Sullivan to head Fox Networks Group
December 8, 2017
Brian Sullivan has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer at Fox Networks Group (FNG), a role previously held by Randy Freer, who exited last month to serve as Hulu’s CEO. Sullivan’s appointment was announced by Peter Rice, President of 21CF and Chairman & CEO of FNG, to whom Sullivan will report.
In this position, Sullivan will have a broad operational role across FNG and directly oversee revenue and distribution for the Fox Television Group, FX, FOX Sports and National Geographic Partners. He will also continue to lead FNG’s Digital Consumer Group which is responsible for its authenticated streaming apps. Sullivan will also continue to serve as a Hulu board member, along with Peter Rice and Dana Walden.
“Brian is an incredibly talented executive and has been instrumental in leading the direct to consumer efforts across our brands,” commented Rice. “Brian’s track record at Sky and his proven expertise in building digital video consumer products has made him an invaluable part of our senior leadership team, and I look forward to working with him to continue to focus and operationalise our revenue, distribution and D2C efforts.”
“Fox Networks Group’s exceptional portfolio of brands continues to have an unrivalled reach and influence around the world at a time of dramatic transformation for our industry,” added Sullivan. “I look forward to my expanded role as I continue working with FNG’s leadership to grow our business and drive consumer choice in the emerging TV ecosystem.”
As part of Sullivan’s appointment, Michael Biard, President, Distribution, and Joe Marchese, President, Ad Revenue, will now report to him. At the same time, the advertising revenue group is being reorganised and Danielle Maged, Executive Vice President, Global Solutions, will now report to Marchese. FNG Europe and Africa President Jan Koeppen and FNG Latin America President Carlos Martinez will report jointly to Sullivan and Rice.
Since 2015, as President and COO of Fox Networks’ Digital Consumer Group, Sullivan has led digital strategy for all the group’s network brands, driving growth across FNG’s portfolio of authenticated streaming products, and working with FNG leadership to harness digital opportunities around data, moneti
sation and ad serving. Earlier in 2017, the Digital Consumer Group introduced a new streaming experience allowing live and on-demand viewing of FNG cross-network programming across all its authenticated apps.
Sullivan began his career working at Showtime Networks, then moved to Sky in the UK and Germany. At Sky in the UK, he held many roles, from marketing, sales and retention to digital transition, product development and management, eventually becoming MD of the Customer Group, and was instrumental in the creation of Sky Digital, Sky+, Sky HD and Sky Broadband. As CEO of Sky Deutschland, his team turned around the operation, launching many innovations including one of the world’s first live sport/entertainment streaming services in Sky Go, while doubling subscriber levels and revenues, and delivering the first ever sustained and repeatable profitability.