Nielsen has hired former Netflix and Hulu ad chief Peter Naylor as its first-ever Chief Client Officer, a strategic move to rebuild industry trust. The hire places Naylor, a long-time Nielsen customer, in the role of peacemaker for the measurement giant’s advertisers and media partners.
Peace offering: Naylor’s appointment follows a period of “protracted strife” between Nielsen and its partners. The company has faced intense criticism for measurement inaccuracies, with the NFL’s analytics chief claiming Nielsen was “systematically undercounting” millions of viewers, giving competitors like VideoAmp and Comscore an opening to carve out a foothold.
Tour of the ad wars: Naylor’s resume is a tour of the streaming ad wars. He was Netflix’s first global ad sales VP, launching its commercial business before his 2024 exit. Prior to that, he wrote the playbook for Hulu’s ad-supported model and also led sales for the Americas at Snap.
By hiring one of the industry's most respected ad sales leaders, Nielsen is making a clear statement that it knows it needs to repair its relationships. Naylor’s role is less about selling data and more about rebuilding the trust that data relies on.
The executive shuffle isn't limited to Nielsen, as competitor iSpot recently hired a new chief revenue officer. Meanwhile, despite industry friction, Nielsen also recently locked in a multi-year measurement deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, and elsewhere in media, Disney extended the contract for its CFO as it shores up its own leadership team.
