John Halley, president of Paramount Advertising, is leaving the company after a 17-year run.
His departure, which was expected after the company hired Jay Askinasi as chief revenue officer in October, was confirmed to Deadline by a person familiar with the personnel move.
Halley will officially wrap his tenure next March, staying on as a strategic advisor until then to ensure a smooth handoff as upfront business is written.
The ad sales shuffle is one of many across the company since the August close of Paramount’s merger with Skydance. About 2,000 employees are also being laid off as a result of the merger, with Paramount also now angling to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, a move that would prompt yet more changes.
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Halley came to Viacom in 2007, overseeing cable TV and digital properties that are now part of Paramount’s portfolio. His accomplishments as he rose through the ranks include scaling Pluto TV’s ad business into a billion-dollar revenue generator and an innovator in FAST. He also launched EyeQ, Paramount’s platform for premium video ads.
The merger of CBS and Viacom in late-2019 presented a number of logistical challenges for the sales troops responsible for knitting together the broadcast network and local stations with a leading set of cable networks. The process was complicated by the onset of Covid.
As media companies emerged from the pandemic, most resumed the ritual of pitching advertisers in glitzy upfront showcases held across New York City. While the CBS upfront had long been known as the most lavish, Halley opted to eliminate it in favor of a number of smaller-scale dinners for major ad agencies, held in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Variety first reported Halley’s exit.