Scott Collins has found life beyond “The Walking Dead.”
The former ad-sales chief at AMC Networks, who gained traction by finding interesting ways of tying prominent marketers to some of the company’s flagship series, has joined Blockgraph, the ad-tech company that is jointly owned by by Charter Communications, Comcast, and ViacomCBS. Collins has been named executive vice president, client partnerships and sales strategy, and will be charged with overseeing the long-term sales strategy of the Blockgraph platform, all while growing and managing client and agency partnerships. He will report to Aleck Schleider, Blockgraph’s chief revenue officer.
Blockgraph, developed under Comcast, aims to help its owners do more in the growing business of so-called “audience buying.” As technology allows the collection of new reams of data about consumers’ interaction with new forms of video, advertisers have grown increasingly interested in using that information to define and seek out specific audience niches, such as people interested in buying a new car or seeing a new movie. Marketers are eager to mine those new segments to place their ads with more precision and efficiency, putting commercials in front of the people most likely to respond or have interest. As TV viewers spread across new kinds of screens, tech firms such as Blockgraph hope to help Madison Avenue navigate the new terrain.
“Over the years I have been calling on clients and agencies, I have been known as someone who represented high quality, premium content. I will be calling on those same individuals, except now with technology created specifically for the TV industry, that’s designed to make powerful audience connections through premium television content,” Collins tells Variety. “Brands are demanding greater transparency in targeting their consumers by removing black boxes and complexity and replacing this friction with greater simplicity and speed. That is the promise of Blockgraph.”
Collins spent more than ten years at AMC Networks, where he most recently served as president of advertising sales. During his time at AMC, he supervised not only the process of lining up support for programs such as “Dead,” “Mad Men” and “Better Call Saul,” but also oversaw the creation of the company’s data sales practice, marketing advanced audience segments across both linear and digital TV. Before joining AMC, he worked as vice president of cable entertainment ad sales at NBCUniversal for eight years.
“Blockgraph’s vision for the future of advertising is dependent on supporting every media transaction with safe and effective data,” said Jason Manningham, CEO at Blockgraph, in a statement. “Scott is keenly aware of the importance of data in driving positive outcomes for advertisers, and his addition adds further credibility to our team of industry veterans and innovators.”
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