Colleen Fahey Rush Named Chief Research Officer for MTV Networks

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MTV Networks (MTVN), a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today named Colleen Fahey Rush to the newly created position of Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer.  In her role, Fahey Rush leads the company's Strategic Insights and Research group, and provides guidance and support to research teams across the company's portfolio of brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, COMEDY CENTRAL, VH1, CMT, Logo, SPIKE, and TV Land.  

MTVN's research teams cultivate the consumer insights that drive the company's content, sales, and distribution strategies.  The teams uncover truths about the attitudes, tastes, and behaviors of its audience through a wide array of methodologies including focus and conflict groups, ethnographies, online panels, blog-ographies, text surveys, shop-a-longs, biometric research, social media forums and monitoring, and more.  In 2010 alone, MTVN researchers gave more than 300 presentations to more than 4,000 media executives, marketers, legislators, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholders.

"Our mantra is 'know your audience,' and we put that into practice through tireless research on every demo we serve and every platform we program," said Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks.  "Colleen is the standard bearer of our ceaseless push for deeper consumer knowledge.  We created this position to catch up with the way she's expanded her role and become a force for stronger insights and better measurement for the entire media industry."

Fahey Rush serves on the board of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and sits on the steering committee of Nielsen's Council for Research Excellence. She is chairman of the executive committee for the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and is a 2009 TAMI Award winner for her integral role on the CTAM Research Committee. In 2010, Rush was named to Ad Age's list of Media Mavens, and in 2009 was recognized by Working Mother Magazine as a Working Mother of the Year.

Fahey Rush most recently served as Executive Vice President, Strategic Insights and Research, MTVN. She joined MTV Networks in 1996 as Vice President of Research for VH1.  Rush began her career at CBS, holding a series of positions at the company's O&Os and broadcast network.  She went on to serve as Director of Research at Telemundo, before becoming Associate Partner and Director of Research at J. Walter Thompson.  

Rush holds a B.S. in Communications from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from New York University's Stern School of Business.  

About MTV Networks

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products.  The company's portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, AddictingGames, Shockwave, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, SPIKE, TV Land, Atom, and GameTrailers.  

SOURCE MTV Networks