Fox News has hired Marianne Gambelli to be President of Advertising Sales. She starts May 22 and will oversee the ad-sales business for Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. 21st Century Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch announced the hire today.
Gambelli spent 22 years at NBCUniversal and rose to President of Sales and Marketing at NBC before exiting in 2012. She arrives at Fox News from Horizon Media, where she was Chief Investment Officer and managed a $7 billion investment portfolio.
The appointment comes after Fox News EVP Advertising Sales Paul Rittenberg exited at the end of last month after leading TV and digital ad sales for Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network since their inceptions. Fox Networks Group Ad Sales president Toby Byrne exited in September.
“We are delighted to add Marianne to our executive management team,” Murdoch said. “Her reputation for client management, along with her ability to monetize investments, seek out new and emerging technologies and create innovative media partnerships has made her a leader in the industry.”
Added Gambelli, “I’m proud to be representing the powerful Fox News bran,d and I am beyond excited to lead a very talented sales team to capitalize on this new era in news.”
She joins a Fox News team that routinely dominates cable news ratings but has been been in turmoil of late, with Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and Bill Shine having exited amid lawsuits alleging sexual and workplace harassment. As many 70 companies had asked that their ads be removed from the O’Reilly-hosted The O’Reilly Factor in the weeks after a New York Times report last month revealed he and Fox News had settled multiple harassment claims women had made against him over more than a decade. The ad load since has returned to normal after Tucker Carlson replaced O’Reilly in the time slot.
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