Take your media strategy to the next level at Mediaweek. Cultivate new media partnerships and gain tools to standout across platforms from experts at Youtube, Peloton, LTK and more. View agenda.
Ad sales veteran David Lawenda, who served as chief digital advertising officer at Paramount, is leaving after a collective 21 years at the company. In a memo to staff today, Paramount ad sales chief John Halley noted that Lawenda will stay on through September in a transitional role.
Lawenda is one of several long-term ad execs to leave Paramount recently, including Jo Ann Ross, former chairman of Paramount Advertising, who exited in April ahead of the TV upfront, and former CBS Sports ad sales boss John Bogusz, who announced his retirement in March.
The moves come at a tumultuous time for Paramount, as the company has been in the news amid recent M&A rumors, including a deal with Skydance Media that reportedly fell apart. The company’s former CEO, Bob Bakish, also exited in late April.
Lawenda joined the company (then Viacom) in 1994, with Halley’s memo noting that the executive spearheaded “lucrative launches in both broadcast and cable during his first tour, including standing up the UPN broadcast network and launching Spike TV as its first head of sales.”
Later, after more than five years of serving as president of sales and marketing for Univision, Lawenda joined CBS in 2017 as head of digital sales and strategy for entertainment, news and sports, as well as CNET Media Group. Lawenda was also “instrumental” in repositioning CBS All Access as Paramount+, Halley wrote.
“Beyond his business accomplishments, David is perhaps best known for prioritizing and championing people and culture in equal measure,” Halley wrote in the memo. “An authentic, empathetic and inspiring leader, he has steadily invested in coaching for his teams to help them reach their full potential and has mentored and encouraged so many within our ranks.”
More news to come
In a recent shareholder meeting, Paramount’s Office of the CEO, which includes CBS CEO George Cheeks, Paramount Media Networks CEO Chris McCarthy and Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins, presented a shared vision for the company that could include $500 million in cost savings.
Halley’s memo didn’t address any immediate cuts or cost savings; however, the ad sales chief wrote, “We will be sharing more on refinements in the reporting structure in due time.”
“Suffice to say, through our ongoing investment in streaming advertising capabilities, we will continue to innovate on behalf of our clients and grow our multi-billion-dollar digital ad business under this exceptional team,” Halley wrote.