Crunchyroll Adds Top Events, Marketing Execs

Crunchyroll, AT&T’s anime platform, has added heads of events and marketing to its executive ranks.

Mary Franklin, previously global event director of ReedPOP, was named head of events.

Julia Renda, previously head of marketing and lifestyle applications for Yahoo, was named head of marketing.

“Crunchyroll has always attracted the best and the brightest. It is these leaders that are responsible for the tremendous growth and success of our platform and the broader industry.” said Joanne Waage, general manager, Crunchyroll.

“Joining us from ReedPOP and Lucasfilm, Mary built and ran Comic Cons and Star Wars Celebrations globally. Who better to take Crunchyroll Expo to the next level? At Yahoo!, Julia led marketing for Yahoo! View, their streaming video service and built Polyvore into a world class brand. She’ll now put her strength in brand and marketing to work for Crunchyroll and our content partners,” Waage said.

Crunchyroll is a popular anime brand, connecting a community of more than 45 million registered users and 2 million subscribers with 360-degree content experiences across Crunchyroll games, events, social media, news and e-commerce. 

Crunchyroll said it has the world’s largest anime library with more than 1,000 titles, over 30,000 episodes

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.