Adam Smith takes ‘pivotal role’ overseeing ents and sports tech offering
YouTube’s vice president of product management Adam Smith has been appointed chief product and technology officer at Disney Entertainment and ESPN.
Based in the US and starting next month, Smith will be responsible for driving tech strategy and development across the company’s streaming platforms and networks spanning entertainment and sports.
He will lead a global team of technologists, including engineers, product managers and designers, data scientists and technical operations teams.
Smith oversaw YouTube’s Music, YouTube Premium, subscription and commerce offerings, spending 13 years at the video platform. He has also had stints leading Google’s global content and product across kids, sports, news and education and served as regional head for Asia-Pacific.
He also led the development and strategy for a Google Fiber and a portfolio that included Google Books, Google News, Google Finance and Google Scholar.
He previously worked at Random House/Bertelsmann as vice president of new media.
Smith will report to Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro in what Walden and Pitaro called a “pivotal role”.
A statement from the trio went on: “We’ve been aggressive in advancing our technological capabilities to better support our world-class media, streaming and advertising businesses, and Adam brings a bold, consumer-focused vision for the future and a proven ability to effectively lead global teams in implementing ambitious, scalable and flexible products and technology that will continue to elevate storytelling as the center of the Disney experience.”
Smith said: “I believe Disney is uniquely positioned to thrive in the next evolution of media and has made significant progress in a very short time while keeping storytelling front and center.
“I look forward to working closely with Alan, Dana and Jimmy and their top-notch teams and am excited to bring my expertise in utilising technology to build compelling consumer experiences that will drive engagement and discovery among fans, families and friends.”
No comments yet