MUMBAI: Discovery Communications has tapped veteran media and retail industry executive Paul Guyardo as chief commercial officer effective 5 October, 2015.
Guyardo joins from DirecTV where he was executive vice president, chief revenue and marketing officer.
In this newly created position at Discovery Communications, Guyardo will oversee US ad sales, digital media, licensing and consumer products, consumer insights and data analytics. He will report to Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav and be based at Discovery’s New York headquarters.
“Amid a rapidly evolving industry and shifting audience behavior, Discovery has maintained a steady, long-term growth strategy of investing in quality content, launching new networks and products and diversifying our IP mix to strengthen our brands and offerings. Our go-forward success in a random-access world depends on how well we innovate and monetize our content and brands across platforms. Paul brings a track record of results in growing businesses and creating consumer-centric strategies to launch products, create new revenue streams and engage viewers. Adding him to the management team is a major win for Discovery, our business partners and our audiences, and I look forward to his leadership in creating new ways to drive value for our businesses across platforms now and into the future,” said Zaslav.
In his new role with Discovery, Guyardo will be charged with leveraging his significant expertise to expand the ways Discovery monetizes its portfolio of valuable assets to distributors, advertising partners and directly to consumers. He also will be responsible for working with Discovery Networks International to drive its burgeoning international direct-to-consumer business, as well as overseeing emerging revenue streams including the company’s global licensing, consumer products and footage sales businesses.
“Discovery Communications has tremendous content and brands, passionate consumers and a world-class leadership team that I’m honored to join. The potential for continued growth is enormous and I look forward to getting started,” added Guyardo.
Guyardo joins Discovery following an accomplished career in the media, retail and consumer products industries. At DirecTV, he was responsible for all functions that drove the company’s $26 billion in annual US revenue including all sales and distribution channels, marketing, advertising, pricing & packaging, traditional ad sales and new addressable and digital ad platforms, directv.com, sports, premium channels and on-demand businesses, customer retention, product management, consumer research, business analytics, public relations and creative services.
During his 10 years at DirecTV, Guyardo’s leadership drove annual US revenue from $12.2 billion to $26 billion and the US subscriber base from 15 million to 20 million customers, due in large part to a relentless focus on customer segmentation and data analytics.
Prior to DirecTV, Guyardo served as Kmart’s chief marketing officer following the retailer’s emergence from bankruptcy, and was part of the senior management team that quickly returned the mass retailer to sales growth and improved profitability. Before Kmart, Guyardo was executive vice president of television and marketing for HSN.
Guyardo began his career in advertising and brand management, working on major businesses and accounts including AT&T and Johnson & Johnson amongst others.
