Business

Nielsen-Gracenote Strengthens Sports Businesses with Product Leadership Hire (MESA)

Nielsen-Gracenote has strengthened its sports businesses by appointing David Faulknor to the key role of SVP, product management. Tapping nearly 20 years of product leadership experience with top companies in the sports and media verticals, Faulknor is responsible for bringing innovative insights, analytics and data offerings to market for Nielsen and Gracenote customers.

As the result of this strategic hire, the world’s most popular sports federations, leagues and teams in addition to the most forward thinking global brands, agencies and media companies will benefit from new product offerings to inform smarter business decisions and drive deeper fan engagement.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the world earlier this year, the sports industry was in need of trusted data and insights to help identify and connect with key target audiences. Now, as live sports start to return in North America, Europe and elsewhere, all players within the industry are looking to the next generation of powerful analytics tools and data products to help them win amidst fierce competition for revenue and attention.

Faulknor will leverage the full range of trusted datasets and resources within Nielsen and Gracenote to enhance existing product offerings and develop all new syndicated solutions to meet the various needs of the companies’ Sports customers. Major initiatives include offerings which provide a clear view into sports fan interests, media consumption and purchasing habits around the world as well as products that place value on the social media elements of multi-channel campaigns. Additionally, Faulknor will lead efforts to unify the large global Nielsen Sports and Gracenote Sports product teams and build a single, world-class data and insights organization.

“Sports holds the power to inspire, entertain and engage people around the world like no other form of content,” said David Faulknor. “With access to best-in-class datasets, technologies and talent, I look forward to driving product innovation at Nielsen Gracenote that will enable our customers to fully leverage the massive power of sports.”

Faulknor joins Nielsen Gracenote from NBCUniversal where he was responsible for defining, designing and executing product direction for the NBC Sports, NBC Olympics and Rotoworld digital properties. With direct responsibility for the company’s Beijing, Vancouver, London, Sochi, Rio de Janeiro and PyeongChang Olympic initiatives, he developed breakthrough viewing experiences enhanced by rich Gracenote Sports metadata. In recognition of technical innovations raising the bar on sports event coverage he has brought to market over the course of his career, Faulknor has been awarded four Emmy Awards.

Nielsen Sports is the premier provider of analytics and insights within the sports industry offering the most reliable source of independent and holistic market data in the sector and the most complete view of consumer trends and habits worldwide. Gracenote Sports is the industry leader in descriptive metadata around sports leagues, teams, competitions and athletes which fuels sports media and enables navigation, search and discovery of sports content across platforms and services. Together, the companies’ offerings help to drive consumption of sports programming and measure the results of consumer engagement with that content.