Viamedia, which sells ad inventory for local cable operators, said it hired John Piccone as president of its new QTT division.
QTT requests and receives ads programmatically from ad exchanges which are inserted in real time into linear cable TV channels, bringing new digital marketing dollars to local cable.
Related: Viamedia's QTT Taps Digital Ad Dollars for Local Cable
Piccone most recently had been president and chief revenue officer of Simulmedia, a pioneer in selling data-targeted linear TV. As president of QTT, he will be responsible for its overall business, product, communications and marketing strategy.
“Having been an advisor to QTT for several months now, John has demonstrated that he is a dynamic leader whose extensive experience and insight will be invaluable as we continue to expand our QTT™ offering,” said Viamedia CEO Mark Lieberman. “The technical results from our initial market trials and integrations with our MVPD partners have been stellar. QTT is bringing us one step closer to the full convergence of TV and digital advertising, and John is the right man to help us get there.”
Related: Viamedia Completes Live Test of Linear Programmatic Product
Before Simlmedia, Piccone held pots with Innovid, HealthiNation, BlackArrow and 24/7 Real Media.
“I am very excited at the opportunity of helping bring the digital and linear television advertising worlds together,” Piccone said. “QTT is a complete game changer. For years, the marketplace has been waiting for a simple solution to allow digital advertising platforms to buy linear TV advertising while respecting the existing business rules that have made television advertising so powerful. With QTT, the wait is over. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Viamedia also said that Brendan Condon, most recently chief revenue officer for Comcast’s Effectv, is acting as a strategic advisor. He will work with cable operators and agency heads to help drive adoption of QTT.
