Nexstar Installs Former Turner Ad Exec Michael Strober In Newly Created Chief Revenue Officer Post
Nexstar Media Group has appointed former Turner ad sales exec Michael Strober to the newly created position of EVP and Chief Revenue Officer.
Strober will be responsible for “leading the reimagination and execution of a new advertising sales and go-to-market strategy for the company,” according to the official announcement. Nexstar execs in recent weeks have noted that the company pursued the acquisition of The CW in part because it would make the company a player in the national ad sales marketplace.
Strober will report to CEO Perry Sook, and will start in his new role next January 2.
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The company’s acquisition of The CW, completed in October, led to the expected exits of several top-level executives at the broadcast network, including longtime CEO Mark Pedowitz. As Deadline has reported, Nexstar’s plans to install a CRO have been expected to have an impact on the network’s sales department, which did not undergo any staff reductions at the time of other reductions in the workforce. Nexstar, which is the No. 1 owner of local TV stations and also runs cable network NewsNation and digital outlet The Hill, plans to continue streamlining the operations of The CW en route to projected profitability by 2025.
From 2016 to 2019, Strober helped lead the overhaul of Turner Broadcasting’s ad sales division, holding the title of EVP, Client Strategy & Ad Innovation. He was also co-head of Turner Ignite, the company’s portfolio solutions division. He formed Turner’s Client Council and was a co-chair of Turner AdLab, an industry-wide initiative dedicated to improving the consumer advertising experience. Strober also served as a founding board member of OpenAP and is currently a board member for advanced media analytics firm datafuelX.
Since 2019, Strober has run Topwater Advisory Group, a strategic consultancy focused on digital transformation that counts a number of media and advertising tech companies as clients.
Sook, who built a local broadcast powerhouse in Nexstar from a single Pennsylvania radio station over two decades, noted the company’s recent run of acquisitions, which over the past few years has diversified the Nexstar portfolio. It has bought Tribune Media, Media General, The Hill, Best Reviews and then The CW. As it is now constituted, Nexstar offers advertisers “both nationwide reach and unparalleled local activation,” Sook said in a press release. “Reimagining our sales strategy, our team of 1,500 sales personnel, and the management of our 40,000 advertiser relationships, will better align our sales efforts with the company we are today.”
Strober, he added, “has led this type of sweeping change before, consulting with media clients on a variety of reinvention projects. His unique experience as an industry practitioner, paired with his role as a strategic advisor, makes Michael the perfect choice to lead the transformation of Nexstar’s sales efforts.”
Nexstar’s portfolio of linear and digital media properties “is unique and presents a compelling opportunity to deliver both national scale and local impact to today’s advertisers,” Strober said. “I believe Nexstar holds the potential to be one of the industry’s most consequential media companies over the next five years and I am honored to be part of its evolution.”
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