When we cast the net for up-and-coming executives across media disciplines who have been making a distinctive impact, we had no way of expecting the variety and quality of the 40-and-under aged executives we'd find. You'll read here about impactful engineers, marketers with an eye to digital and data, successful consultants, negotiators and dealmakers who share a track record of success but who aren't necessarily the bestknown - hence the Next Wave of Leaders. This class will also be saluted at a breakfast event in New York on Friday, June 16, closing out the inaugural VIDWeek (VID-week.com).
SEAN ALFORD
ASSOCIATE, PROSKAUER
Sean Alford is an associate in the corporate department and a member of the Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Sports Law Groups at New York-based Proskauer. He started his career as an associate at the firm before spending a year on the business and legal affairs team at NBC Sports Group, rejoining Proskauer in 2014. He has had a hand in content distribution agreements shaping the way millions of consumers tap into and view content today. He has advised on deals for everything from traditional TV-affiliation agreements to the Internet (including groundbreaking TV everywhere distribution deals and over-the-top transactions). He has represented Hulu in several content distribution agreements connected to its upcoming new linear over-the-top programming service, and represented Dish Network in its highly-publicized content distribution deal with Viacom that included carriage of Viacom networks on Sling TV, Dish's OTT service.
What is the Next Wave the industry will have to contend with most?
Fundamental shifts in the concept of must-have' programming. We are already seeing big changes in what constitutes must-have' and where and how that programming can be accessed. I expect that those changes will only accelerate in the near term, which should lead to increased M&A activity and some significant shifts in leverage when it comes to content licensing deals and advertising sales.
Proudest accomplishment of 2016?
Helping clients navigate through the current content renaissance. In 2016, I had the opportunity to work with a variety of clients on cutting-edge transactions that reflect the dynamic state of the media industry. From a virtual reality deal in sports and an investment in a digital-only sports network to the launch of a major virtual MVPD service and the rollup of several digital publications, I am proud to have worked with some incredible people on some exciting new beginnings.
DAN AVERSANO
SENIOR VP OF AD INNOVATION AND PROGRAMMATIC SOLUTIONS, TURNER AD SALES
Dan Aversan and his team lead the development of next-generation ad capabilities, notably around audience targeting and advanced TV solutions, as a part of the company's year-old Turner Ignite division. Based in New York, Aversano reports to Michael Strober, executive VP of client strategy and ad innovation for Turner Ad Sales, as well as co-head of Turner Ignite. Aversano and his team have been hard at work bettering Turner's capabilities with spaces like audience targeting. Capabilities like AudienceNOW and TargetingNOW are now delivering results for clients, including stronger key performance indicator (KPI) delivery for their brands. Aversano and his team are focused on driving interactive, addressable and OTT advertising solutions, as well. In about five years with Turner, Aversano has also served as senior VP of client and consumer insights as well as VP of research and strategy for Turner Entertainment Ad Sales, supporting TBS and TNT ad-sales strategy. Prior to joining Turner, Aversano held various roles at Nielsen across its Watch and Buy businesses, most recently serving as VP of media and advertising analytics.
What is the Next Wave the industry will have to contend with most?
Simply because there will be new platforms and new ways for consumers to experience content in the near future that we may not even know about (not to mention the industry's struggle with it today), I am going to say measurement. We are awash with data and analytics, but how we put together the right data sources, standardize that across all stakeholders, and have everyone agree to the process is a massive wave that's coming - we'll all either come together and get pushed by this wave into the future, or it will potentially leave some of us lost at sea.
MARCELLO BELLISARIO
SENIOR VP, TALENT AND CASTING, LIONSGATE
Marcello Bellisario is the first head of casting and talent relations ever for Lionsgate Television, a department and VP position he created upon joining the company in 2014 after four and a half years at ABC and ABC Studios, overseeing the casting of Scandal (Kerry Washington, Joe Morton), How to Get Away With Murder (Viola Davis), Grey's Anatomy and Revenge (Madeleine Stowe). His responsibilities have grown to include casting for all Lionsgate scripted series and all Starz original programming, too, after Lionsgate's December 2016 acquisition of the premium programmer. He has worked closely with and supervised casting series and pilots for Jason Reitman and Helen Estabrook (Casual/Hulu), Oprah Winfrey (Greenleaf/OWN), Jenji Kohan (Orange Is the New Black/Netflix), Clyde Phillips (Nurse Jackie/Showtime and Feed the Beast/AMC) and more. He is currently overseeing the casting of upcoming series including Dear White People (Netflix), White Famous (Showtime), Dimension 404 (Hulu), Nightcap (Pop), and Manhunt: The UNABOMer (Discovery/Trigger Street).
What is the Next Wave the industry will have to contend with most?
From a casting standpoint, the growing number of platforms for which series are being developed and produced has created great opportunities to showcase fresh talent who otherwise wouldn't be seen and heard. Their
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
--
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Unio...
02/12/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Will Redefine Subscribers' Quality of Experience, Lowering Churn SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 2, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
02/12/2025
S an Nollaig
Hollywood blockbusters The Banshees of Inisherin, Barbie and Oppenheimer make their Irish TV debut
Tune into the classics such as Love Actual...
02/12/2025
Showcasing fresh Irish storytelling and emerging talent Storyland 2025 signals a fantastic time for Irish drama
RT and F s ireann/Screen Ireland are proud to...
01/12/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
01/12/2025
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The crew, from left: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Vic...
01/12/2025
IRVINE, Calif. Wooden Camera has introduced its new Accessory Collection for the Canon EOS C50. The new lineup includes a low-profile, gimbal-ready cage, expand...
01/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for its Dec. 18 Open Commission Meeting that will include a vote on a report an...
01/12/2025
In most years, a graph of annual local TV ad spending is about as predictable as an electrocardiogram of a reasonably healthy patient in a doctor's office. ...
When we cast the net for up-and-coming executives across media disciplines who have been making a distinctive impact, we had no way of expecting the variety and quality of the 40-and-under aged executives we'd find. You'll read here about impactful engineers, marketers with an eye to digital and data, successful consultants, negotiators and dealmakers who share a track record of success but who aren't necessarily the bestknown - hence the Next Wave of Leaders. This class will also be saluted at a breakfast event in New York on Friday, June 16, closing out the inaugural VIDWeek (VID-week.com).
