Bell Media’s Sean Cohan Is “Pot Committed” On Content Spend, Plans FAST Channels, Wider Distribution For Crave And A Push On Program Sales

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Canadians are consuming as much or more content than ever and Sean Cohan’s job is to make sure that one of Bell Media’s services is where they go to for it. “I know that from three years of working in measurement and data analytics that sleep is losing and consumption is winning,” he says.

The analytics reference speaks to his time as Chief Growth Officer & President at Nielsen, which followed a stint as President of Pawn Stars prodco Wheelhouse, and before that, 15 years at A+E.

Cohan is in New York when he speaks to Deadline – his first interview since joining Bell Media as President last November – but is about to up sticks and relocate to Toronto.

He isn’t a poker player but quizzed about content spending at Bell Media at a moment when many are reining in costs, he says the company is “pot committed.” Asked about how the business will evolve in the next year and he says the company will “put a couple more chips on the table.” The cards he holds at Bell Media include the CTV broadcast network, French-language service Noovo, sports nets TSN and RDS, a raft of specialty channels, a sizeable advertising business, radio stations, and the local streamer Crave. “There’s what people would consider legacy pieces in that mix and a bunch of very future-facing properties,” Cohan says. “The challenge is taking these unique beloved brands, this great content and the strong people we have, and pointing them at a future where people are watching as much or more video than they were yesterday.