In her first earnings call since becoming CEO of AMC Networks, Kristin Dolan described her plan to prepare the company to survive as the industry shifts to streaming bundles.

Dolan, wife of chairman James Dolan, whose family controls the company, introduced herself to investors and analysts as knowing the company well, having started at AMC Networks when it was part of Cablevision Systems and serving on its board of directors.

“My background in programming, cable operations and more recently data and analytics around viewership and advertising gives me a clear and actionable perspective on the opportunity we have here,” she said.

Some analysts say AMC is too small to survive in the streaming era and will be swallowed up by a bigger company. Last November it slashed costs, laying off about 20% of its staff and cutting back on its programming spending.

Dolan said that when she looks at AMC Networks, “I don’t just see a content company. I see a technology-focused company that delivers its content across an expanding number of platforms here and around the world.”

She said she wants to build a nimble, fast-moving organization that relies heavily on data to “grow audiences, serve brands and build value for our advertising and distribution partners,” adding that the company needs to have a “retail mindset” to serve customers in the new ways they consume content.

As cord-cutting has decimated cable networks, AMC has looked to pivot with its own set of streaming services and by distributing its content over new platforms, including free ad-supported streaming TV channels.

“AMC has a track record as a sought-after and innovative strategic partners for distributors,” she said, announcing the company recently reached a deal with Dish Network and its Sling TV for continued carriage of AMC’s channel portfolio, streaming services and FAST channels. The deal also expanded AMC’s advanced advertising relationship with Dish.

“It is our longstanding distribution relationships that we believe will form the foundation of what is a forthcoming shift to streaming bundles,” Dolan said. “These bundles are beginning to gain traction as the marketplace evolves and consumers seek a more simplified and integrated experience when it comes to managing their various services. With our high-quality content and distinct brands, AMC Networks occupies a prime position for this inevitable shift.”

AMC lost streaming subscribers, finishing with 11.5 million at the end of the quarter, but Dolan said that the goal was to attract higher-value subscribers.

“Building a more valuable customer base is something I’m very familiar with from my Cablevision days, where we drove higher revenue-per-subscriber results quarter over quarter, year over year.”

AMC chief financial officer Patrick O’Connell said that the loss of subscribers from the end of 2022 to the end of the first quarter was largely due to that focus on higher value subscribers and a roll-off of holiday promotional subscribers.

“The rationalization of our subscriber base, along with pricing actions taken last year, increase the average revenue we generate per subscriber,” O’Connell said. 

At the same time, AMC’s streaming services are programmed efficiently in order to be profitable. “If you look at the top five titles for each of our targeted services in the month of March, 18 of the 20 title cost less than $1 million an episode and some substantially less than that,” he said. “This is a powerful illustration of the economic advantage of our strategic approach to the streaming business.”

Analysts asked how the Writers Guild of America strike would affect AMC.

“We’re very well-positioned for all of this year and into next year, so we have no real concerns about the writers’ strike at this point,” Dolan said.

AMC Networks plans to cut spending on programming by 20% as it waits for the industry to find a better way to monetize content.

In the fourth quarter, AMC Networks executed cost cuts, writing off programming and eliminating 20% of its staff.

The company also said Kristin Dolan will become CEO later this month. Her spouse, AMC interim executive chairman James Dolan, whose family controls the company, spoke on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts Friday.

Between cord-cutting and the shift of viewing to streaming, “the current mechanisms for monetizing content are not working,” James Dolan said. “The content industry needs to reorganize itself. We’re seeing this now with most media companies beginning to course-correct to better monetize content and improve the economics of their business.” 

In that process, “we believe large distributors and programmers will lead the way,“ he said. “AMC will follow.”

Dolan said that he was open to M&A activity, but he didn’t think the industry could consolidate meaningfully without a better handle on how to profitably monetize content.

Until then, the company is hunkering down. “AMC Networks will focus on streamlining our organization, operating more like retailers than wholesalers, driving cash flow and maintaining our balance sheet,“ James Dolan said. “At the same time, we will continue to do what we do best, which is making great content.”

AMC will be making less of that great content.

Chief financial officer Patrick O'Connell said that 2022 would represent AMC’s peak year for content investment.

“We expect cash content investment to be approximately $1.1 billion as compared to $1.35 billion dollars in 2022,” O’Connell said. “Looking past 2023, we anticipate our cash content investment will be in the $1 billion area, consistent with our historic pre-pandemic levels.” 

O’Connell said that between 2017 and 2019, AMC spent about $1 billion a year on programming. It jumped up to between $1.3 billion and $1.35 billion in 2021 and 2021.

While the programming cost cut represents a “meaningful reduction,” O’Connell maintained that despite having 20% less to spend, “this still leaves us with plenty of firepower to continue our historical programming cadence.”

The smallest cuts in programming will come at the company’s specialized streaming networks. There will also be a bit less programming on AMC Plus, he said.

The company appears to be focusing on its franchises, with more shows set in The Walking Dead zombie and Anne Rice vampire universes.

James Dolan opened the call by explaining the choice of Kristin Dolan to be the company’s CEO. 

He said AMC’s board of directors made a thorough search. “Based upon Kristin’s considerable executive and operational experience for 30-plus years working in media and entertainment, including her prior history managing subscription-based businesses, the board concluded she is the best candidate for the role,” he said.

“As founder and CEO of the audience measurement and data analytics company 605, Kristen has been on the front lines of the evolution of advanced advertising and audience targeting,“ Jim Dolan said. “She also has a strong record driving organizational change. These are areas of critical importance as we transform AMC, networks and further monetize our high-quality content during this pivotal period in our industry.” ■

AMC Networks named Kristin Dolan, wife of executive chairman James Dolan, as the media company’s new CEO.

Kristin Dolan, 56, was chief operating officer at Cablevision Systems before the family sold it in 2015 and has served as a director of AMC Networks, which was spun off from Cablevision and is still controlled by the Dolan family. Most recently, Kristin Dolan has been CEO of 605, an audience measurement and data analytics company.

AMC’s previous CEO, former CFO Christine Spade departed in November after three months in office. After her departure, James Dolan announced there would be “large scale layoffs” at AMC, and about 20% of the staff was dismissed. 

James Dolan noted that the company — best known for high-profile shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad and Mad Men — was suffering from the industry-wide pressure caused by cord-cutting and that revenue losses at its cable networks were not yet being offset by growth at its subscription streaming services.

AMC is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on Friday.

Also: AMC Restructures Ad Sales Unit Ahead of Upfront Market

“Kristin is a proven executive and operational leader with a track record driving organizational change, a history managing subscription-based businesses, and a deep understanding of audience engagement and advertising,” James Dolan said in making the announcement.

“These are areas of critical importance as we transform our company and monetize our high-quality content,“ he said. “With her considerable experience and knowledge of the company, Kristin is the ideal person to lead AMC Networks into its next chapter as we navigate this transformative period in the industry.” 

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kristin Dolan will receive a minimum base salary of $2 million and an annual bonus targeted at 200% of salary. She will also be eligible for long-term equity and other incentives with a target value of at least $3.75 million.

She will also get a special award of restricted stock units valued at $6 million.

“It’s a privilege to join a company with a long legacy of engaging audiences with excellent storytelling and world-class brands,” Kristin Dolan said. “It’s also where I started my career in the industry. I look forward to bringing my broad experience — across programming, cable operations and, most recently, utilizing data to reimagine television advertising — to leverage AMC Networks’ strong assets, drive the next phase of the company’s growth, and build shareholder value in the coming years.”

Kristin Dolan is also a director of The Wendy’s Co. and Revlon Inc. and the Dolan family’s Madison Square Garden Co.  ■

The measurement world has changed a lot since five years ago, when 605 was assembled by Kristin Dolan backed by Dolan Family Ventures.

While original 605 staffers are getting clocks to mark their fifth anniversary with the firm, some are speculating that Nielsen’s time may be up as the dominant player in the TV measurement business following criticism from clients and the suspension of its accreditation by the Media Rating Council.

Dolan tells Broadcasting+Cable she never saw Nielsen as competition when she got into the business. 

While Nielsen’s ratings were the currency for the media business, 605’s mission was to generate the kind of information about television that advertisers were used to getting from online media to keep ad dollars from leaving TV.

“It’s not about the future of TV measurement,” Dolan said. ”It’s about the future of TV advertising. What we do is we do planning, optimization, attribution. And we’re now working on the nirvana of the future, which is prediction: ’If I buy this media, what will it get me in results?’ ”

While 605 may not compete with Nielsen, Nielsen’s current problems have other companies in the TV business looking for more precise data and new providers.

“I will say the phone has rung a few times,” Dolan said.

One of those phone calls reportedly came from NBCUniversal, which sent requests for proposals to dozens of companies in the data, measurement and analytics business in a bid to make the industry less dependent on Nielsen. Dolan declined to comment on the NBCU process.

Filling a ‘Data Lake’

Over the course of its five years, 605 has created what Dolan calls a data lake. It has 1.3 trillion lines of data in its database, which takes up 6 petabytes of storage (that’s 1,000 terabytes).

“Every night, we onboard 300 million viewing events,” she said. “We marry that up and say what ads ran during those tuning events, and we get 2 billion records a day of anonymized viewing activity.” That data goes back to 2017, Dolan said, giving 605 a basis to look back and see how campaigns performed and a way to predict how similar campaigns will perform in the future.

That data also helps 605 measure campaigns across linear, digital and connected TV. Lots of newer companies can measure CTV, but getting good measurement of broadcast is much harder but necessary to evaluate omnichannel campaigns.

“As much as people think broadcast television and cable television are dead, they’re not going anywhere for a long time,“ Dolan said. ”And if you’re only looking at connected TV and digital measurement, you’re missing a piece of the pie.” 

All that data is expensive to store and operationalize, Dolan said, but 605 is getting much faster at responding to advertiser queries. “A report that used to take two months to do when we were at Cablevision Media Sales, with people combing through Excel spreadsheets, we could do in 55 minutes a year ago and now we can do it in seven minutes,” said Dolan, who served as chief operating officer at Cablevision Systems until its 2016 acquisition by Altice USA. 

605 is working on creating a predictive product. “I don’t want to give a timeline, but it is definitely on our road map,” Dolan said. The company aims to help advertisers identify persuadable consumers who, if reached with the right message, are likely to become purchasers. “I always feel bad saying it, but our behavior is relatively predictable. If you have the right inputs, you can figure out what the outputs are going to be.”

Relationships a Key Asset

In addition to its data lake, 605 also has valuable relationships. A key client is Walmart. An important data provider is Charter Communications, which renewed its long-term agreement with 605 in June. It also works with nearly all of the major programmers to help them measure how effective the campaigns they sell are. “Attribution is additive,” she said.

Companies in the ad tech, data and analytics business have also been involved in a dizzying round of merger, acquisition and initial public offering activity. That has Dolan’s phone ringing as well.

“It’s all about the SPAC,” Dolan joked, referring to the special purpose acquisition companies being financed to take startups public.

“We’re always going to listen, but that being said we’re very comfortable continuing down our own path,” Dolan said of the offers being made for 605.

People are in the market for companies like 605 because it’s involved in media buying transactions worth billions of dollars and because the allure of television and the media business makes it a bit sexy. “It’s big data. It's media. It’s a cool place to be,” she said.

“We have some big companies, but this is our baby,” she said. “It’s been a ton of work. I’m way too old to have done a start-up. We’ve been having some really interesting conversations, but we don’t have a specific plan of action that we need to pursue.”

Former Cablevision Systems exec Kristin Dolan is extending her business acumen to the world of fast food.

Dolan, the former COO of Cablevision (now part of Altice USA), has been appointed to the board of The Wendy’s Company, which, through the appointment, has bumped the size of its board from 11 to 12 members.

Dolan is now CEO of 605 LLC, an audience and data analytics company.

RELATED: Dolan Family Ventures Launches Data and Analytics Company

She and her husband, James Dolan, the former CEO of Cablevision, have also formed an investment fund, Dolan Family Ventures, that is focused on providing capital to data, analytics and tech-based, media-focused businesses.

Kristin Dolan also also serves as a director of AMC Networks, The Madison Square Garden Company and Revlon Inc.

"My fellow Board members and I are delighted to welcome Kristin to serve on our Board,” Nelson Peltz, Wendy’s board chairman, said in a statement. “Her impressive experience in the media and entertainment marketing industries, coupled with her extensive experience as a chief executive officer, chief operating officer and public company director, brings valuable expertise and an insightful perspective to our Board."

Anyone who has spent any time in the TV business has heard the mantra before: This year is advanced advertising’s year. But unlike the past two decades, in which many a promising ad-tech initiative has stumbled, cable and broadcast executives may finally have the incentive to make targeted ads reality.

For advanced advertising — using the torrent of data from set-top boxes, digital and mobile devices to target messages to specific households and individuals — the erosion of the traditional TV model could be the force that frees the technology. As viewing habits have shifted away from linear TV, distributors, networks and advertisers themselves all have a vested interest in reaching that elusive market.

“When models reach the breaking point, that’s when breakouts happen,” Tom Rogers, chairman of TRget Media LLC and the former TiVo CEO, said in an interview. “It’s been clear for some time that the traditional linear TV model has had its challenges. We’re really beginning to see some things happen that are very, very significant accelerations.”

And networks, distributors and ad buyers alike are buying in, with distributors like Comcast and Altice USA snapping up small ad-tech companies, networks forming consortiums like OpenAP to identify opportunities and set standards, and even, in the case of NBCUniversal, devoting a growing piece of their ad budgets to targeting.

Related: The Future of Television Is Now

In March, NBCU said it would offer about $1 billion in inventory to targeted ads this year. And at the recent upfronts, NBCU chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships Linda Yaccarino slammed the questionable reach of some digital ads.

“Has a ‘view’ ever bought any of your products?” Yaccarino asked at NBCU’s May 15 upfront event. “Has a ‘like’ ever walked into a store? … Viewers buy products.”

Related: Data Drives Some Talk at Upfront Presentations [subscription required]

First-Quarter Slippage
Exacerbating the need for more focused ads is the mounting evidence that cord-cutting, cord-shaving and skinny programming bundles are gaining steam. In the first quarter, the pay TV distribution market fell by 762,000 subscribers, the single largest first-quarter decline ever, according to MoffettNathanson. And once indestructible brands, like The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, have seen their subscriber bases shrink as viewers move to other venues and devices to fill their content needs.

ESPN has lost between 12 million and 13 million subscribers from its peak and plans to launch a direct-to-consumer service targeted at younger viewers later this year. At the same time, ratings stalwart the National Football League saw its ratings fall 9% last year (double that for the coveted 18-24 year old demographic), while other sports are getting older. Meanwhile, younger viewers are staying away from the living room TV set.

According to TechCrunch, viewers are watching 1 billion hours of YouTube video clips per day.

Related: OTT Players Poised to Win TV’s Future [subscription required]

Traditional distributors and programmers are taking notice. Comcast has purchased several ad-tech companies over the past few years, including FreeWheel, StickyAds.tv and Visible World. Altice USA bought advanced ad company Audience Partners in March, and in April programmers Viacom, Turner and 21st Century Fox formed consortium OpenAP to standardize the way targeted audiences are defined and measured.

The TV industry still has some time before the ad model completely disintegrates, Pivotal Research Group senior analyst Brian Weiser said.

“To me, it’s evolutionary, not revolutionary,” Wieser said. “Ratings can fall by double digits, yet traditional TV is a source of premium video content with adjacent advertising opportunities. It continues to dwarf everything else.”

Industry group the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) pegged digital video ad revenue at about $9.1 billion in 2016, compared with $69 billion for TV ads.

Wieser said a dramatic shift in viewers could sway the market, but it would have to be very dramatic.

“For TV to find itself in a position where advertisers would all of a sudden make radical changes, you would have to find a good core of the audience evaporate,” Wieser said. “And by evaporate I mean reach goes away.”

The emergence of groups like OpenAP are more a means to show the industry that programmers are not out of step with the times, Weiser said, adding that perception is a bigger force of change in the ad market than reality.

“Decisions end up getting made based on the perception of how things are going, and fear,” Wieser said. He pointed to the TV ad market in 2015, which to some was the indicator that the traditional TV ad model had broken, but was, Wieser said, merely a bad year made to look worse by unfavorable comparables to the prior year. In 2016, when heavy ad spending by such daily fantasy sports sites as FanDuel and DraftKings spurred the TV market, the problem appeared to be solved. Now in 2017, the ad market is in decline again.

“What’s happening now is what people feared would happen a couple of years ago,” Wieser said. “Cost constraints are more pronounced than they have ever been. Now we’re at a place where I’m feeling doubtful that national TV will grow again. But it’s not because of digital, per se.”

At TVSquared, an ad-tech company that tracks brand traffic and helps advertisers choose how to target their messages, chief technology officer Kevin O’Reilly agreed fears the TV ad model is dead are overblown.

O’Reilly said the TV apocalypse has been coming for the past 15 years, and this wave is being fueled by the emergence of the second screen.

“If the apocalypse is coming, it’s coming slowly,” he said. But he added that ad buyers and sellers are realizing that both traditional and advanced models can coexist.

“Advertisers are saying, look, I know linear TV works, it really does drive efficient traffic. And one of the big benefits of efficiency is if I can find a way to be slightly more efficient in an efficient marketplace, I’m going to make money,” O’Reilly said. “There is major value in still reaching a very large audience, I just want to make sure I’m reaching the right part of that audience. And when I’m not reaching the right part of the audience, I can change my buy and optimize it into parts where I’m seeing it perform better.”

Getting to that point will probably take a round of consolidation in the business, Rogers said, creating one-stop shops for participants to access the expertise they need.

“The problem is, there are so many silos, so many companies, that it is a bit of a mess,” Rogers said, adding that there is an increasing need to put ad-tech solutions under a single roof. “Until that is solved, it’s going to be difficult for a massive breakthrough.”

The convergence of ad tech and distribution has been a long time coming with the inherent convergence of data-driven advertising and those who compile the data, said Waller Capital Partners managing director Roddy Moon, who leads the boutique investment bank’s digital media practice and who has covered the ad-tech sector since its early days.

Related: Waller Capital's Video Services Consolidation Chart

Helping to spur along that convergence is the dominance of digital behemoths Google and Facebook in the digital ad space. Morgan Stanley estimates that about 85 cents of every new online ad dollar goes to those two companies.

“There are still a tremendous number of companies chasing that remaining 15 cents,” Moon said. “But that’s just digital ad spend; the 800-pound gorilla is still TV ad budgets.”

To address that market, Moon said, the industry is beginning to realize it needs a common, integrated data-driven platform. With scores of small, medium and large ad-tech companies out there, many are realizing that creating a one-stop shop for distributors, content owners and advertisers can help the development along.

“It used to be that it was an ‘either-or’ mentality,” Moon said of the ad-tech business. “You were either digital or traditional television. Now there is more of a mindset from the marketing side that it should be holistic.”

Cable Jumps In, Too
At the same time, cable and telco distributors are trying to dispel the notion that others are taking over this emerging business. Comcast started buying ad-tech firms in 2005, with Strata Marketing, followed by Seattle-based thePlatform in 2006. In the past three years, Comcast has purchased video ad startup FreeWheel (2014), This Technology (2015), Visible World (2015) and StickyAds (2016), all with a view toward offering more targeted ad product.

Earlier this month, Comcast named Marcien Jenckes, a former ad-tech entrepreneur, as president of advertising. Jenckes has held several roles at Comcast since joining the company in 2010 — he was most recently executive vice president of consumer services at Comcast Cable, where he oversaw its video, internet, voice and Xfinity Home businesses.

The newest entry to the U.S. cable space — Altice USA, a unit of European telecom company Altice N.V. — has also dipped its toes in the ad-tech space. Altice USA purchased Suddenlink Communications in December 2015 for $9.1 billion and in June 2016 bought Cablevision Systems for $17.7 billion, making it the fourth largest cable operator in the country with 4.6 million residential and business services subscribers.

Cablevision had been a pioneer in taking a digital-like approach to advertising, Altice USA chief data officer Paul Haddad said. Haddad had served as senior vice president and general manager of advanced data and analytics at Cablevision, playing a key role in its advanced advertising strategy.

That expertise and experience now in demand in the business, Haddad said, and advertisers and networks, who may have given advanced ads short shrift in the past, are getting a lot more serious.

“We’re being asked to discuss our strategy with major players,” Haddad said. “In previous years, people were assessing the value proposition, versus today I can sense they want to test, they want to discuss business plans. To us, this is the real sign that, yes, we think it’s going to start gaining major traction starting this year. In 18 to 24 months I could see it becoming a standard request when it comes to advertising in the industry.”

Already, some early aggregators are beginning to emerge. In 2016, former Cablevision CEO James Dolan and his wife, former cable company chief operating officer Kristin, formed Dolan Family Ventures, an investment company focused on the ad-tech space. Dolan Family Ventures formed data analytics company 605 shortly after its purchase of Analytics Media Group, a New York-based data analytics specialist. The idea behind 605 is to combine AMG’s analytics and technology platform with set-top box data to provide clients with the kind of information that can help them develop targeted, optimized ad campaigns.

Kristin Dolan serves as CEO of 605, overseeing a management team that includes several former AMG and Cablevision ad executives, including former Cablevision Media Sales president Ben Tatta.

As ad buyers, distributors and networks become increasingly frustrated over how ads are sold, targeting will gain traction, Kristin Dolan said in an interview.

“In order to continue selling television advertising, the advertisers and the brands are expecting that they will get the same capability to target people that they have been experiencing on digital for years,” she said. “The time has come.”

And with NBCUniversal committing $1 billion to targeted inventory and consortiums like OpenAP emerging, she added that she sees the light at the end of the targeting tunnel.

“Television advertising is a great medium; [it’s] the best way to reach large audiences,” Dolan said. “Coupled with targeted calls to action, it really allows the brand to be more effective. Hopefully in the next 12 to 18 months, you will see significant increase in utilization to drive the industry forward. Buyers are demanding it, and the sellers like NBC are responding, as are the MVPDs. Everybody seems finally ready to move on this.”

That buyers are finally stepping up to the advanced ad plate is a significant development. In the past, as cable companies and data firms touted their ability to pinpoint homes via set-top box data, buyers have dismissed the technology as not being specific enough. An age-old argument against targeted ads was that just knowing a household buys dog food isn’t enough; advertisers wanted to know who was buying it and what they were watching.

Getting Real
But advances in data have made what was once the Holy Grail of targeted advertising a reality.

“Now you can do that,” One2One Media president Michael Bologna, a 20-year veteran of the advanced advertising business, said. “Media marketers are getting pressure from CMOs, and they are now pushing their buyers and their agencies and they are now changing the conversation.

“Will there be a time when an advertiser will say, ‘I completely don’t care what the program is as long as I know it’s the audience?’ We’re definitely headed down that road in certain ways, but content will always play a factor,” Bologna added. “But now that the advertisers are seeing first hand that they can target these granular segments, and they see that targeting these granular segments is generating sales, they are becoming less focused on ‘I have to be on this particular show at this particular time.’ That’s a really interesting and fulfilling trend.”

Bologna said advanced ad addressability won’t take over the TV ad market — he estimated that when fully deployed, 25% to 35% of an advertiser’s ad budget will go to addressable — but it will balance it.

“No major advertiser is ever going to put 100% of their budget toward addressability,” Bologna said. “If you wait until someone is 40 years old to show them a Mercedes ad when they can afford to buy a Mercedes, you’ve missed them. What addressability will ultimately do, in the long run, is help balance the frequency of messaging to the mass audience versus the very niche audience. And between now and then, every advertiser is going to have their own allocation methodology.”

Dolan Family Ventures, the newly formed investment fund run by former Cablevision Systems executives Kristin and James Dolan, has pulled the trigger on its first acquisition and has launched its first company.

RELATED: Kristin and James Dolan Form Tech Investment Fund

That new company, called 605, emerges following the acquisition of Analytics Media Group (AMG), a New York-based data analytics specialist.

605, also based in New York, said it will combine AMG’s analytics and technology platform and set-top box data to provide clients with the kind of information that can help them develop targeted, optimized ad and media campaigns.

The aim of 605, said company founder and CEO Kristin Dolan, centers on “the opportunity to make TV more impactful – having the right data and the right analysis to drive more effective advertising.”

Among the execs joining Kristin Dolan at 605 are company president Ben Tatta, most recently president of Cablevision Media Sales, and EVP of client solutions Chauncey McLean, AMG’s co-founder and chief revenue officer. 605 has just under 50 employees. 

Update:Per the 605 website, other members of the leadership team include other execs who are late of Cablevision -- Ray Casazza (SVP of finance and administration), Colleen Moraghan (SVP of data solutions), and Charlstie Veith (SVP of marketing and communications).

And the significance of the number? 605, we’re told, is code for “DCV,” or Data Co. Ventures, the original project name of Dolan Family Ventures. DCV is also the Roman numeral equivalent of 605.

AMG rose to fame in 2008 for using analytics and set-top data for the 2008 Obama campaign (and worked with the campaign again in 2012), and Walmart is one of its key clients today. AMG had also done some work for Cablevision Systems, which wrapped up its sale to Altice in June.

“It’s a great acquisition for us,” Dolan said, noting that she has had her eyes on AMG for a couple of years. “It’s a combination of really strong, smart young talent, and they have some IP [intellectual property] that we find really interesting, and they have some strong client relationships.”

Moving forward, 605 will focus on clients spanning MVPDs, programmers and ad agencies.

While MVPDs have their own inventory, they are also big consumers of paid media, Dolan said. Major TV networks, meanwhile, are focused on using data and analytics to create customer segmentation and targeting. That same data, she added, can also be valuable to smaller programmers that are trying to get a better fix on the makeup of their viewership. 605 will also work with individual advertisers as well as agencies to optimize their media buys.

"We're very neutral because we're never going to sell media,” said Dolan, who most recently was COO of Cablevision. “The data tells what the data tells, and we can help [our clients] craft custom media plans." 

Though others use set-top data and analytics to help with ad targeting and media plan optimization, 605 will look to stand apart by leaning on census-level, authenticated data a platform from AMG that covers 120 million homes underpinned by segmentation profiles built around more than 1,500 different attributes.

RELATED: AT&T AdWorks Offers 60-Second Addressable Format for Linear TV

“With addressable [advertising] becoming more and more prevalent, there’s an opportunity for people to take the insight and do on television what they’ve been able to do on digital for a long time,” Dolan said.

Former Cablevision Systems executives Kristin and James Dolan are dipping their toes into venture capital waters, forming an investment fund aimed at providing capital to data, analytics and technology-based businesses in the media space.

Dolan Family Ventures is headed up by former Cablevision chief operating officer Kristin Dolan and her husband, former Cablevision CEO James Dolan.

Kristin Dolan, who has a deep background in the technology industry – she had served in several tech roles at Cablevision during her tenure with the company – is managing partner and founder of DFV. James Dolan will serve as an investor and strategic advisor to DFV. PJT Partners, an independent advisory-focused investment banking firm, provided advice, consulting and support services on the formation, financial and operation structure of DFV.

As COO of Cablevision, Kristin Dolan led all aspects of the company’s cable operations, overseeing thousands of employees, including the company’s entire customer and field service workforce. Among her other responsibilities, she oversaw Cablevision Media Sales, the company’s advertising sales division, which was widely recognized for its data strategy.

James Dolan, as CEO of Cablevision has been a technology buff over the years – he helped start Cablevision Media Sales and the company was one of the pioneers in high-speed data service and advanced advertising. Cablevision sold out to Altice USA in June in a deal valued at $17.8 billion.

In an interview, Kristin Dolan said that while tech start-ups can navigate the bits and bytes associated with the technical side of the business, translating that to the television industry is more difficult.

“I’m constantly amazed by how new media and digital companies for whatever reason struggle to get TV,” Kristin Dolan said in an interview. “Having worked on both sides of the table, to look at some of these investment opportunities and imagine what they can become relative to the businesses we’ve owned in the past and are still involved with, is pretty fun.” 

She added that DFV will seek out companies that are in various stages of development, ranging from start-ups to more established entities. She declined to reveal the average size of investment or the amount of capital available to be invested, but added that DFV is casting a wide net.

“Anything that we choose to pursue will be well funded,” Dolan said.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has announced the 2016 cable-industry leaders who will be honored with Vanguard Awards, at a ceremony during the INTX convention in Boston on Wednesday, May 18. Heading the list, being honored for their distinguished leadership, are top executives at three cable providers that are in the process of being acquired: Cablevision (by Altice) and Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (by Charter Communications).  

The following is from the detailed announcement of the Vanguard recipients by the NCTA, an announcement that was distributed on March 23:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ten cable industry executives spanning all aspects of the cable and telecommunications industry will be recognized for their significant contributions to industry success, with NCTA Vanguard Awards at the Internet & Television Expo (INTX) in Boston in May.

Heading the list and receiving the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership will be Kristin Dolan, Chief Operating Officer, Cablevision Systems Corporation; Robert Marcus, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Cable; and Steve Miron, Chief Executive Officer, Bright House Networks.

The Vanguard Awards are presented annually by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) to individuals who excel in both business and personal commitment to their colleagues, and whose accomplishments merit the recognition of the entire industry.

The 2016 Vanguard Awards will be presented on Wednesday, May 18, 2016, at an awards ceremony and lunch during INTX: The Internet & Television Expo scheduled for May 16-18 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

A complete list of 2016 Vanguard Award honorees, along with a description of each award, follows.

DISTINGUISHED VANGUARD AWARD FOR LEADERSHIP

For 2016, the Vanguard selection committee identified two men and one woman to receive the Distinguished Vanguard Award which is the highest award NCTA presents for industry leadership.  The recipients are:

Robert Marcus, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Cable

Since becoming Chairman and CEO in 2014, Rob Marcus has been committed to creating a customer-centric company focused on operational excellence and superior service. During Marcus’ 10-year tenure with the company, Time Warner Cable has invested heavily to support growth, enhance its network, and improve critical infrastructure – all while expanding residential and commercial product offerings, increasing data speeds, and rolling out advanced multi-platform products. Marcus joined Time Warner Cable in 2005 as Senior Executive Vice President, overseeing corporate groups including mergers & acquisitions, law, business affairs, programming, corporate affairs, and human resources. He then became Chief Financial Officer, followed by President and Chief Operating Officer, before assuming the CEO role. From 1998 until joining Time Warner Cable in 2005, Marcus served at Time Warner, Inc., in roles including senior vice president of mergers & acquisitions.

Marcus has an extensive commitment to corporate, non-profit, and industry boards. They include the boards of Equifax, Inc., The Museum of the Moving Image, New Alternatives for Children, CableLabs, and NCTA. He has been recognized for his leadership with numerous business and industry honors and is a recipient of the Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award from UJA Federation of New York.

Steve Miron, Chief Executive Officer, Bright House Networks

During his time as CEO, Steve Miron has led Bright House Networks – sixth largest owner and operator of cable systems in the U.S., serving 2.5 million customers – to new heights, in customer experience, operations, service deployment, and growth. From his entry into the business, with MetroVision in 1989, Miron held successively senior management positions, with Vision Cable, NewChannels, and Time Warner Cable, where he served as vice president and general manager of its cluster in central and northern New York State. In 2002, he joined Bright House Networks as President, rising to CEO in 2010.  Under Miron’s leadership, Bright House has achieved an industry-leading customer-centric reputation, recognized by 12 J.D. Power Awards, while earning accolades across a variety of activities such as its commitment to corporate social responsibility, employee relations, and consumer-focused marketing.

With this award, Miron becomes a two-time Vanguard winner, also having been recognized in 2005 with the NCTA Vanguard Award for Young Leadership. An influential leader in the television industry, he serves on the Board of Directors of Discovery Communications, C-SPAN, CableLabs, the CTAM Educational Foundation, and NCTA. He also serves as vice chair of the NCTA CablePAC Committee.

Kristin Dolan, Chief Operating Officer, Cablevision Systems Corp.

Kristin Dolan leads all aspects of cable operations for Cablevision Systems, a leading media and telecommunications company serving millions of households and businesses throughout the greater New York area. As Chief Operating Officer, she oversees thousands of employees, including the company’s entire customer and field service workforce. She is also responsible for the full Optimum customer experience, from product development and management to programming, marketing, and sales across the company’s residential and commercial Optimum TV, online, WiFi and voice products. In addition, Ms. Dolan oversees the human resources organization as well as Cablevision Media Sales, the company’s advertising sales division.

Throughout her career, Ms. Dolan has been instrumental in working across Cablevision’s media and telecommunications properties to maximize opportunity, brand strength, and customer experience. Over the past several years, she has guided Cablevision on its transformation to a premier connectivity company in the nation’s most competitive market by reimagining its products, quality of service and the customer experience. In the advertising space, Cablevision was the first cable operator to roll out census-level audience data, and continues to innovate its pioneering data strategy, paving the way for an audience-driven approach to television advertising and providing deep insights into New York-area viewing audiences.

A veteran of more than 27 years with the company, Ms. Dolan has had a direct hand in the launch, expansion and growth of many of the company’s products and services, including Optimum TV digital cable and Optimum Voice. She began her career at Rainbow Media – now AMC Networks – where she worked in a variety of sales and marketing positions with increasing levels of responsibility. She also has spearheaded a number of initiatives for Madison Square Garden, including the migration of the national music network Fuse from Rainbow Media to Madison Square Garden, where she was responsible for marketing, creative services and other key functions during and after the transition.

Ms. Dolan serves on the Boards of Cablevision, AMC Networks, and The Madison Square Garden Company. She has been a member of the Foundation Board for SUNY Albany, as well as the National Board of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT). Honors have included recognition as a Multichannel News Wonder Woman, and inclusion on the Cablefax list of 100 top cable executives and 50 most influential women in cable.

VANGUARD AWARD FOR CABLE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

This award recognizes the efforts of cable's system managers, who work under intensely competitive conditions in today's dynamic telecommunications environment and who are critical to the cable industry's success. This year’s honoree is:

John Keib, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Residential Services, Time Warner Cable

John Keib leads service delivery, customer care, marketing, and sales operations for Time Warner Cable’s $19 billion residential services business. He has been instrumental in the launch and growth of products and services including high-speed Internet, multichannel video, digital phone, business services, and local programming. A veteran of Time Warner Cable since 1998, Keib joined the company in Central New York, working on the launch of Road Runner®high-speed Internet service. He went on to serve as Regional Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the Northeast, Southern California, and New York City; President of Residential Services for the Northeast/National  and West Regions; then returned to New York City as Executive Vice President, Chief Care and Technical Operations Officer in 2013. Prior to his career at Time Warner Cable, Keib worked for Thomson Multimedia and DirecTV.

VANGUARD AWARD FOR PROGRAMMERS

Cable’s creative programming services make the industry a leader in the home entertainment and news and information businesses. This award recognizes innovation, leadership and individual achievement of NCTA’s programmer members. This year’s honoree is:

Joel Stillerman, President of Original Programming & Development, AMC and Sundance TV

For the past eight years, Joel Stillerman has been a key architect behind AMC’s evolution from a classic movie channel to a top tier “must have” network, home to some of the most acclaimed and highly-viewed programming on television. He and his colleagues at AMC have brought viewers and fans some of the most celebrated shows in the history of cable, including Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, Hell on Wheels, Fear The Walking Dead, the Talking Dead franchise, Into the Badlands and the forthcoming The Night Manager and Preacher, among others. Adding SundanceTV to his portfolio in 2015, Stillerman and his team now develop and support an impressive slate of scripted dramas for the fast-growing network including the Peabody Award-winning Rectify, Hap and Leonard and an expanding array of international programming like The Last Panthers, Cleverman, Rebellion, Gomorrah and The A-Word. As founder and co-chairman of Spanky Pictures, he produced the films Blow and Rounders and later served as the top content executive at Walden Media. Stillerman joined AMC in 2008 after more than 20 years of broad experience developing, producing, and writing for film and television, with his work appearing on networks such as HBO, MTV, and VH1. He’s the winner of a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Made-for-TV Movie (Lessons Before Dying in 1999), a Peabody Award, a Humanitas Prize, and several CableACE Awards.

VANGUARD AWARD FOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

This award honors individuals who have played a significant role in product improvement as well as in the design and development of engineering techniques. This year’s honoree is:

JR Walden, Senior Vice President, Technology, and Chief Technology Officer, Mediacom Communications Corporation

Recognized by his Mediacom colleagues as the founder of their Internet business, JR Walden boasts 20 years of experience in the cable industry. Climbing the ranks through the years in positions as Director, Senior Director, Vice President, and Group Vice President of IP Services, Walden, as CTO today, leads all the technology and engineering functions for Mediacom, which serves 1.3 million residential and business customers in 1,500 mostly rural and small-market communities. Walden plays a key role in shaping Mediacom’s strategic vision and direction. He manages video and network engineering, operational support systems, network operations, video operations, and CLEC research and development, leading a team of more than 200 engineers, software developers and network operators. A broadband pioneer, Walden directed Mediacom’s first-ever high-speed data business in its California systems in 1997. And at the age of just 27 in 1998, he led the company’s efforts to introduce full DOCSIS broadband service throughout the company’s footprint. Walden continues to break new ground today, positioning Mediacom as a national leader in the rollout of 1-gigabit systems. Before joining Mediacom, Walden held positions with the Department of Defense, Comarco, and Science Applications International Corporation.

VANGUARD AWARD FOR GOVERNMENT & COMMUNITY RELATIONS

This award recognizes individuals who have had a significant impact on promoting a positive public image and advocating public policy positions for the cable industry at the national, state and/or local levels. This year’s honoree is:

Kathy Zachem, Senior Vice President, Regulatory & State Legislative Affairs, Comcast Corporation

A recognizable face and strong advocate throughout the corridors of power in the nation’s capital, Kathryn “Kathy” Zachem is a key leader of Comcast’s federal relations efforts, directing more than 200 employees nationwide. Joining Comcast in 2008, Zachem is responsible for the company’s advocacy before federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, and state regulatory and legislative bodies. Zachem’s cable experience spans nearly three decades. A founding partner of the law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, during her 23-year tenure at the firm, she specialized in communications law and represented clients from nearly every segment of the communications sector. As much an advocate for cable as she is for her own company, Zachem has been recognized by CableFAX as among the Most Powerful Women in Cable and is a Multichannel News Wonder Woman. She has also been identified by Washingtonian as one of Washington’s best lawyers, and Chambers USA listed her as one of the leading lawyers in the communications field. She is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, serving several terms on its Executive Committee and Foundation Board, and is a recipient of its Distinguished Service Award.

VANGUARD AWARD FOR MARKETING

This award honors an individual who has been instrumental in the development of marketing approaches that significantly enhance cable's public image and increase customers. This year’s honoree is:

Tonia O’Connor, Chief Commercial Officer & President of Content Distribution, Univision Communications, Inc.

Tonia O’Connor oversees content distribution for Univision Communications, Inc., (UCI) across all screens, including online and mobile. She also leads UCI’s Enterprise Development efforts to expand its content availability and licensing revenue by securing key partnerships and new business models with traditional and emerging content distributors. She led the strategy and launch of UCI’s direct to consumer subscription video service, Univision Now; the creation of the company’s first English language digital network, Flama; the Univision Creator network; and has worked with key leaders across the company to coordinate joint ventures and investments in new businesses. A highly-regarded champion of diversity in media, O’Connor often speaks about the industry’s obligation to support multicultural talent in mainstream media. She also helped launch and sponsors the UCI Women’s Leadership Council, an employee resource group designed to advance women across the company and prepare the next generation of women leaders. She also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and on the executive committee of the T. Howard Foundation Board. O’Connor joined UCI in 2008 as Executive Vice President of Distribution Sales and Marketing, after working for 13 years in leadership positions at Gemstar TV Guide. She has been recognized as a Multichannel News Wonder Woman and appears regularly on the CableFAX list of Most Powerful Women in Cable. Named by Cynopsis in 2013 as one of the industry’s “most intriguing people,” O’Connor also serves on the board of El Rey Network, a cable network founded by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

VANGUARD AWARD FOR ASSOCIATES & AFFILIATES

This award recognizes the important contributions of equipment manufacturers and service suppliers to cable industry innovation, growth and progress. This year’s honoree is:

Bob Benya, President & Chief Executive Officer, iN DEMAND

A cable industry executive and innovator for more than 30 years, Bob Benya in 2010 became President and CEO of iN DEMAND, a partnership of four of the leading telecommunications companies in the U.S. – Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, and Bright House Networks – dedicated to driving scale, efficiency and speed-to-market advances in transactional entertainment. Benya’s influence within iN DEMAND and the cable industry has been key in the development of technological and product advances that have enhanced and improved the customer experience for tens of millions of cable customers, including digital TV, video on demand, pay-per-view services, interactive TV, high-speed Internet service, and cross-platform transactional services. With deep roots in the operating side of the business, Benya’s career includes marketing leadership for five multiple system operators. Notably, as Senior Vice President of Marketing for Time Warner Cable from 1993 to 2003, Benya helped lead three groundbreaking initiatives – the Full Service Network, Road Runner High Speed Internet Service, and the AOL/TW Interactive Video Group. In his tenure with iN DEMAND, the company has grown to distributing more than 360,000 hours of content annually, and spread its footprint to serving more than 60 million subscribers with content from more than 225 suppliers – achieving its best year ever for pay-per-view results in 2015. A cable marketing stalwart, Benya serves on the Board of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) and the CTAM Educational Foundation, and also has served on the Boards of Music Choice and the Better Business Bureau Online.  He has won many industry awards, including an Emmy for his work on the industry’s groundbreaking “Start Over.”

VANGUARD AWARD FOR YOUNG LEADERSHIP

The growth of cable is in large part due to the energy, vitality and creativity of the many young people working within the industry, and the Young Leadership Award recognizes those individuals who have already made a mark on the industry and its constituents. This year’s honoree is:

Justin Connolly, Executive Vice President, Affiliate Sales & Marketing, Disney and ESPN Media Networks

Spanning both cable and broadcast-related functions of his company, Connolly oversees all aspects of domestic distribution, affiliate marketing, and affiliate-related business operations for 17 Disney and ESPN networks, as well as related WATCH authenticated products, HDTV, video on demand and interactive television, plus retransmission consent agreements for The Walt Disney Company’s eight owned-and-operated ABC stations. Prior to his promotion one year ago, to Executive Vice President for Affiliate Sales & Marketing, Connolly had major success as Senior Vice President of College Networks for ESPN, where he oversaw the creation and launch of the SEC Network, one of the most successful launches of a new network in cable history, debuting in more than 60 million households from the day of its launch. Prior to his work with the college networks, Connolly served as Senior Vice President, National Accounts, for Disney & ESPN Media Networks, responsible for all domestic distribution and licensing efforts for The Walt Disney Company’s linear networks, broadband, and video on demand content within the Media Networks Group. Following time in the corporate finance group for The Walt Disney Company’s corporate treasury department, Connolly joined ESPN in 2003, where he helped lead strategy, operations, and distribution efforts. He is an inductee in the Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 Hall of Fame.  

Attending the Awards Ceremony

Admission to the Vanguard Awards Lunch and Ceremony at INTX is by ticket only. Tickets may be purchased at $125 per ticket or $1,250 per table of 10 seats. Please visit www.intxshow.com/vanguardtickets for purchasing instructions. If you have questions or require assistance, please contact Katie Mousavian at 202-257-4429 or kmousavian@ncta.com.

Media Attendance

The Vanguard Awards event is open to the media at no cost, but reservations are mandatory. Media may make reservations by contacting Pam Ford at pford@ncta.com no later than May 1, 2016.