El Segundo, Calif. — DirecTV is restructuring its advertising sales unit by streamlining and combining outside and inside staffs, bringing the entire operation in-house, the satellite TV provider announced.
As part of this new transition, DirecTV will combine its existing advertising sales team with a group of DirecTV account representatives from its former ad sales vendor, Twentieth Television.
DirecTV said it expects to generate more national advertising-based revenue from the move. The newly combined sales team will work from offices in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, and is charged with bringing more national advertisers to DirecTV while also working with internal DirecTV departments to create new partnerships and revenue sources, the company said.
“Fully in-sourcing our ad sales team enables DirecTV to implement an aggressive new advertising sales strategy with more control and better efficiency,” said Eric Shanks, DirecTV entertainment executive VP, in a statement. “Twentieth Television, combined with our existing internal ad sales team, executed extraordinary year-over-year revenue growth through traditional media and DirecTV’s advanced interactive services platform. We are confident that our newly combined team will not only keep this momentum going but create even more unique opportunities for the DirecTV ad sales division.”
Bob Riordan, advertising sales senior VP comes from Twentieth Television to lead the group. His responsibilities include all aspects of advertising sales, including traditional media, advanced services applications, sports, pricing, planning and research (including the relationship with Nielsen Media Research).
Alison Pascola, ad sales VP, will report to Riordan and focus on ad sales marketing and research — shifting from her current role at DirecTV while continuing as the internal point of contact for employees in Los Angeles. Pascola and her team will also be responsible for developing and presenting ad sales promotional opportunities directly to clients and their advertising agencies.
Other Twentieth Television staffers joining the team include Rich Forester, new business development VP, based in New York; Jamie Calandruccio, planning and operations VP, based in New York; Steve Fish, mid-west region VP based in Chicago; and J.C. Kawalec, western region VP, based in Los Angeles.
