Paramount Ad Sales Chief John Halley Exiting

After 18 years on the firm, John Halley is leaving Paramount.The information comes round two months after Paramount employed Jay Askinasi, Roku’s former advert gross sales chief, as its CRO, the place he’ll lead the corporate’s promoting gross sales staff. A Paramount spokesperson advised ADWEEK that Halley would keep on via the top of March in a strategic advisory position, guaranteeing a clean transition for Askinasi.Halley, who beforehand served as Paramount’s chief working officer of promoting income, assumed the position of president of promoting in September 2022, following Jo Ann Ross‘ shift to an advisory position after 30 years on the firm.Within the place, he oversaw the corporate’s home multiplatform gross sales efforts throughout its portfolio of broadcast, cable, digital and streaming belongings spanning CBS, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount+ and Pluto TV, amongst others.A former chair of IAB, present chair of OpenAP, and a member of the 2023 ADWEEK 50, Halley’s run as Paramount’s advert gross sales chief has included being on the forefront of measurement and foreign money conversations because the business adopts extra various currencies; launching EyeQ, Paramount’s multi-billion greenback premium video adverts market; and taking Paramount out of upfront week by choosing extra intimate shopper shows, a transfer media consumers have responded to positively.Speaking in regards to the upfront change with ADWEEK in Could, Halley mentioned there was “no cause” to return to upfront week.“Yearly, we get the identical suggestions, which is that the format is a lot better,” Halley mentioned. “I don’t suppose that, in per week that’s changing into extra crowded and tougher—not easier—re-entering the fray is smart for us. It doesn’t make sense for us to desert one thing that’s clearly been expressed as working.”Regardless of ongoing adjustments at Paramount amid its $8 billion Skydance merger, Halley additionally famous on the time that Paramount’s advert gross sales have remained enterprise as common.“Close to-term, advertisers wish to accomplice with us as a result of we provide them entry to audiences and their future prospects. That’s not impacted by the possession of the corporate. The story that we inform is constant, regardless of the standing of the merger, the transaction, and it’s a powerful story,” Halley mentioned.