Jo Ann Ross, the long-running queen of television advertising sales, is stepping down from her role as chairman of Paramount Advertising at the end of the month, the company said.

A year ago Ross was named chairman, taking an advisory role to Paramount Advertising president John Halley.

The new move comes weeks before the upfront. Before CBS merged with Viacom to form Paramount, Ross was renowned for appearing in a variety of costumes at CBS’s annual upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall.

“Jo Ann has steered our advertising business from one milestone to the next. She oversaw the successful integration and evolution of our combined ad sales organization in the midst of the pandemic. She was also instrumental in reimagining our Upfront last year, a format that others have tried to replicate. More recently, Jo Ann was essential in our efforts to deliver a historic Super Bowl LVIII that set a record for viewership and gross ad revenue, topping off an impressive roster of storied Super Bowls since joining CBS in 1992,” Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said in a memo to staff.

Bakish also noted Ross’s role as a breaker of glass ceilings, becoming the first woman to head ad sales for a major broadcast network.

"Above all, Jo Ann cares deeply about her teammates, clients and peers — relationships built around trust, respect and reliability as hallmarks of her character and trailblazing career,” Bakish said. “Her passion for her work and determination to win have made Paramount a must-buy and key partner to the biggest advertisers in the world. And, under the continued leadership of John Halley, the sales organization is well positioned for future success.”

Jo Ann Ross, Paramount Global advertising chairman, picked up the Center for Communication’s Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication in New York November 2. The award is named for Center for Communication founder and former CBS president Dr. Frank Stanton. 

Speaking on behalf of Ross were Gina Yashere, comedienne and co-showrunner on Bob Hearts Abishola; John Halley, president, Paramount Advertising; and George Cheeks, president and CEO, CBS. 

“Thank you, Jo Ann, for letting us use your living room for this event,” Yashere said of the grand ballroom at 583 Park Avenue. 

In September, Ross shifted to the chairman role at Paramount, with Halley moving into the president post. Halley shared about meeting Ross for the first time in 2019, when Bob Bakish, Paramount president and CEO, introduced them. Bakish said, “I’d like you to meet your new COO of advertising,” to which Ross responded, “I don’t need a COO of advertising.”

“What you see is what you get with Jo Ann,” Halley said, using terms such as steady hand, sharp wit, trust, wisdom and integrity to describe her. If Ross were an emoji, he added, it would be three hearts, and two steak knives. 

Next up was Cheeks, who called Ross an innovator, a trailblazer and a visionary. 

He spoke about taking on the president role at CBS amidst COVID-19 in March 2020, and the “full-blown panic attack” he had just before starting. “Little did I know, I had a guardian angel,” Cheeks said. “Jo Ann was there from Day One.”

Stepping onstage, Ross called Cheeks “a steadfast companion, friend and mentor.”

She said she was humbled, and honored, to get the award. “I’m overwhelmed by all the nice things that were said about me,” added Ross. “I’m not sure they’re all true.”

Ross mentioned Paramount’s “Content for Change” initiative, designed to combat racism, bias and stereotypes on and off screen. She spoke of “mentoring and developing the next generation of leaders.”

“It’s always been really important to me,” said Ross, who is part of the B+C Hall of Fame. 

Ross oversees advertising sales for networks that include CBS, BET, Comedy Central, CMT, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network and Smithsonian Channel, along with Paramount Plus. She was promoted to the president’s role in late 2019 following the merger of CBS and Viacom. 

Ross had one final word for aspiring media professionals in the audience. “Don’t change who you are,” she said.

The Center for Communication is a nonprofit that promotes diversity in media by educating and empowering students seeking to enter the industry. Past Stanton award winners include Tina Perry, Soledad O'Brien, Rita Ferro and David Nevins. ■

Paramount Global said it named John Halley as president, Paramount Advertising, succeeding Jo Ann Ross, who in 30 years at CBS had risen to be the queen of TV ad sales.

Halley had been executive VP and chief operating officer, advertising, at Paramount. In his new post, he will oversee Paramount’s domestic multiplatform sales, including broadcast, cable, digital and streaming. Halley will report to Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish.

Ross will take on an advisory role as chairman, Paramount Advertising, working toward a smooth transition.

“John is a proven leader and visionary who has driven innovations in Paramount’s advertising business that have set the pace for the entire industry for years,“ Bakish said. “His deep understanding of both the linear and digital businesses, and the underlying forces driving their change, has guided key advancements in our advertising products and empowered us to deliver better outcomes for our clients. Given the rapid pace of evolution in advertising, John is ideally suited to lead Paramount’s sales organization forward.”

Ross joined CBS in 1992 to run Olympics sales and rose to become the first woman to head ad sales for a major broadcast network. When CBS and Viacom merged, she was named head of ad sales for the company, now known as Paramount Global.

"Jo Ann is a true trailblazer in our industry and a dominant force behind the success of CBS, ViacomCBS and now Paramount Global,” Bakish said. “As the world of entertainment has evolved, Jo Ann has been on the forefront of advertising innovations that have been instrumental to establishing Paramount as a trusted partner and must-buy for advertisers everywhere. Her talent and passion for this business is only matched by her exceptional ability to lead through change, building talented teams and enduring client relationships throughout her illustrious career. She has made an indelible mark on Paramount during her record tenure, and we are grateful for her continued contributions.”

Halley joined Viacom in 2007 and has led commercial and business operations in various roles for Viacom, ViacomCBS and now Paramount’s advertising efforts over the last 15 years.

Here's the internal memo Ross sent to staff:

Team,

After 30 amazing years, I am moving to a new advisory role as Chairman of Paramount Advertising. I’m also happy to share that John Halley is succeeding me as President of Paramount Advertising, effective today. A press release announcing the news will go out shortly.

I feel very lucky to have made my career in this business. It feels like just yesterday that I joined CBS. I look back fondly and take stock of how much has changed since then. I was hired to oversee Olympic sales, a rare and exciting feat for a woman in this business. And over the last three decades, there have been so many developments that have profoundly shaped the industry and also inspired me.

 I am very proud to be the first woman and longest-tenured broadcast sales leader. And since our merger, I’m truly honored to have led this organization across our expansive broadcast, cable and streaming portfolio of leading entertainment, news and sports brands.

One of my greatest lessons is that embracing change is good, and it’s up to you to make the best of the opportunity. You refresh, you reset, you reevaluate. Through the twists and turns of television’s and advertising’s evolution, we have always risen to the occasion and come out much stronger. How fortunate are we to represent premium content with our massive reach that delivers year after year for our marketers … As I like to say, “they can’t buy around us.”

But even more important, your dedication to our clients and to each other has sustained our growth and established us as trustworthy partners. We all work extremely hard to solve any challenge and meet every need. I truly believe that you are the best and most dynamic team in the business. Together, we have persisted and accomplished more than I could have ever imagined thanks to your talents and passion. And at the end of the day, we always have fun doing it and haven’t lost our sense of humor!

With the team in great shape, it is time for change. I have no doubt that we are set up for even greater success.

John is a valuable partner to me and has been integral to our market-leading position. He is ready to take this team to new heights, and I look forward to our continued collaboration.

You have my deepest appreciation and gratitude for everything that we’ve accomplished as a real family. As usual, we’re ahead of the curve. You keep raising the bar, and I know that we’ll continue to help serve our clients and pull the entire company in the right direction.

The future is ours!

Jo Ann

■

ViacomCBS couldn’t put its stars on stage, so it put them in a video.

In the first part of its virtual upfront presentation, the media company employed its on-air talent to make the point that the merger that combined Viacom with CBS late last year made the company “simply stronger” together.

The message was driven home with Zoom appearances by everyone from Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell at CBS News, to Jim Nantz and Tony Romo from CBS Sports, to James Corden, Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah from late night to entertainment programming stars like Tom Selleck, Kevin Kostner, LL Cool J, JoJo Siwa and Iain Armitage.

The video message was made necessary by the Coronavirus, which prevented people from gathering in person in places like Carnegie Hall, where CBS usually holds its upfront this time of year.

Colbert noted that the virus has forced many businesses to make difficult choices and change the way they work. That includes ViacomCBS, led by Bob Bakish and George Cheeks. “By the way, if your cheeks seem backish, see a physician immediately. That’s one of the symptoms,” Colbert cracked.

Monday’s message was mostly about the company’s cable channels, but there was also a primer on the advanced advertising products that Viacom pioneered and CBS is adopting.

ViacomCBS president for advertising revenue Jo Ann Ross was grilled by 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker.

“For some time now 60 Minutes has been looking into advanced advertising. What we have uncovered is a strange cult with a language of their own. Followers who revere advanced advertising speak in sentences littered with cliches like targeting, optimize and powerful,” Whitaker said. “But 60 Minutes research uncovered something else, something more unsettling. Many in this cult nod their heads in unison when they hear phrases like optimize against reach, drive conversion and path to purchase. We have met many characters over our fifty two seasons: world leaders, scammers, sports stars and pop stars. But nothing prepared us for the queen of advanced advertising herself ViacomCBS's Jo Ann Ross who promised to explain it to us.”

“At ViacomCBS we are leading the way with advanced advertising with Vantage our advanced ad platform,” Ross said.

“Sure anyone can download a mixed integer linear programming algorithm, but unless you know how to refactor mixed data types into linear constraint packages. You just have no game,” she explained.

Ross said she has taken time during the quarantine to brush up on her advanced analytics.

"It's hard to believe how much time I've spent thinking about how to dynamically fluctuate the alpha values in elastic net regressions to trade off mild parsimony and coefficient dampening within ratings projection engines," she said. "You know, really really it helped me to relax. I really had fun with the data.”

On Tuesday, ViacomCBS plans to do part 2 of its upfront and release CBS’s primetime schedule.

ViacomCBS highlighted the company's cable networks.

“I for one am very excited about it. Let's be honest. It's been months since any of us have had plans two days in a row,” said Corden. “I so wish we were all together right now in New York City taking selfies in that weird room at the plaza, eating as much frozen yogurt as I can get out of those machines.”

On a somewhat more serious note, Corden noted the role television is playing during these socially distant times.

“All over America, there is one thing that brings us together every time. That little box in the corner of your living room. Well that and the fact that we've all gained like 15 pounds,” he said.

“Television is the thing that can give us the collective experience we have been so sorely missing. For information on what's happening, come together and watch our news. When you need some laughter, come together and watch our comedies. When you want some excitement come together and watch our dramas,” he said. “And when you want to see what some of the biggest celebrities in the world look like when they do their own hair and makeup you can watch our late night shows here. Nobody is excluded. You are part of this network and you're part of our family.”

It won’t be Carnegie Hall, but ViacomCBS’s virtual upfront presentations on May 18 and 19 will be entertaining, promises Jo Ann Ross, the media company’s president and chief advertising revenue officer.

“First and foremost, we believe it is our job to entertain and show the content that will resonate with different clients that have different audiences that they want to reach,” Ross said.

The upfront will also present a unified front for Viacom and CBS, which merged at the end of last year. The coronavirus crisis wiped out both CBS’s annual theatrical presentation as well as the smaller intimate dinners with media buyers that Viacom held, hosted by CEO Bob Bakish.

“The upfront that we’ve come up with is a brilliant, I don’t want to say replacement, I’ll say a brilliant turn from what we were doing as separate companies,” Ross said.

The event will cover the unveiling of CBS’s primetime schedule, show off Viacom’s cable networks and display the combined company’s streaming assets, including CBS All Access and Pluto TV.

The presentation will juxtapose talent from both companies, and of course Ross herself will show her team spirit by dressing up in an outrageous outfit or as a character in one of the network’s shows. “I am not a shrinking violet,” she explained. “I will not let a pandemic hold me back.”

Upfront On Demand

The presentation will be offered on-
demand — not live-streamed — and the websites will enable clients to take deeper dives into topics including the company’s Vantage ad targeting system and other advanced marketing services.

CBS will also tout its upcoming Super Bowl LV. “If the country is open and things return to somewhat normal, [companies that haven’t been advertising] are going to want to speak with a loud voice and where are they going to go?” Ross said. “They’re going to go to the No. 1 vehicle in all of advertising, which is the Super Bowl.”

This will be CBS’s second Super Bowl in three years. It swapped Super Bowls with NBC to avoid selling against NBC’s Tokyo Summer Olympics. The pandemic postponed the Olympics until 2021, so CBS wound up selling its Super Bowl against the Olympics anyway.

Fun and games aside, this is a tough year for upfronts. On top of the absence of live presentations and the boozy parties that follow, COVID-19 has pulled some advertisers off the air and has others cutting or postponing spending. A survey of clients by Advertiser Perceptions found clients expected to spend 33% less in this year’s upfront, although some of that money might return to the networks in the scatter market.

RELATED: Ad Sales Execs Taking Crisis One Day at a Time

Like the top salesperson she is, Ross was sanguine about the upfront. “I think that the cadence will be a little different, but we are optimistic that people are going to come to the table when they’re ready and we’re ready to do business,” she said. “As we like to say, we’re open for business.”

Ross said she didn’t think clients wanted to “reinvent the wheel,” but that ViacomCBS had combined the companies’ sales forces making it simpler to access all of its assets.

Advertisers can get a combination of broadcast, cable and interactive ads in one buy, if that’s how they want to transact. They can also buy a combination of broad reach media based on traditional age/sex demographics, as well as data-targeted audience buys.

CBS inventory will be available for the first time using Vantage. While CBS had targeting tools, “Vantage is a home run,” Ross said. “It’s more sophisticated probably than what we had as a standalone with CBS.”

With more clients looking for assurance that their advertising will generate sales, CBS is willing to make guarantees based on results Ross said.

Cancellation Concerns

Meanwhile, ViacomCBS and other media companies are waiting to see how much of last year’s upfront buys clients will use their contractual options to cancel. Reports said that some major advertisers were looking to cancel 50% of their third-quarter reservations, the maximum allowed, which would add up to billions of dollars.

RELATED: Disney Sets Virtual Upfront Roadshow for Buyers, Clients

Like the other programmers, ViacomCBS has extended the deadline on options to later in the month to see if advertisers can figure out ways to revamp their ad plans rather than simply cancel last year’s upfront buys.

“They have the right to option,” Ross said. “There’s not much more you can say about it. We’re working with them. We gave them flexibility and gave them a longer runway to make decisions. I think we did a really good job estimating [how much advertising clients will cancel] but probably a week from today, we’ll know more.” 

It won’t be Carnegie Hall, but ViacomCBS’s virtual upfront presentations on May 18 and 19 will be entertaining, promises Jo Ann Ross, the media company’s president and chief advertising revenue officer.

“First and foremost, we believe it is our job to entertain and show the content that will resonate with different clients that have different audiences that they want to reach,” Ross said.

The upfront will also present a unified front for Viacom and CBS, which merged at the end of last year. The coronavirus crisis wiped out both CBS’s annual theatrical presentation as well as the smaller intimate dinners with media buyers that Viacom held, hosted by CEO Bob Bakish.

“The upfront that we’ve come up with is a brilliant, I don’t want to say replacement, I’ll say a brilliant turn from what we were doing as separate companies,” Ross said.

The event will cover the unveiling of CBS’s primetime schedule, show off Viacom’s cable networks and display the combined company’s streaming assets, including CBS All Access and Pluto TV.

The presentation will juxtapose talent from both companies, and of course Ross herself will show her team spirit by dressing up in an outrageous outfit or as a character in one of the network’s shows. “I am not a shrinking violet,” she explained. “I will not let a pandemic hold me back.”

Upfront On Demand

The presentation will be offered on-
demand — not live-streamed — and the websites will enable clients to take deeper dives into topics including the company’s Vantage ad targeting system and other advanced marketing services.

CBS will also tout its upcoming Super Bowl LV. “If the country is open and things return to somewhat normal, [companies that haven’t been advertising] are going to want to speak with a loud voice and where are they going to go?” Ross said. “They’re going to go to the No. 1 vehicle in all of advertising, which is the Super Bowl.”

This will be CBS’s second Super Bowl in three years. It swapped Super Bowls with NBC to avoid selling against NBC’s Tokyo Summer Olympics. The pandemic postponed the Olympics until 2021, so CBS wound up selling its Super Bowl against the Olympics anyway.

Fun and games aside, this is a tough year for upfronts. On top of the absence of live presentations and the boozy parties that follow, COVID-19 has pulled some advertisers off the air and has others cutting or postponing spending. A survey of clients by Advertiser Perceptions found clients expected to spend 33% less in this year’s upfront, although some of that money might return to the networks in the scatter market.

Like the top salesperson she is, Ross was sanguine about the upfront. “I think that the cadence will be a little different, but we are optimistic that people are going to come to the table when they’re ready and we’re ready to do business,” she said. “As we like to say, we’re open for business.”

Ross said she didn’t think clients wanted to “reinvent the wheel,” but that ViacomCBS had combined the companies’ sales forces making it simpler to access all of its assets.

Advertisers can get a combination of broadcast, cable and interactive ads in one buy, if that’s how they want to transact. They can also buy a combination of broad reach media based on traditional age/sex demographics, as well as data-targeted audience buys.

CBS inventory will be available for the first time using Vantage. While CBS had targeting tools, “Vantage is a home run,” Ross said. “It’s more sophisticated probably than what we had as a standalone with CBS.”

With more clients looking for assurance that their advertising will generate sales, CBS is willing to make guarantees based on results Ross said.

Cancellation Concerns

Meanwhile, ViacomCBS and other media companies are waiting to see how much of last year’s upfront buys clients will use their contractual options to cancel. Reports said that some major advertisers were looking to cancel 50% of their third-quarter reservations, the maximum allowed, which would add up to billions of dollars.

Like the other programmers, ViacomCBS has extended the deadline on options to later in the month to see if advertisers can figure out ways to revamp their ad plans rather than simply cancel last year’s upfront buys.

“They have the right to option,” Ross said. “There’s not much more you can say about it. We’re working with them. We gave them flexibility and gave them a longer runway to make decisions. I think we did a really good job estimating [how much advertising clients will cancel] but probably a week from today, we’ll know more.” 

Rita Ferro

Title: President, Ad Sales, Disney/ABC Television Group
Broadcast Network: ABC
2017 Upfront Sales: $2.1 billion.
Outlook: America’s Network is using a “Forward Together” theme to reinforce that Ferro’s team has a portfolio that includes ABC, Freeform and the Disney Media kids business. But with the “Disney Difference,” it can include other Disney units, from films to theme parks, in campaigns. Disney also just announced the launch of Luminate, a suite of advanced advertising products that will be used by both the Disney/ABC networks and by ESPN.

Joe Marchese

Title: President, Advertising Revenue, Fox Networks Group
Broadcast Network: Fox
2017 Upfront Sales: $1.6 billion
Outlook: Marchese is looking to innovate the heck out of the TV ad business. He said his goal was to get Fox’s ad load down to two minutes per hour by 2020. The first place he’s targeting is Sunday night, when each commercial pod will have just two 30-second spots. How much will advertisers pay for that uncluttered environment? We’ll see. Marchese is also pushing six-second ads, which seem to fit particularly well in live sports.

Tonia O’Connor

Title: Chief Revenue Officer, Univision Communications
Broadcast Networks: Univision, UniMás
2017 Upfront Sales: Not available
Outlook: With Telemundo hot on its heels, Univision is rolling out a number of new initiatives in time for this year’s upfront. Univision this month unveiled Aperture, a suit of data-driven advertising products that include precision targeting, a selfserve campaign builder and Campaign Impact, which help evaluate a media buy’s effectiveness. Aperture also features Fokal, an analytic firm that helps drive results across data sets. To reach younger viewers, Univision has made deals to produce projects with Snapchat, Facebook Watch and PopSugar.

The 2018 Upfront: Sales Execs Claim Strong Hand Going Into Upfront | Buyers Want Better Measurement, But Will Use Old Metrics in Upfront | Levy Wants 5% of TV Ad Budgets Spent on Audiences | The CW Brings a New Night to the Market | Pitching Hispanic Buying Power | Broadcast Networks Take Center Stage

Jo Ann Ross

Title: President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer, CBS
Broadcast Network: CBS
2017 Upfront Sales: $2.5 billion
Outlook: Never better, according to CBS’s ebullient chairman and CEO Les Moonves. No longer stodgy, CBS has been a pioneer in the over-the-top and subscription businesses and Ross said advertisers are interested in CBS All Access, CBSN and CBS Sports HQ. Last year, Ross added digital sales to her portfolio, with former Facebook exec David Lawenda, now executive VP of digital sales and strategy, reporting to her. CBS has also set up CBS Eye Max, a unit devoted to ad innovation and creating branded entertainment with clients.

Rob Tuck

Title: Executive VP, National Sales, The CW
Broadcast Network: The CW
2017 Upfront Sales: } $500 million
Outlook: The CW is an early adopter in monetizing digital viewership, a key for a network that attracts young (for broadcast) viewers. Its convergence sell has been copied by other broadcasters to capture eyeballs glued to mobile phones, iPads and other connected devices. This year adds a new night of primetime programming (see related story), creating the opportunity to generate more advertising revenue.

Linda Yaccarino

Title: Chairman, Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships, NBCUniversal
Broadcast Networks: NBC, Telemundo
2017 Upfront Sales: $6.5 billion*
Outlook: NBCUniversal will kick off Upfront Week on May 14 with a presentation that covers its entire portfolio of broadcast, cable and digital opportunities for advertisers. Yaccarino has been pushing an advanced advertising agenda and this year helped give the audience buying business a boost by joining Fox, Turner and Viacom in the OpenAP consortium. NBCU also launched CFlight, a new metric that measures on air and online impressions. * NBCU upfront revenue across broadcast and cable.

CBS Sports execs and a raft of talent from NFL broadcasts on Thursday night and Sunday converged at the network's midtown New York headquarters Tuesday (Aug. 25) for the annual NFL Media Day. Along with touting the upcoming second year of its Thursday collaboration with NFL Network, which starts Sept. 17, the network also highlighted Super Bowl 50, with the sales team asserting that the process is outpacing expectations.

While not apples-to-apples, comparisons between Thursday Night Football when it aired only on the NFL Network vs. 2014, when it added the primetime clout of CBS as well are pretty compelling. Average ratings spiked 52% for the season and boosted overall tune-in to the once distribution-challenged NFL Network.

Nevertheless, the reup with CBS covers just the eight games this fall. The single-season renewal reflects a degree of uncertainty about "what we want to do long term," said Brian Rolapp, executive VP of media for the NFL and head of the network. "There are a lot of changes in the media landscape. We've been very up-front with CBS and everyone else about that."

CBS Sports chief Sean McManus said the teaming with the NFL brought nothing but upside for the network. But looking more broadly at pro football, he pointed to the late game on Sunday afternoons.

"That is our bread and butter and has been for the last 14 years," McManus said. Ratings exceed the numbers of games in primetime on Thursday, Sunday and Monday, he noted.

Preparations are well under way for Super Bowl 50 next Feb. 7. A special trailer was shown to the assembled media. Its voiceover touted the fact that it will be the 19th Super Bowl for CBS, more than any other network. "The event no one wants to miss," the voiceover intoned. "The game no one will ever, ever forget."

CBS sales chief Jo Ann Ross and her sports lieutenants John Bogusz and Tony Taranto pronounced themselves "pleased" with inventory status for the big game, with Taranto noting that he began official talks with agencies the day after Super Bowl XLIX. They shied away from offering specific inventory numbers.

Among other minor announcements Tuesday, weekly wrap-up show Inside the NFL said Adam Schein would be coming aboard as a co-host, as part of the ongoing synergy between CBS and Showtime.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.