MediaCo promotes René Santaella to Chief Growth & Innovation Officer

MediaCo Holding Inc. announced that it has appointed René Santaella to the newly created role of Chief Growth & Innovation Officer (CGIO), effective today. In this expanded executive role, Santaella will own MediaCo’s end-to-end “Supply + Growth Engines” chain that converts content investment into scalable distribution, deeper audience engagement, increased inventory scale and quality, and improved monetization performance across MediaCo’s entire portfolio.

“MediaCo grew significantly in 2025 with record ratings and streaming viewership, revenue and reach. We are the momentum in the market, so we are investing in the required leadership and resources to accelerate growth.” said Albert Rodriguez, Chief Executive Officer of MediaCo. “René has a proven track record in building, modernizing and scaling multiplatform businesses and delivering measurable results. This new role is designed to be relentlessly focused on growth and innovation and maximizing the impact of our content, distribution, product and monetization engines.”

A NEW ROLE BUILT TO SCALE MEDIACO’S GROWTH ENGINES

As Chief Growth & Innovation Officer, Santaella will report to the CEO and work alongside the C-suite to lead the strategy and execution of MediaCo’s Supply + Growth Engines across TV, Audio and Digital & Streaming, including:

• content portfolio, originals development and programming strategy
• distribution and strategic partnerships
• product and audience engagement
• data and analytics to power testing and decision-making
• tech innovation, AI and workflow transformation
• inventory and revenue enablement

“This role is designed around a simple truth: in today’s media landscape, growth comes from aligning the entire chain around consumers and a multiplatform world on every screen and every device,” said Santaella. “I’m excited to be hyper focused on growth and innovation by optimizing the value of our content portfolio, expanding distribution and inventory, improving engagement, and advancing the technology and workflows that power our platforms.”

“René’s leadership will accelerate how we scale distribution, inventory and monetization across our platforms,” said Brian Fisher, Chief Revenue Officer. “As MediaCo’s audience continues to grow across TV, audio, digital and streaming, and with digital surging – this role helps turn that momentum into even greater value for advertisers and partners.”