Comcast has named a new president of its advertising division, appointing industry veteran James Rooke to the role.
Rooke steps into the position to replace former Comcast Advertising President Marcien Jenckes who is now heading up the Comcast-Charter joint venture to build a next-gen streaming platform. Rooke will report to Jenckes, who in addition to the JV role is also serving as managing director for Comcast’s advertising group.
In his new role Rooke is overseeing operation of Comcast Advertising, including its Effectv (advertising sales division), FreeWheel (media and ad technology arm) and AudienceXpress brands.
Most recently Rook was general manager of Effectv, joining in January 2020. While at Effectv, Comcast said Rooke was instrumental in bringing more widespread use of data to TV ad strategies, while driving growth of addressable advertising and programmatic capabilities across the company. Comcast has not yet named a new general manager of the Effectv unit.
“I could not think of a more qualified person to lead Comcast Advertising during one of the most exciting, transformative times in television advertising,” said Jenckes. “His work at both Effectv and FreeWheel give him a unique perspective from which to lead the company, and I look forward to working beside him to take Comcast Advertising to its next level of success.”
Before heading up Effectv Rooke led FreeWheel’s global publisher business unit tasked with providing TV programmers and distributors with advertising tech to manage monetization of video content. He also played a role in designing, launching and scaling FreeWheel’s first video marketplace. He previously served as the company’s chief revenue officer, and during his time at FreeWheel led sell-side relationships with companies spanning A+E Networks, Charter, Discovery, Fox, Viacom and NBCUniversal.
Prior to Comcast companies, Rooke was VP of strategy and execution at former Time Warner Cable, which is now part of Charter Communications, and a principal at Capgemini within the consulting and technology firm’s media and entertainment practice.
“I’ve had the privilege of working across both the software and media business within Comcast Advertising and look forward to combining those experiences in this new role,” said Rooke in a statement.