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Tag: Pierluigi Gazzolo

  • Tom Ryan takes charge as ViacomCBS Streaming president & CEO

    Tom Ryan takes charge as ViacomCBS Streaming president & CEO

    MUMBAI: ViacomCBS has restructured its global leadership, with the biggest change-up coming in the form of Pluto TV CEO Tom Ryan being appointed president and CEO of Streaming.

    In his new role, Ryan will overlook CBS All Access, which will relaunch as Paramount+ in early 2021. He will continue to hold on to his remit at Pluto TV while also taking charge of the company’s global streaming strategy.

    Marc DeBevoise will step down from his roles as ViacomCBS’s chief digital officer and president-CEO of ViacomCBS Digital. He will serve in an advisory capacity for the remainder of the year.

    ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) COO Kelly Day will take on an expanded role as president of streaming for VCNI, overseeing all non-US digital and streaming platforms.

    The media conglomerate also announced that Pierluigi Gazzolo will step down from his position as president, streaming and studios, at VCNI.

    ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish said, “ViacomCBS has a unique opportunity to combine the best of our brands in a seamless ecosystem of must-watch, direct-to-consumer services for audiences around the world. As we plan for the launch of Paramount+, bringing together the leaders of our streaming platforms to create a unified global organization will enable us to execute a holistic strategy across both free and pay.”

    As president and CEO of ViacomCBS Streaming, Ryan will lead the company’s effort to further accelerate the growth of its free and paid streaming services. He will now work closely with the team on programming strategy, platform development and marketing.

    “I couldn’t be more excited to work with this talented team and build on their momentum, especially as we approach the launch of Paramount+,” Ryan further added. “Together, we will leverage ViacomCBS’s beloved portfolio of brands, strong content pipeline and an extensive network of partners to deliver must-watch on-demand, live and exclusive original programming to viewers everywhere.”

    The ViacomCBS reshuffling comes after Disney, WarnerMedia, and ZEE have similarly moved to restructure their organizations with the aim of accelerating direct-to-consumer streaming strategies.

  • Viacom to open production studio in Miami

    Viacom to open production studio in Miami

    MUMBAI: Viacom Inc will open a two-stage, 88,000 square foot, state-of-the-art production facility in Miami, Florida. 

     

    The new studio, which was built by the Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) as a public-private partnership with EUE/Screen Gems Studios, will serve as a production hub for Viacom’s global entertainment brands including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.

     

    “We are creating more content than ever before across all of our brands at Viacom. The Viacom International Studio in Miami will offer a turnkey facility where we can create even more original, high quality content to meet the increasing demand for long-and-short-form content on all of our global platforms,” said Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) president and CEO Robert Bakish. 

     

    “We have had terrific success with the recent live action productions we have coming from Miami, and we are very excited to be committed to doing more. We are constantly looking for new creative ideas and content formats that allow us to tell stories in a completely different way, and this facility will certainly forward that effort,” added Viacom Kids and Family Group president Cyma Zarghami.

     

    “Viacom has demonstrated again and again that hits come from all over the world. With an established track record of multi-lingual hits including Every Witch Way and Talia in the Kitchen being produced in Miami for multiple audiences simultaneously, in global collaboration with the US and local Latin American teams, we’re excited to have the opportunity to further expand our production capabilities in the market,” said VIMN Americas president and Nickelodeon International EVP Pierluigi Gazzolo.

     

    Located in central Miami, the studio location offers access to a highly skilled, multi-lingual talent pool essential to creating global productions in multiple languages. The facilities will include two modern sound stages equipped to create a variety of content simultaneously, from daily scripted series, music specials and game shows to short form content for mobile, digital and on-air.

     

    “We welcome Viacom as a long-term partner at our new Miami studios. Our company has worked closely with Viacom to develop a facility worthy of a dynamic content producer. Today, we celebrate our relationship with Viacom, and we applaud our partners at the Omni CRA, whose vision and efforts have made this building possible,” said EUE/Screen Gems Studios COO Chris Cooney.

     

    EUE/Screen Gems has entered into a long-term lease with Miami’s Omni CRA to operate the new facility.

  • Ron Johnson is Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products executive VP

    MUMBAI: Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has appointed that Ron Johnson as Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP) executive VP.

    From 1 April, Johnson will lead all of Viacom’s international consumer products operations. He will be based in New York and will report to VIMN COO Pierluigi Gazzolo.

    Gazzolo said, “We’re thrilled to have Ron take on this leadership role in overseeing VIMN’s consumer products business. He possesses first-hand knowledge of our global CP operation, as well as extensive experience across global retail partnerships, holistic franchise management and product innovation.

    “Ron’s expertise in global retail will prove invaluable in his new position, as we deepen and form new partnerships with retailers and licensees around the world and build on the strong momentum that we are seeing in our CP business.”

    Mark Kingston has been promoted to NVCP Europe, the Middle East and Africa GM, senior VP and will oversee VIMN’s consumer products operations in these markets. Kingston will report to Johnson and VIMN MD, executive VP UK, Australia and Eastern Europe and International Content Distribution Dave Lynn.

    Gazzolo added, “We’re also excited about the newly expanded position that Mark will be taking on, as it further reinforces the strength of our regionally led consumer products organisation.

    “Mark has already been spearheading our pan-European retail efforts and CP operations in the UK, Russia, and Australia to great success. By extending his purview to include all pan-European CP deal-making, which also includes Middle East, North Africa and Australia, we are streamlining efficiencies to better position us to meet the demands of critical, high growth markets and create more compelling and valuable opportunities for partners.”