Viacom International Media Networks announces Leadership Changes

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) announced that Pierluigi Gazzolo, President of VIMN Americas and Executive Vice President of Nickelodeon International, has been appointed President of OTT International and Viacom International Studios (VIS), signaling the increasing importance of VIMN’s OTT and Studio business.  Gazzolo will report to David Lynn, President & CEO of VIMN.

In this role, Gazzolo will initially focus on accelerating the rollout of Pluto TV across international markets, starting with a major launch across Latin America in early 2020.  In addition, Gazzolo will further establish VIMN’s premium D2C products in partnership with distributors.   He will also be responsible for creating an integrated, Viacom International Studios operation, managing original content creation assets across ViacomCBS internationally. This new structure will enable the company to accelerate the creation of original content across international markets, consistent with the ViacomCBS mission of becoming one of the world’s pre-eminent content companies.

Gazzolo will be responsible for establishing Viacom’s international business strategies, product offerings, and operations for these critical growth areas of the business in all international markets.  He will work closely with Marc DeBevoise, Chief Digital Officer for ViacomCBS and President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Interactive and Tom Ryan, CEO and Co-Founder of Pluto TV to expand the company’s digital strategy to the international market.

As President of VIMN Americas, Gazzolo is credited for driving the extraordinary growth of VIMN’s business in the region and was responsible for the expansion of the business through the acquisition of Telefe and Porta dos Fundos.   During his tenure, Gazzolo led the transformation of VIMN Americas, including establishing its non-linear presence through innovative multiplatform products and services such as Paramount + and Noggin and working with the Pluto TV team to launch 11 Pluto Latino channels to the US Hispanic market earlier this year – which has since grown to 22 channels and 4,000 hours of Spanish and Portuguese content.  

Under Gazzolo’s leadership, Viacom International Studios (VIS) was launched following the 2016 acquisitions of Telefe and then Porta dos Fundos.  Synergies recognized by those acquisitions enabled the launch of VIS first in the Americas in 2018 and then in the UK, Europe, and Asia in 2019.   In 2019 VIS Americas revenues grew by 57%.

David Lynn commented: “Pier is a uniquely dynamic executive and has an unrivaled track record of growing revenues for the entire VIMN ecosystem.  Pier’s vision and leadership in acquiring and integrating both Telefe and Porta dos Fundos for the Americas business was a step-change for Viacom in the region and enabled the creation of a studio business, not just for the Americas, but for all of Viacom International.  Additionally, Pier’s leadership in the streaming and OTT space has driven subscriber growth and established VIMN as a key player in OTT in the region partnering with MVPD’s and mobile operators.  I’m confident that Pier will apply the same vision and rigor to launching these key business lines for Viacom International as we continue to super-serve our distribution partners.”

Pierluigi Gazzolo added: “With ViacomCBS’ position as one the world’s most important content creators and distributors, it’s an extraordinary moment to help drive the expansion of both Pluto TV and OTT internationally, which is the fastest-growing part of the video business; and at the same time, create a unified international studio for Viacom – when the demand for content has never been greater.”