IRVING, TX — Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST: NASDAQ) (“Nexstar” or “the Company”), today announced a newly-created advertising sales structure and leadership team designed to drive ad sales across Nexstar’s diversified media portfolio by further emphasizing its client-first approach, combined with a new data-driven, multi-platform focus. Nexstar’s portfolio of media assets offers a powerful combination of national brands and reach, coupled with the country’s largest local broadcast station group capable of engaging local and national audiences at scale. Nexstar’s media properties include 200 owned or partner stations in 116 markets reaching 212 million people; The CW Network, America’s fifth broadcast network; NewsNation, the fastest growing national cable news network in the U.S.; Antenna TV and Rewind TV, popular multicast networks; and leading digital news and information properties such as The Hill and Best Reviews.
“Nexstar’s diverse collection of brands and media assets make it uniquely qualified to re-write the rules for today’s modern media sales organization,” said the company’s recently appointed Chief Revenue Officer, Michael Strober. “We are hiring best-in-class sales leaders, investing in cutting edge technology and creating new capabilities to meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s media advertising environment.”
Leading the company’s efforts along with Mr. Strober are three experienced, proven media sales executives:
- Todd Braverman, who joins Nexstar after a lengthy career in executive sales positions at Warner Media, has been named Executive Vice President/Head of National Sales, responsible for driving top-line sales performance by identifying go-to-market sales strategies for agencies, clients, and audiences. Braverman will ensure that Nexstar is a “must-buy” for advertisers who want to reach and engage audiences at scale across all of the company’s linear and digital platforms.
- Brad Epperson, who previously served as Senior Vice President/Business Operations and Services for NBCUniversal, has been appointed Executive Vice President/Platform Operations & Technology and will lead ad operations, including campaign management, targeting, delivery and optimization. He will ensure that ad revenue commitments and client expectations are met and exceeded and will support revenue growth through the design, development, and implementation of new advanced platforms, systems, and technology.
- Lori Tavoularis has been appointed Chief Business Officer after serving as Nexstar Digital’s Chief Revenue Officer/Executive Vice President, Revenue Operations since 2021. She will oversee the functional teams focused on developing next-gen advertising capabilities, ensuring that Nexstar is a high-performing enterprise sales organization providing portfolio-based marketing experiences and events for both clients and audiences. Importantly, Ms. Tavoularis will be responsible for building new functionality for Nexstar in the areas of measurement and insight, sales enablement, marketing solutions, and advertising products.
Mr. Braverman, Mr. Epperson, and Ms. Tavoularis will begin their new duties immediately and report to Mr. Strober.
“I am delighted to have Todd, Brad, and Lori join me as we transform Nexstar’s go-to-market strategy,” said Mr. Strober. “Each of them possesses the requisite skills and domain expertise to build a next-gen, agile media sales organization. Collectively we all share a common belief to challenge the status quo and to foster a culture of entrepreneurial spirit which has been a hallmark of the company since its founding.”
Mr. Braverman was previously Senior Vice President/Agency Sales at Warner Bros. Discovery, responsible for driving $1.9 billion in advertising revenue and managing all agency relationships across the company’s entertainment, news, kids and young adult brands. He played a critical role in launching the HBO Max advertising product and in leading the WarnerMedia sales team through the television industry’s upfront advertising negotiations. Mr. Braverman joined Turner Broadcasting, now part of Warner Bros. Discovery, in 2008 as an account executive for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and truTV. He quickly evolved the sales role by serving as the brand ambassador for Adult Swim and truTV, acting as liaison between the network presidents and sales divisions.
Mr. Epperson was previously Senior Vice President/Business Operations and Services at NBCUniversal, responsible for Account Services and Advertising Operations for the NBC Network, Telemundo, Golf Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Syfy, E!, Oxygen, and a variety of additional television networks. He also oversaw digital services and operations for all NBCU digital properties on YouTube, ReachTV, Anzu, Apple News, Apple News UK, and Peacock for national and local advertisers around the world. While at NBCUniversal, Mr. Epperson led a sales team of 400 in more than 20 U.S. states and countries around the world.
As Chief Revenue Officer/ Executive Vice President, Revenue Operations for Nexstar Digital, Ms. Tavoularis was responsible for driving monetization across the organization and overseeing all revenue-related functions for the digital division, including national, local, and programmatic sales, digital marketing services and marketing. She has held multiple senior sales and revenue operations roles over the past 20 years, including Senior Vice President, Digital Revenue and Operations, for Tribune Publishing, and Head of Supply for the Global Advertising Business at Rakuten, Inc.
About Nexstar Media Group, Inc.
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST) is a leading diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports and entertainment content across television, streaming and digital platforms, including nearly 300,000 hours of original video content each year. Nexstar owns America’s largest local broadcasting group comprised of top network affiliates, with 200 owned or partner stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 212 million people. Nexstar’s national television properties include The CW, America’s fifth major broadcast network, NewsNation, America’s fastest-growing national news and entertainment cable network reaching 70 million television homes, popular entertainment multicast networks Antenna TV and Rewind TV, and a 31.3% ownership stake in TV Food Network. The Company’s portfolio of digital assets, including The Hill and BestReviews, are collectively a Top 10 U.S. digital news and information property. In addition to delivering exceptional content and service to our communities, Nexstar provides premium multiplatform and video-on-demand advertising opportunities at scale for businesses and brands seeking to leverage the strong consumer engagement of our compelling content offering. For more information, please visit Nexstar.tv.
Nexstar Media Contact:
Gary Weitman
EVP & Chief Communications Officer
972/373-8800 (office)
gweitman@nexstar.tv
Investor Contact:
Joe Jaffoni or Jennifer Neuman
JCIR
212/835-8500 or nxst@jcir.com
