MUMBAI: Discovery Communications has appointed Atsushi Saito as vice president ad sales for Eurosport
The announcement was made by Advertiser Partnerships senior vice president and managing director Jonathan Davies, to whom Saito will report.
In his new capacity, Saito is tasked to maximise Eurosport’s ad sales efforts in Asia Pacific by providing innovative and bespoke solutions for clients and developing meaningful partnerships.
Last week Discovery Communications announced its first Olympic Games sub-licensing deal with the BBC, to make Eurosport the exclusive home of the Olympic Games on pay-TV in the UK between 2018 and 2020. The news follows an agreement announced by Discovery Communications and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last June, which includes exclusive multimedia rights for 50 countries and territories in Europe for the 2018 through the 2024 Olympic Games. With three of these Games to be hosted in Asia, Saito’s proximity to the action will offer a significant market advantage as Discovery look to establish long term partnerships with clients.
Saito started his media sales career over 16 years ago with Star TV, a subsidiary of News Corp and was last with Turner Japan where he served as CNN Global Advertising Sales director. Under his leadership, Saito quadrupled CNN’s ad sales revenue.
Davies said, “It is Discovery’s ambition to make the Olympic Games available to more people across Europe than ever before, through leveraging our portfolio of pay-TV, free-to-air and digital services. This combined with our other strategic investments in sports rights provide brands and advertisers a unique opportunity to target their customers through great sporting moments all day, and every day.”
“Advertisers and brands are evolving into content producers, thinking beyond the ad break to embed themselves in popular culture. With this shift, a top priority for our sales organisation is to provide unique, creative and strategic solutions with the highest level of service. Atsushi’s rich experience, excellent connections and digital acumen will propel Eurosport’s ad sales growth in Asia Pacific,” Davies added.
