RBR+TVBR has confirmed that a 24-year Nielsen veteran who became EVP/Managing Director of Local Television in March 2019 will be adding the responsibilities of Brad Kelly, who is officially exiting on Friday as Managing Director of Nielsen Audio as part of a post-privatization reduction-in-force initiative.
According to a Nielsen spokesperson, Catherine Herkovic will lead Nielsen’s North America Audio and Local TV business, reporting to Amilcar Perez, Chief Revenue Officer of the company’s Audience Measurement Business.
“We recently reorganized the way we operate in order to effectively engage with our clients and provide them strategic value,” the spokesperson said. Handing Kelly’s former duties to Herkovic is a part of that reorganization.
Herkovic is well-known and widely regarded for her efforts at Nielsen. In 1999, she was appointed SVP/Sales and Marketing at Local Television Services, well before Nielsen’s acquisition of Arbitron and the creation of Nielsen Audio. At Nielsen, Herkovic rose through the ranks, serving as GM of Local Television Services for Nielsen Media Research from 2005 through 2007. She then took the title of SVP/Managing Director for National Television Client Services and from 2012 through March 2019 was SVP/Client Solutions.
Given her extensive experience in television, will Herkovic need a crash course in all-things audio? Kelly has been associated with Nielsen Audio and, before that, Arbitron, for 25 years, becoming VP/Radio Group Sales for Arbitron in March 1998. Since then, Kelly has practically been the face of audio and radio measurement, working on behalf of the industry in a highly public manner. With Arbitron’s acquisition by Nielsen, Kelly was appointed SVP/Sales Director for Radio in September 2007. He rose to Managing Director in January 2016.
While Kelly two weeks ago teased his next opportunity on LinkedIn, noting, “if you liked Act 1, stay tuned — you’re gonna love Act 2,” Nielsen has been questionably mum on its reduction-in-force efforts and, in particular, on how Herkovic will add radio and audio to her purview.
