Apple Hires Veteran Disney Executive, Ricky Strauss, As Head Of Marketing

TV & Film

Jan 5

Apple TV+ advert — Image Source: DAZeINFO BRIEFS

Big news for streaming fans, what Disney+ has recently lost could be a jackpot win for Apple TV. Ricky Strauss has recently been brought on by Apple to head up marketing for Apple TV+ as the position was vacated by Chris Van Amburg and left unfilled since September of last year. While finding some success as a streaming platform with content such as Ted Lasso and Severance; viewership is still low comparably speaking, especially in contrast to popular streaming internet-based services such as HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.

Apple TV earned seven HCA TV Awards for its series Severance and Ted Lasso. Those two titles won Best Streaming Series in the category of Drama. It took Best Actress in a Streaming Series for Britt Lower and Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Series for John Turturro in the category of drama as well. The episode of “The We We Are” took Best Writing in a Streaming Series from writer Dan Erikson and Best Directing in a Streaming Series for the same episode of Severance for Ben Stiller. While Ted Lasso took Best Streaming Series in the category for Comedy with Brett Goldstein earning Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Series for the popular hit. While these titles have earned awards and have loyal subscribers, analytics still suggest lower audience counts than many of Apple TV’s competitors.

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Apple TV may be hoping to gain momentum by bringing in Strauss as he is a former veteran executive at Disney. He was employed by the television and film giant for over ten years. Strauss had a hand in marketing popular films such as Frozen, The Avengers, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and The Incredibles 2. His most recent role at Disney was head of marketing for Disney+ specifically. In the first year of Disney+, the streaming platform saw an astronomical 90 million subscribers. Strauss’ specific charge will be to lead the marketing campaigns for Apple’s original series and films. Only time will tell if this experienced leader finds success in increasing overall viewership and subscriptions for the award-winning content of Apple TV+, but given the success seen at Disney; the tech giant is surely hedging their bets on increasing analytics with this skillful addition to their team.

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