Neil Johnston, EVP, Strategy & Digital Innovation for Cox Media Group and Rob Weisbord, COO of Sinclair Digital Group, will share their views on the future of local advertising during a general session moderated by Chris Berry, SVP/GM of iHeartMedia’s 24/7 News Network at Media Finance Focus 2015. Themed “Blazing a New Frontier,” the 55th annual conference for MFM and its BCCA subsidiary will be held at The Arizona Grand Hotel & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona, May 18-20. The panel discussion is scheduled for Monday morning, May18th.
“It wasn’t that long ago that we described digital ad revenues as dimes compared to the dollars that went into traditional advertising for TV, radio and print media. But those dimes are beginning to add up, with analysts predicting it will represent 30% of the $538 billion global ad market in 2015,” said Mary M. Collins, president and CEO of MFM and BCCA. “In this follow-up to a featured session at the 2015 Borrell Local Online Advertising Conference, we will focus on the sales strategies that will help media companies capture more of those rapidly rising digital advertising dollars in the years to come.”
Each of the session’s speakers plays a pivotal role in shaping and executing the digital sales strategies for their respective organizations:
As the executive vice president of strategy & digital innovation for Cox Media Group, Neil Johnston oversees strategic development, the company’s CMG Digital media sales unit, and its growing portfolio of digital investments. His group supports CMG’s growth through its digital consultative services and oversight of major enterprise digital initiatives. In addition, it initiates new business ventures and makes strategic investments in digital media companies.
In his role as COO of the Sinclair Digital Group, Rob Weisbord, identifies and implements strategies that leverage the reach and audience share of its television stations by utilizing the organization’s “3 Screen Approach” for integrating television, Internet and mobile platforms. Sinclair Broadcast Group and Visible World recently joined forces to create the Audience Network for Local Broadcast TV, which enables national and regional ad agencies and advertisers to automatically target specific local broadcast audiences and optimize multiple audience and related data sources.
As senior vice president of iHeartMedia’s 24/7 News Network, session moderator Chris Berry oversees the world's largest newswire that is produced solely for broadcast, with more than 1,200 terrestrial and digital affiliates throughout the United States. In addition to text and audio, 24/7 News provides anchored news, sports and weather reports to hundreds of radio stations and over Clear Channel's iHeartRadio digital broadcast platform.
About Media Finance Focus 2015: MFM/BCCA’s annual conference serves as the industry’s primary source of professional education for the media industry’s business and credit management executives, including its newspaper, television, radio, cable, online, mobile and other digital media enterprises. Announced keynoters slated for Media Finance Focus 2015 will include Don Benson, President & CEO, Lincoln Financial Media and James M. Aquilina, Executive Managing Director, Stroz Friedberg. The conference will also feature presentations from more than 175 industry experts, who will provide the latest information on accounting, credit and collections, economic projections, valuations, M&A, taxes, human resources, regulatory, and technological developments affecting the media industry. MFM is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. Registered participants can earn 20 or more CPE credits. Media Finance Focus also offers a number of formal and informal networking activities that are designed to foster idea-sharing and an exhibit hall featuring the latest in products and services for addressing the industry’s financial management and credit and collections requirements. Additional information about Media Finance Focus 2015 and an online registration form may be found on the conference Web site: www.mediafinancefocus.org.
About MFM and BCCA: Media Financial Management Association (MFM) is the premiere resource for financial professionals for media industry education, networking, and information sharing throughout the U.S. and Canada. More information about MFM is available on its Web site: http://www.mediafinance.org. Its BCCA subsidiary serves as the media industry’s credit association. BCCA’s revenue management services include a variety of credit reports on national and local media advertisers and EMCAPP - the Electronic Media Credit Application. More information about BCCA and EMCAPP is available at http://www.bccacredit.com and www.emcapp.com.
