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Gracenote names Bill Condon as first head of advertising sales
MUMBAI: Nielsen-owned Gracenote has brought in seasoned adtech leader Bill Condon as its first-ever head of advertising sales, signalling a sharper push into the fast-moving world of connected TV advertising.
Condon will lead revenue growth across Gracenote’s expanding advertising business, with a clear mandate to scale adoption of content connect, the company’s CTV ad platform launched in December 2025.
In simple terms, content connect helps advertisers understand not just who is watching, but what they are watching. Built on Gracenote’s content ID graph and long-established TV metadata, the platform allows ads to be targeted at the programme level, while offering brand safety, transparency and smarter ways for publishers to package and sell their inventory.
For an industry grappling with fragmented streaming services and blurred audience signals, the promise is clarity. Advertisers get better context. Publishers get better monetisation. Viewers, ideally, get ads that make more sense.
Condon arrives with over 20 years of experience across both sides of the digital advertising table. Most recently, he was vice president of enterprise sales and partnerships at Xumo, where he played a key role in scaling free ad-supported streaming TV channels and unlocking revenue across major CTV platforms. His earlier stints include senior roles at Disney, Tremor Video, Yahoo, AOL and PointRoll.
Gracenote chief business officer Ryan Moore, said the appointment reflects the company’s growing momentum in advertising. He added that Condon’s track record in building and monetising CTV and Fast platforms makes him a natural fit to drive the commercial growth of content connect.
For Condon, the timing feels right. He believes CTV advertising has reached a point where scale and signal quality must evolve together, but visibility into the content surrounding ads has lagged behind.
Gracenote’s bet is that content intelligence, when made practical and actionable, can bring order to the streaming chaos. With Condon at the helm of ad sales, that bet just got a little louder and a lot more confident.
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Bob Iger joins Thrive Capital as adviser after Disney exit
Former Disney CEO returns to VC firm, stays on as Disney adviser till 2026.
MUMBAI: From castles to capital, Bob Iger isn’t done building just changing the blueprint. Bob Iger has taken on an advisory role at Thrive Capital, marking a return to the New York-based venture firm he briefly joined in 2022. Founded in 2009 by Josh Kushner, Thrive Capital has been positioning itself at the intersection of technology and long-term value creation, an area where Iger’s experience in scaling global entertainment businesses is expected to add weight. Kushner, 40, welcomed Iger back, highlighting his ability to blend technology with human-centric storytelling, particularly in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.
Iger is no stranger to Thrive. He had earlier joined the firm as a venture partner in September 2022, after stepping down as CEO of The Walt Disney Company and concluding his tenure as executive chairman in 2021. That stint, however, was short-lived. In November 2022, Disney’s board brought him back to steady the ship, replacing Bob Chapek following a turbulent period for the company.
Now, with his latest exit from Disney’s top job last month, Iger appears to be revisiting the venture world, this time with a clearer runway. Still, the Disney chapter isn’t entirely closed. Under his agreement with the company, he will remain until the end of 2026 as a senior adviser to new CEO Josh D’Amaro and will continue to serve on the board for his current term.
The move comes as venture firms increasingly seek operators with deep industry experience to navigate what Kushner described as “the most consequential technology shift” of the era, driven by AI. For Iger, whose career has hinged on blending creativity with scale, the transition from Hollywood to high-growth investing seems less like a pivot and more like a plot twist.
