TiVo Hires Ex-Viacom Exec to Head Ad Sales

TiVo announced that it appointed Karen Bressner, who previously ran ad sales for Viacom’s Nick at Nite and TV Land, to the newly created position of senior vice president of advertising sales.

Bressner will be based in New York and report to TiVo CEO Tom Rogers. Prior to joining TiVo, Bressner was senior VP of national advertising sales for Nick at Nite, TV Land and TVLand.com. Before that, she was VP of Eastern-region sales for Discovery Communications, and she has worked for ad agencies Young & Rubicam and Foote, Cone & Belding.

"I am very pleased to have Karen on board. I believe that with her experience in leading sales for some of the most well-known brands in the media industry, she will be critical in helping TiVo to realize its full potential as the DVR [digital-video recorder] continues to impact television advertising," Rogers said in a prepared statement.

News of Bressner’s appointment came one week after TiVo said it hired Clent Richardson as chief marketing officer. Richardson, formerly CMO at Nortel, has been cited as a turnaround marketing specialist.

TiVo VP of national ad sales Davina Kent will remain with the company in her current role and will report to Bressner. Kent joined TiVo in 2000 and led the company’s launch in the United Kingdom with BSkyB.