Jon Penn: Last News

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNational Research Group (NRG), an entertainment and tech research firm and strategy consultancy, has hired Grady Miller, previously head of consumer insights for Apple TV Plus, as chief marketing officer.It marks Miller’s return to NRG, where he was most recently VP of strategy before exiting to join Apple in November 2019. At Apple, he established and built the group responsible for leveraging consumer insights across Apple TV Plus, the tech giant’s video streaming subscription service.In the new CMO role at NRG, Miller will oversee the direction of the firm’s client engagement, content marketing and media outreach.“We are delighted to welcome our friend Grady back to NRG,” said CEO Jon Penn.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Carlyn Staudt, who has previously overseen the growth of Blue Ant Media’s Love Nature channel, travels to the APOS conference for the first time in her new role as the company’s EVP of global channels and streaming. Together with Jon Penn, the group’s MD for Asia Pacific, she takes stock of the corporate restructurings that include the disposal of Beach House Pictures and the establishment of a sales hub in Asia, as well as analyzing the business opportunities at a moment of industry turmoil. Staudt: I joined Blue Ant seven years ago to expand its channel offering around the globe, and launched love nature, which was at the time, a fledgling natural history service, for SVOD only.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Blue Ant Media, the Canadian-owned group with operations spanning TV production, distribution and channels management, is creating a new Asia-Pacific base in Sydney, Australia. It has hired Jon Penn as its Asia-Pacific MD and Jason Soh as VP of distribution, based in Singapore.Penn is a veteran with ten years in Asia with BBC Studios and 11 years of experience at Fremantle. Latterly, he has been a partner at ACT Media Ventures and advised Blue Ant on its expansion in Australia. “The appointments signal the expansion of Blue Ant Media’s channel and program distribution business in Asia Pacific, combining the company’s channel distribution and content sales in the region into one unit.