Vizio, the smart TV set maker that is expanding its addressable advertising business, said it hired Adam Gaynor as VP of network partnerships.
Gaynor, who had been VP of AMC Network’s Agility data-driven ad sales team, said that Vizio has different relationships with different partners, sometimes involving program distribution, sometimes data, sometimes ad sales.
Vizio has been a hub in the advanced advertising world, with its internet-connected sets, its Inscape data unit and the recently started Vizio Ads unit.
“My job is to help streamline those relationships so we can bring a full suite of offerings to our partners,” he said.
Gaynor will also oversee Project OAR, the consortium led by Vizio that aimed to create open standards for addressable advertising.
“The bottom line is the consortium was designed to get everybody on the same page,” he said. “The networks are running their ads on our glass. Frankly, it’s time to make money and everybody’s who’s got their hand in the ecosystem should be making money.”
Gaynor notes that Vizio doesn’t want the Project OAR protocols to be used just for putting ads on its sets. “The open standard is meant to work across many different devices. It’s just starting with Vizio because Vizio was at the forefront of the consortium.”
A veteran of advanced advertising, Gaynor said that addressability has been a real option for marketers for a while. “Now we’re able to bring more inventory into the fold,” he said. “The networks are getting serious about this and the appetite for brands is getting stronger,” especially during a pandemic in which marketers want to make sure each ad dollar is well spent.
Gaynor left AMC at the end of last year and was doing some consulting for people looking to do addressable advertising. Interviewing with Vizio for this job wasn’t difficult, he said.
Gaynor said he’s worked with many of the people at Vizio he’ll be working with, including Mike O’Donnell, chief revenue officer at Vizio. “I’ve done some work for them, and then they called me to do some more.”
“Adam’s addition to the team represents Vizio’s continued focus and investment in driving the future of TV,” said O’Donnell. “Not only does Adam have extensive experience working with networks, but he has been at the forefront of championing addressable advertising, going back to his previous efforts driving live linear addressable advertising at AMC Networks and Dish.”
Before joining AMC, Gaynor was VP, media sales and analytics, for Dish Network, leading addressable, interactive, programmatic and OTT initiatives. Before that he was with Game Show Network, Comcast and CBS.
“I’ve got a good reputation in the marketplace for driving addressability. They wanted to drive addressability. They found the right guy, I think,” Gaynor said.
