Disney Advertising Sales says sports TV advertising deal-making is slowly ramping up — partly due to live sports coming back to TV over the next few months. “The sports marketplace has started to move,” says Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising Sales. “We are well on our way in terms of multi-year deals.”
Rita Ferro, president of ad sales for Disney, will be this fall’s honoree at the Center for Communication’s annual New York luncheon. She will receive the Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication, named for the late CBS president who founded the Center for Communication, a nonprofit organization promoting media education and career advancement.
Five women now spearhead the ad strategies for the leading network groups that will control the lion’s share of the $70 billion TV ad business during this year’s annual upfront ad haggle. They talk about their long, hard road to the top.
Disney’s reconstituted advertising sales unit has set details, priorities and the top executive team for its approach to capturing brand dollars in a fast-moving media environment.
The Walt Disney Co. is consolidating its advertising sales operations under Rita Ferro, who has been head of sale for the Disney/ABC Television Group. Ed Erhardt, the head of ad sales for ESPN for the past 20 years, is retiring in January.
Disney just unveiled plans to revamp its ad sales operation, combining all broadcast, cable network and digital teams — except for ESPN’s — into a new organization led by Rita Ferro, president of sales for Disney-ABC.
