Ad Sales Company Focusing on OTT, Podcasts Launches

A new ad company focused on monetizing content and personalities on over-the-top and podcasting platforms was launched by a trio of veteran sales executives.

Crossover Media Group Sales was formed by Scott Calka, Sue Freund and Ron Hartenbaum, and will have offices in New York and Los Angeles.

Its video clients include Political Voices Network, co-launched this year by former CNN and MSNBC executive David Bohrman, and Vegas Stats & Information Network (VSiN), which also is carried on SiriusXM and which was launched by veteran sportscaster Brent Musburger and his nephew Brian Musburger.

Crossover Media Group Sales is an extension of New York-based Crossover Media Group, which was launched by Hartenbaum and Calka in 2017 as a content-creation and advertising-sales consulting firm.

Calka is a veteran of advertising sales for organizations including Comcast Spotlight, DirecTV, Fox Sports and Madison Square Garden.

Hartenbaum was VP of sales for Westwood One before becoming a founding partner of MediaAmerica and CEO of Jones Radio Networks.

They are joined by Freund, most recently VP of sales for the Western Region for SiriusXM, and, before that, in senior management positions for radio stations owned by CBS, Radio One and Clear Channel. She will be based in L.A.

“We believe we have developed the first truly cross-platform ad-sales structure to best serve the needs of content partners whose origins are in the audio and digital-video sectors,” Calka said. “The future of ‘TV’ revolves around non-linear video consumption. To monetize the millennials audience, personalities, content providers and brands need to have a strategy for this platform.”

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.