The Fierce Video editorial team is proud to present its second annual Emerging Leaders Awards, recognizing the brightest young professionals rising up the ranks of the streaming TV industry. Throughout the months of May and June we’ll be featuring these profiles with each of our finalists. We will announce the winners during our StreamTV Show with an awards ceremony June 17 at 3:15 p.m. ET. Not yet registered for the StreamTV Show, running June 15-17? Be sure to register now and save your spot at this free virtual event!
Jane Marks/Philo:
As a key leader of Philo’s business development team, Jane drives distribution and content partnerships. Working closely with Apple, Amazon, Google and Roku, Jane defines and advocates for product and marketing integrations to improve customer outcomes on partner platforms. She spearheads new business initiatives from ideation through execution, liaising with internal and external teams to vet, analyze and create new opportunities for Philo. Most recently, Jane has taken on emerging content category initiatives, evaluating and negotiating new opportunities to bring more shows to Philo’s platform. Prior to joining Philo, Jane worked at HBO in worldwide digital distribution, driving HBO Now subscriber and transactional growth on partner platforms including Apple, Samsung and Fandango. While there, she also oversaw HBO’s distribution in the university market, growing the business to reach more than 500,000 students.
What her colleagues are saying:
“I have had the pleasure of working with Jane over several years now, both as her manager at HBO and now at Philo. Jane is one of those rare and exceptional colleagues who is admired both for her work and genuinely positive disposition. As a leader, she is respected for her ability to manage complex business relationships internally and across partners, her keen attention to detail, and strategic guidance towards some of the company’s most pressing business priorities. Jane is dependable, thorough and, perhaps most important, treats anyone she works with with the utmost respect.” - Jamie Grosz, head of business development at Philo
“Jane is a valued member of Philo's business development and content team. Since joining Philo, she has successfully overseen relationships with the company's largest platform partners, helping to drive Philo's subscriber growth. She has also been instrumental in expanding Philo's channel lineup by negotiating agreements with new content programmers. Jane has a thoughtful approach to her work and is admired by her colleagues not only for her strategic insights but also for her sharp sense of humor.” - Adam Salmons, head of content acquisition at Philo
Streaming Industry Q&A:
What streaming services do you subscribe to?
Philo has me covered for my live TV and movie needs, but I also use HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV+.
Describe your biggest career highlight so far.
I started in the entertainment space shortly before the industry began to explode with new platforms, channels and a myriad of options. Because of this, it’s hard to pick just one highlight. Working at HBO during the launch of HBO Now and the run of “Game of Thrones” really informed my perspective on the impact excellent content can have. More personally, joining the Philo team at a critical point in the company’s growth has been a tremendous learning experience that has taught me to think both critically and expansively about building a distinguished platform and an engaging TV-watching experience.
What has been your biggest career learning experience?
My biggest career learning experiences have been the times that I have had to course correct, whether due to new developments, missteps or mistakes. Each time, I evaluate what went wrong, decide what my next move should be and determine how to communicate the error to key stakeholders. This process has taught me a lot about the critical importance of compassionate and thoughtful leadership both for individual development and for team success.
What's next for you in terms of new challenges in streaming TV?
Philo is seeing its strongest-ever growth at the moment and we’re learning in real-time what it means to scale as a company. Having established our product, the challenge at the moment is to maintain the high level of performance we’ve been able to offer as we experience a stronger level of growth. In my role, that means exploring unique distribution channels, finding more content that our audiences will love, and pursuing partnerships that maximize value. There is a ton of room left to innovate in the space, and I can’t wait to see how we meet these challenges as a team.