Roku, the struggling streaming company, said it hired Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier to be president of Roku Media, effective late October.
In his new post, Collier will oversee ad sales and Roku’s advertising platform as well as content on Roku channels including The Roku Channel. He will bolster Roku’s commitment to serving advertisers, content partners and consumers, the company said.
Roku also promoted Mustafa Ozgen to president of devices and Gideon Katz to president, consumer experience.
“As Roku grows internationally, these positions will help bring more focus to key areas of our business as the global shift to streaming continues,” Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood said. “Charlie, Mustafa and Gideon bring extensive industry knowledge and leadership experience to Roku. I look forward to working with them and their teams as we continue to innovate and build our position as the No. 1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and our overall global footprint.”
After a disappointing second-quarter earnings report, Roku stock plummeted more than 20%.
Analysts were concerned that the company was adding expenses at a time when the CTV ad market was taking a hit.
The market also worried that Roku was in a tough battle against the digital advertising giants, TV manufacturers building connected sets and operating systems and programmers led by The Walt Disney Co. and Netflix getting into the advertising market.
Roku has been gearing up its original programming, buying the Quibi library and This Old House. Its big original movie, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, is set to premiere Nov. 4.
Collier, who moved from AMC to Fox, had been building new production capabilities at Fox, which had sold its studios to The Walt Disney Co.
At Roku, Alison Levin, VP, ad revenue and marketing solutions; Louqman Parampath, VP, ad product; Mirjam Laux, VP, international advertising and content and Rob Holmes, VP, programming, will report to Collier.
Collier will also collaborate on commercial strategy with Tedd Cittadine, VP, content partnerships, who continues to lead Roku’s relationships with third-party apps and streaming services, and Gil Fuchsberg, senior VP, corporate development and strategic partnerships, to whom Cittadine will continue to report.
“Roku is a pioneer in streaming television and has achieved scale and significant relationships with our partners that will continue to be unique and valuable at this pivotal time in the industry,” said Collier. “As a partner of Roku, I’ve seen firsthand the power and potential the platform provides advertisers, partners, content creators, and consumers. I’m eager to work with Roku’s talented team to continue to innovate, grow, and bring the company and its partners to the next level.”
Fox credited Collier with overseeing shows including The Masked Singer and augmenting Fox Entertainment’s portfolio of brands including TMZ, MarVista Entertainment and the Bento Box animation studio.
“We want to express our gratitude to Charlie for his leadership, his contributions and his unbridled enthusiasm,” said Lachlan Murdoch, executive chair and CEO, Fox Corp. “He and his team have executed a creative strategy in entrepreneurial and profitable ways that leveraged our broadcast leadership to build and support businesses to position us for future growth. We wish Charlie all the best in his new role.”
The company noted that Fox Entertainment has “a great team in place” and said an announcement about new leadership would come “soon.”
Collier, in turn, thanked Fox for the opportunities he had there. "I look forward to applauding the great work I’m confident Fox and the Fox Entertainment team will continue to deliver,” he said in a statement.
Katz joined Roku in 2022 as senior VP of consumer, leading Roku’s Consumer Experience team, overseeing product, customer journeys, editorial, customer marketing, payments and merchandising. Prior to joining Roku, he was president of direct to consumer for NBCUniversal, launching Peacock in the U.S.
Ozgen joined Roku in February 2019 as senior VP and general manager of account acquisition, overseeing key programs like Roku TV, Roku Players, Roku Ready Soundbars, and more. Ozgen joined Roku from SmartKem, where was CEO. Previously, he served as CEO of QD Vision, a nanotechnology materials company acquired by Samsung. ■
