Endemol Shine Group Taps Former AOL Exec as Head of Sales

AMSTERDAM: Endemol Shine Group has named James Hayr as head of sales within the commercial partnerships team.

Hayr will be reporting to the group’s director of commercial and strategy, Wim Ponnet. Hayr will take on the brand relations responsibilities within commercial partnerships. His remit includes supercharging this area of the business; identifying and linking global commercial brand partners and opportunities; growing the group’s overall branded content and content marketing business; and boosting monetization opportunities and revenues across the group’s nonlinear content. Hayr joins Endemol Shine Group from AOL, where he was head of branded content.

Ponnet said: “We are delighted to have James on board to spearhead the global brand relations growth across the business. As we look to further increase revenues across our non-linear output, James’ wealth of experience in content-led advertising and multiplatform will be invaluable.”

Hayr added: “With more marketing dollars flowing into branded content, Endemol Shine Group are brilliantly placed to helps brands in this space with their award-winning roster of production companies and digital content businesses. With such strong talent in the organization, I am genuinely excited at the prospect of what we can offer publishers, agencies and brands globally.”