Walt Disney Company has recently recruited Bruce Rosenblum, the chairman of the Television Academy and former lead of Warner Bros. TV Group, to take charge of its enterprise operations.
From his new position, Rosenblum will have an ensemble view of all aspects pertaining to Disney/ABC's business arm. These include affiliate marketing and sales, business development and global distribution.
Rosenblum, who used to be the helm of Legendary Entertainment's digital media and television, will be directly reporting to Ben Sherwood, the president for Disney/ABC TV Group.
Sherwood has good reason to turn Rosenblum into his right-hand man for the business arm of the group. This way, the Disney/ABC TV Group leader can delegate some responsibilities to Sherwood, while he can maintain a close relationship with executives from the creative part.
In an interview, Sherwood notes that he aims to focus on assisting execs in charge of Disney's creative business. He acknowledges that the times are a-changing for the television industry and affirms that he needs all the time he can get to draft the strategic path for such "a complex business like ours."
What is more, Rosenblum joining the team should strengthen ABC's efforts to craft an increased "efficient and effective" operation, with revenue streams that want to go up. Sherwood explains that despite being in contact with the business operations, he will bestow a "lot of space and leeway" to Rosenblum for his decision-making.
Roseblum affirms that he wants to see the television company working "directly with the consumer," and points out that the revenue growth should come from tackling this aspect from an advertising, messaging and distribution standpoint.
ABC, which prides itself in being a flagship network, has seen better days alongside all traditional TV networks.
Reports indicate that ABC scored a significant ratings drop for the 2015 to 2016 season on all viewer demographic. When looking at the overall viewership, the Disney-owned network ranked third, behind CBS and NBC. The average number of viewers for ABC was 6.7 million a night. Most worrisome for the network is that the under-50 adult demographic, which is highly prized by advertisers, continues to lose interest in standard TV.
ABC came in fourth place when gauging audiences aged 18 to 49.
Rosenblum stated his admiration for the company and underlines his excitement to be part of ABC's A-Team. He notes that, in his opinion, the group is "at the top of their game."
Users who prefer watching TV on a computer but don't want to miss out on ABC, ESPN or CBS can use YouTube's online TV service, dubbed Unplugged.
