Blockgraph, the ad tech company owned by Comcast, Charter Communications and Paramount, said veteran advertising exec David Kline has been named chairman.
Kline, who will continue to serve as executive VP at charter and president of its Spectrum Reach ad sales unit, succeeds Dave Clark, who stepped down as GM of Comcast’s FreeWheel unit in February.
Blockgraph was started in 2017 by Comcast, and making Kline chairman signals that it intends to serve the entire industry, with its technology, designed to safely enable data-driven TV advertising.
“Blockgraph demonstrates what’s possible when innovators in our industry develop forward-thinking collaborative technologies,” said Kline. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to play a leading role in Blockgraph’s important work and continued growth. In the coming year, we will look to gain even more momentum to safely enable industry measurement, addressability, and programmatic tools across a fully privacy-compliant household identity platform.”
Clark’s successor at FreeWheel, Mark McKee has been added to Blockgraph’s board.
“I’m excited to be joining industry leaders on the board of Blockgraph. This is a pivotal moment for the industry and Blockgraph’s technology platform and approach to identity and collaboration are well poised to help the marketplace solve for the fragmentation of TV audiences in the connected home,” said McKee. “I’m looking forward to teaming up with Jason and the Blockgraph team to accelerate the adoption of Blockgraph’s industry-leading, privacy-first, identity operating system across all stakeholder groups in the premium video and connected TV ecosystem."
“These changes to the composition of our board of directors solidify Blockgraph’s standing as a comprehensive, neutral solution for our industry as a whole,” said Jason Manningham, CEO of Blockgraph. “Both David and Mark have extensive track records of leadership at the intersection of video advertising and technology, and I am confident that their guidance will help further establish Blockgraph as the essential solution for data-driven TV advertising.”
In 2018, Charter and ViacomCBS–now Paramount– joined Comcast in supporting FreeWheel’s Blockgraph initiative. Comcast, Charter and ViacomCBS turned Blockgraph into a joint venture in 2018. ■
