ESPN said it named Cary Meyers, an analytics and measurement research veteran of NBC Sports and the National Football League as its new senior vice president of fan and media intelligence at a time when the Disney-owned operation is working to gain new advertiser interest in content that is streamed digitally and in its reach among viewers who are watching its programs through non-traditional behaviors.
Meyers will oversee multimedia and consumer research functions for ESPN. He will be based in the company’s New York office reporting to Wanda Young, senior vice president of marketing and consumer engagement.
“Cary is a seasoned research executive with a proven history of media research excellence who also has a passion for the world of sports and its changing landscape for today’s sports fan,” said Young in a prepared statement. “He will bring his commitment and passion to ESPN to lead our talented team to further develop the fan intelligence required to drive our business forward.”
ESPN has recently worked to gain advertiser recognition for programming that is consumed via broadband or other digital means. In September, the company said it would cease reporting separate live viewership figures for linear TV and streaming content, and instead report them as a single “total live” number.
Meyers joins ESPN from NBC Universal, where he served as senior vice president of ad sales research and strategy. He supervised the process of establishing benchmarks for ad plans and also utilized audience insights to help guide content, programming, and marketing strategies.
Prior to NBC, Meyers was the National Football League’s first director of research, where he was responsible for programming, sales, and consumer research and analysis. His previous roles included positions in insights and database marketing at Sony and IBM respectively. Cary received a B.A. in English from Northwestern University and his M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.