New York, NY – Nielsen Business Media combined its two entertainment groups into a single unit and placed industry veteran Gerry Byrne at the helm effective March 1.
As senior vice president of the Entertainment Group, Byrne will oversee a portfolio that includes four movie-industry exhibitions as well as The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and other publications. The exhibitions include ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia Exposition. He will be based in New York and report to Greg Farrar, president of Nielsen Business Media.
The Entertainment Group was formed by uniting Nielsen’s Film & Performing Arts group and its Music & Literary group. John Kilcullen, who was with the company for five years and headed the two units since October 2006, will leave Nielsen March 1.
Greg Farrar, president of Nielsen Business Media, said the reorganization was a response to evolutionary changes in the entertainment business that required Nielsen to evolve as well to meet the needs of the audience. “(The entertainment industry) no longer operates in a segmented way, but approaches business as a whole regardless of the platform or medium,” he said. “That means having a unified go-to-market strategy for our entertainment assets domestically and internationally.”
Byrne has an extensive background in the entertainment industry as well as B-to-B media. He was group vice president and publisher of Variety and Daily Variety and launched Daily Variety’s Gotham Edition. He also headed up Variety.com and events including The Variety/Schroder Big Picture Conference and The Variety Leadership Forum. Byrne was the start-up publisher of Electronic Media (now Television Week) and Crain’s New York Business. His background includes sales at Advertising Age and the New York Daily News. He serves on the boards of numerous organizations.
“Forming a single entertainment unit and strategic vision allows us to maximize our efforts across all platform,” said Byrne. “It provides us with broader and more cohesive insight into what our clients need and helps us to better coordinate our approach toward the growing market and revenue opportunities.”
Reach Gerry at (646) 654-4500 or gerry.byrne@nielsen.com; Greg Farrar at (703) 488-2767 or greg.farrar@nielsen.com
