursday Night Football" games last season, but didn't break out the audience figures.
Still, Twitch is massive without them.
The company says it has more that 15 million average daily visitors, who spend most of their time with the user-generated content on the service.
Keith Valory, CEO, Plex
Keith Valory is trying to turn streaming-media app Plex into an AVOD power player.
The CEO of the repository for personal media has been pounding the pavement in Hollywood to score licensing deals with studios for a free, ad-supported on-demand service that Plex is launching later in 2019. So far, it's secured content from Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
Plex, primarily a media server where people store their personal collection of movies, TV shows, music, photos, and other media, makes most of its money through a subscription tier, Plex Pass, that offers benefits like the ability to download content for offline consumption or record over-the-air broadcasts.
It got into the advertising business in 2017 with the acquisition of new video startup Watchup, which now delivers personalized news feeds within Plex.
Valory, who joined Plex in 2013, led the deal and is hoping to grow Plex's advertising business with the new AVOD service. Valory spent eight years at Cisco and was a founding member of Bracket Computing before coming to Plex.
Plex, which is private, declined to disclose its revenue. It says it is profitable.
Jeremy Verba, GM and VP, Vudu
Jeremy Verba is taking the Netflix approach to growing Walmart's streaming-media platform, Vudu.
The general manager and vice president, who joined Vudu in 2013, is overseeing the development of a new slate originals that will be available for free with ads, to entice more people to use the service.
Vudu is reviving the 1983 family movie "Mr. Mom," remaking "Blue's Clues & You" with Nickelodeon, and developing a series about a group of teens that save their town from aliens, called "Adventure Force 5," among other titles, the Verge reported.
Verba plans to monetize those originals with shoppable ads that will allow viewers to click through to buy the products or get more information. The platform uses Walmart's first-party data and data from third-parties like Nielsen to allow advertisers to target ads to viewers.
Vudu also has a large library of licensed shows and movies that are available free with ads, and titles that users can rent or buy through the service.
Under Verba's watch, the service has also rolled out new features, like "Family Play" mode that allows people to skip or mute scenes that might be uncomfortable for parents and children to watch together, like scenes with sex, violence, or substance abuse.
Walmart says Vudu has 50 million users. The company does not break out its financials.