Fox said it hired former Nielsen executive Mainak Mazumdar as the company’s first executive VP, chief advertising research and analytics officer.
The addition is designed to boost Fox’s data-driven, client-first, cross-divisional advertising sales strategy, the company said.
Mazumdar will report to Marianne Gambelli, president of advertising sales at Fox.
“In this constantly evolving media ecosystem, we know that a clear, data-powered, platform-wide approach to monetize at scale will serve our clients, and our business, in the most meaningful way,” Gambelli said. “I am delighted that Mainak has decided to bring his leadership, and his wealth of expertise in data science, research and analytics, to Fox.”
Also Read: Fox Offers Free Commercials for Advertisers’ ‘Purpose’ Messages
Audrey Steele, executive VP, sales research, insight and entertainment, focused on Fox Entertainment on broadcast and digital with Fox Now, Fox VOD and Vox on Hulu, will report to Mazumdar. Mazumdar will also work closely with research departments at Fox Sports, Fox News and streaming service Tubi.
Mazumdar is one of several senior executives who left Nielsen at the end of the year, following the research company’s buyout by a group of private equity investors.
At Nielsen, Mazumdar was chief data officer and a key to providing credibility for Nielsen One, Nielsen's new big-data-based cross-platform measurement product.
Nielsen is under pressure from clients to replace its legacy panel-based system for measuring TV viewership with a new system designed for the modern, multi-screen media environment in which more content is being streamed.
Mazumdar's move comes at a time when Fox and other programmers have organized to form a Joint Industry Committee to set standards for the industry that Nielsen and its rivals are being asked to achieve.
Mazumdar was with Nielsen from 2016 to 2023. He was also with Nielsen from 2005 to 2012. He was with Simulmedia from 2014 to 2016 and GfK from 2012 to 2014.
Earlier in his career, he was with Jupiter Media Metrics (acquired by Comscore), DoubleClick (acquired by Google) and a series of smaller startups in the San Francisco Bay Area. ■
