Evolution Digital’s Marc Cohen voted most impactful person in pay TV for 2018

Don’t call it a comeback!

But they are cutting down the nets in Centennial, Colorado, after Evolution Digital’s Marc Cohen edged out Arris CPE chief Charles Cheevers in our “Most Impactful Executive in Pay TV” poll.

In our stridently operated, flawlessly executed democratic mechanism—OK, we have a PollDaddy account—Cohen also surpassed strong frontrunner Jeff Binder, T-Mobile’s video chief. (Fierce has not been able to confirm rumors that Cohen’s campaign received help from Russian oligarchs.) 

We kicked off this tournament a week ago, asking our readers to vote from a list of executives from our Fierce 50 feature, which profiled 50 of the most active and relevant executives, technologists, sales people, etc. working in and around the pay TV business. 

One thing we found out quickly—campaigns for executives didn't go anywhere without strong backing from their companies.

Supported by one of the most powerful vendors in pay TV, and riding a wave of populist connection to voters fed up with pay TV business as usual in Denver, Cheevers surged out ahead over the weekend and appeared poised to have his picture festooned onto this Fierce posting. 

But with Cohen's base dubbing their candidate a "warrior in the cable industry," and the D.C. native promising to "clean up the swamp" of traditional fat-cat QAM-only set-tops, the Evolution sales executive surged into the lead over the last 12 hours of the poll.

Tongue out of cheek, we were pleased to see that our poll generated nearly 10,000 votes. To us, it's an indicator that our Fierce 50 selections hit the mark, and that the video industry is engaged and energized as Fierce kicks off what will be one of our most ambitious business conferences yet, The Pay TV Show in Denver on May 14. 

We hope to see you there.