As VideoAmp continues on its mission to redefine how media is valued, bought, and sold, the adtech pioneer announces key updates to its leadership team that set the company on an accelerated path to growth. The changes reflect the company’s goal to streamline operations and dedicate focus to future growth and high-value partnerships in the year ahead. These strategic moves position VideoAmp to continue leading the rapid industry evolution in media measurement and advanced currencies.
CEO Ross McCray is transitioning to active Founder, Board Member & Shareholder. Since he founded the company in 2014, McCray has been instrumental in ushering in innovative technology to disrupt the advertising measurement and currency landscape at a time when content consumption has become increasingly fragmented and complex.
“This was an extremely hard and emotional decision for me. I always knew after starting VideoAmp – if we were successful – this day would come. I have wished and dreaded for this day to come for 10 years. I love this service. I love our mission, employees, clients and partners. But it is time for me to pass the baton and return back to my original love and roots of earlier stage company building. I continue to be deeply committed to VideoAmp for the long term. I will remain active and a part of our company as our Founder, Board Member and Shareholder. I look forward to working with you all in this new way,” said Ross McCray.
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Media and entertainment veteran Peter Liguori assumes the role of Executive Chairman. As Former CEO of Tribune Media, COO of Discovery Communications, Chairman of FOX Entertainment, CEO of FX and long-time VideoAmp board member, Peter is focused on rounding out and cultivating the continued success and momentum of VideoAmp’s best-in-class leadership team.
Former Nielsen senior executive Peter Bradbury joins the VideoAmp executive leadership team in the new role of Chief Commercial and Growth Officer. A widely respected media and advertising leader with over two decades of operating experience and a proven track record of accelerating growth and driving transformation in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving marketplace, Bradbury brings extensive experience building effective commercial operations and enablement infrastructures to drive client satisfaction across multiple verticals, including consumer packaged goods, television, digital, audio, sports, gaming and entertainment. He will spearhead VideoAmp’s accelerated growth trajectory by leading all client, business development and commercial transformation initiatives to solidify VideoAmp as the new currency standard.
“Pete Bradbury’s addition to our team represents not only VideoAmp’s commitment to solidify our hold as the new currency standard, but it also showcases the transformation of our strategy to focus and serve the industry’s client base with a well respected and trusted industry leader,” said Peter Ligouri. “Pete’s decades of advertising, measurement and deep connections across the industry will fast-track us to serve and provide winning solutions for the industry’s measurement needs. His proven record of driving high levels of client satisfaction while attracting top tier talent has been a formula for sustained success and we are delighted to have him join the VideoAmp team at such a pivotal moment in our history.”
“This is an incredibly exciting time for advertising and media measurement. I have had the privilege of leading clients through multiple changes to the currency that buyers and sellers use, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that during this critically important time, our industry’s publishers, agencies and advertisers are 100% aligned on the need for more holistic and accurate data on which to plan, buy and evaluate their significant advertising investments,” said Pete Bradbury. “I am excited to join the VideoAmp Team, which has created the new currency standard and I look forward to leading our efforts to rapidly expand our footprint across the industry. VideoAmp has quickly emerged as the preferred source of measurement for multiple highly respected, forward-thinking industry leaders and I am excited to build on that foundation and advance the measurement evolution.”
Bradbury’s appointment is coupled with several promotions within VideoAmp, including Tony Fagan to the role of President, Technology and Strategy, and Josh Hudgins to the role of Chief Product Officer. Tony Fagan, who has been in the position of Chief Technology Officer at VideoAmp for two and a half years, spent over 15 years at Google leading data science and engineering teams and creating products for ad planning, optimization and measurement. Josh Hudgins, who was EVP, Product at VideoAmp for over two years, previously spent over a decade at Google overseeing product development for Google Search and Google Ads offerings in the areas of shopping, advanced measurement and Google Drive.
Both Fagan and Hudgins take on increased responsibilities alongside the remainder of the C-Suite, which comprises Paul Ross, Chief Financial Officer; Jenny Wall, Chief Marketing Officer; Marisa Peters, Chief People Officer; and Hari Sankar, Chief Data Officer overseeing Revenue Operations.
“Our growth in media currency transactions is a testament of VideoAmp being seen as the premier industry leader, one which is continually pushing the threshold of advanced currency and measurement,” said Tony Fagan. “We are innovating with big data and advanced methodologies to improve the way content and ads are planned and measured. We look forward to bringing this innovation to our customers and partners through secure computer technologies and APIs.”
In an effort to focus on the business’ growth priorities and key client needs and services,VideoAmp has made the strategic decision to restructure the organization by reducing its workforce by just under 20% to align around these refocused priorities.
VideoAmp is driving increased sales, reducing waste, and generating higher yields for publishers’ ad inventory. The company has seen rapid and deepening adoption for its measurement and currency solutions with 13 major linear and streaming publishers using its currency model, along with all major media holding companies, and several independent agencies.
“It’s amazing to be part of a company with the transformative potential of VideoAmp,” said Brian Mesic, VideoAmp board member and managing director at Ankona Capital. “With this new chapter starting, I couldn’t be more excited and bullish about what’s to come.”
VideoAmp recently announced partnerships and has gone live with the world’s largest media companies, including Amazon, Disney, YouTube, Warner Bros. Discovery, Meta, NBCU, Paramount, The Weather Channel, TelevisaUnivision, Hallmark. The company experienced over 1,400% year over year growth of VideoAmp media currency transactions with over a billion dollars planned to be measured and guaranteed on its currency in 2024 from over 1,000 advertisers.
SOURCE: BusinessWire