Byron Allen's Allen Media Group Hires Raoul Marinescu As President Of Advertising Sales For Digital Media
Veteran Ad Sales Executive to Oversee All Digital Ad Sales for Allen's Free Streaming Platforms 'Local Now' and 'The Grio'
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Byron Allen's Allen Media Group proudly announces the hiring of Raoul Marinescu to the new position of President of Advertising Sales for Digital Media.
In his new position, Marinescu will oversee all digital advertising sales, brand sponsorships, and revenue partnerships for Allen Media Group's free streaming AVOD services Local Now and The Grio. Local Now and The Grio are super hyper-local streaming services providing local news, weather, sports, traffic, and lifestyle content targeted to each user's zip code. Local Now has achieved over one billion viewed minutes of content, and both Local Now and The Grio also provide free streaming movies, television shows, concerts, and documentaries. Marinescu will be based at the Allen Media Group headquarters in Los Angeles.
Marinescu has a total of nineteen years in the cable and broadcast television sales industry and comes to Allen Media Group from his recent position as Vice President of Revenue Partnerships for the Viacom/CBS free streaming television service, Pluto TV. While at Pluto TV, Marinescu oversaw the company's programmatic and reseller business across more than 20 monetization partners, including key strategic partnerships with Amazon, FreeWheel, and SpotX. Raoul was brought on by Pluto TV as the company's first sales executive with the focus of growing the direct sales business. Prior to joining Pluto TV in 2017, Marinescu helped grow and run the digital sales business at CBS Television Stations Group, establishing media partnerships with many of the leading advertising agencies in the country. Marinescu previously worked for Ampersand (previously NCC Media), the largest cable representative firm in the country, and Time Warner Cable, now Charter Spectrum. Marinescu started his career in the industry at Adlink Cable Interconnect after graduating from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in political science.
"Raoul Marinescu is an outstanding addition to our Allen Media Group family," said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Entertainment Studios/Allen Media Group. "Raoul's extensive digital ad sales experience makes him the perfect choice to expand our free streaming digital platforms, Local Now and The Grio, as we continue to accelerate our rapid growth."
"I am beyond thrilled to join Byron Allen and his Allen Media Group at such a critical time in streaming media," said Raoul Marinescu, Allen Media Group President of Advertising Sales for Digital Media. "With the importance of localization and personalization at the forefront of our industry, I look forward to accelerating revenue growth across Allen's expanding portfolio of digital network holdings including Local Now, The Grio, and future acquisitions."
About Entertainment Studios / Allen Media Group
Chairman and CEO Byron Allen founded Entertainment Studios in 1993. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Raleigh. Entertainment Studios owns 16 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations and eight 24-hour HD television networks/streaming services serving nearly 180 million subscribers: THE WEATHER CHANNEL, PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, and JUSTICE CENTRAL.TV. Entertainment Studios will add its ninth network, THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPANOL in 2021. Entertainment Studios also owns the LOCAL NOW streaming service, powered by THE WEATHER CHANNEL and content partners, which delivers real-time, hyper-local news, weather, traffic, sports, and lifestyle information. Entertainment Studios also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 67 television programs, making it one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations. Entertainment Studios International Television continues to extend the ES corporate branding and content around the globe. It currently has active license agreements and programming in South Africa, The United Arab Emirates, Australia, The Bahamas, Canada and New Zealand. With a library of over 5,000 hours of owned content across multiple genres, Entertainment Studios provides video content to broadcast television stations, cable television networks, mobile devices, multimedia platforms, and the World Wide Web. Our mission is to provide excellent programming to our viewers, online users, and Fortune 500 advertising partners.
Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures is a full-service, theatrical motion picture distribution company specializing in wide release commercial content. ESMP released 2017's highest-grossing independent movie, the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN, which grossed over $44.3 million. In 2018, ESMP also released the critically-acclaimed and commercially successful Western HOSTILES, the historic mystery-thriller CHAPPAQUIDDICK and the sequel to 47 METERS DOWN, 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED. The digital distribution unit of Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, digital and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films.
Local Now is a streaming service that is changing the way Americans get news about their communities. Powered by The Weather Channel and content partners, Local Now delivers real-time, local news, weather, traffic, sports, and lifestyle information through unique technology that transmits localized information to more than 230 markets across the United States. Local Now delivers the same information seen in a 30 to 60-minute local news broadcast segment, on-demand and in a fraction of the time. Local Now is available across a portfolio of OTT, mobile, and TV platforms, including Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, YouTube TV, Sling TV, Frndly TV, Xumo, MobiTV, fuboTV, Plex, DISH, Altice, iOS, and Android.
In 2016, Entertainment Studios purchased The Grio, a digital video-centric news community platform devoted to providing African-Americans with compelling stories and perspectives currently underrepresented in existing national news outlets. The Grio features aggregated and original video packages, news articles and opinion pieces on topics that include breaking news, politics, health, business and entertainment. Originally launched in 2009, the platform was then purchased by NBC News in 2010. The digital platform remains focused on curating exciting digital content and currently has more than 20 million annual visitors.
For more information, visit:
www.entertainmentstudios.com
www.localnow.com
www.thegrio.com
SOURCE Entertainment Studios, Inc.
Share this article