Canoe Paddling
The worst-kept secret in cable is officially out, with former A egis Media Americas CEO David Verklin being named as CEO of NYC-based Canoe Ventures —aka Project Canoe, the industry’s jv to make advance advertising easier to buy, use and measure across cable. Verklin takes the job Aug 4, and will "drive the creation of shared processes and standards for more robust audience targeting, interactivity and measurement in multi-platform advertising across cable operators’ systems throughout the country." Verklin’s name was 1st reported by Ad Age, but the industry gave the official spoon-feeding to the WSJ Tues. Comcast‘s Brian Roberts at last month’s Cable Show suggested that a CEO was on deck. Verklin was slated to speak at the show’s closing general session but didn’t show (reportedly because of a memorial service). Verklin told the WSJ that Canoe will license technology directly to programmers, instead of to marketers.