ViacomCBS’s Ross Sees Pandemic As Way to Deepen Ties With Advertisers
ViacomCBS’s Ross Sees Pandemic As Way to Deepen Ties With Advertisers

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted every industry including major broadcast networks that reach millions of U.S. households.

Amid the turmoil have been opportunities to strengthen connections for media outlets to strengthen connections with advertisers that have revamped their media plans.

Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer at ViacomCBS domestic advertising sales, discusses how she and her teams have managed through the disruptions in the first episode of Beet TV's "TV Reset" forum presented in collaboration with VAB.

Speaking to Bill Koenigsberg, the president, chief executive and founder of media services agency Horizon Media Inc., Ross talks about the uncertainties that started in mid-March when officials ordered many businesses to close down to suppress the spread of COVID-19.

While many advertisers and media agencies have been working remotely for months, Ross has found a way maintain and even deepen connections with ViacomCBS's clientele.

"We've all learned how important in this industry the value of these personal relationships that we've grown to nurture," Ross, who last year became the first woman to lead an ad sales team at a broadcast network, said.

Supporting those relationships includes calling chief marketing officers at advertiser to reassure them that her company is there to help them.

"No one has been through a pandemic before," Ross said.

"I hope what we take away are the learnings that we listen more, we stay in touch more and that we really do work to help the clients solve the problems." You are watching TV Reset, a leadership forum produced in partnership with VAB.

The series is presented by 605 and The Rubicon Project & Telaria.

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