Netflix Research Leader to Head up MarketCast Custom Research and Insights Practice Across its Business Segments
Los Angeles, Calif. – December 2, 2020 – MarketCast today announced the appointment of Zoë Friend to its senior leadership team as Corporate Senior Vice President of Custom Research and Insights. In her new role, Zoë will lead MarketCast’s custom research practice across all of its business segments and will be responsible for guiding its future direction, growing and nurturing the team, and elevating MarketCast’s research for leading media, sports and brand clients.
“Zoë’s experience building a high performing research team at one of the world’s most tech forward media companies will be invaluable as we continue to aggressively grow and transform our business,” said John Batter, CEO of MarketCast. “Zoë brings the right balance of research acumen and client service expertise to our lineup, and we are thrilled that she has chosen MarketCast as the next chapter in her life and career.”
Friend led the Netflix Content and Marketing Research and Insights practice for 5 years, growing the team to more than 40 researchers during a period of massive transformation. While there, Friend was part of Reed Hastings’ senior leadership team and was responsible for delivering consumer research that guided billions of dollars of investments in Netflix original series and movies, helping the streamer experience explosive subscriber growth and positioning them as an entertainment powerhouse. Prior to joining Netflix, Friend served as senior vice president of research and strategy for Paramount.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with the MarketCast research team and seeing the incredible work they do firsthand as a longtime client,” said Friend. “MarketCast’s reputation as a research leader and their vision for transforming media and brand research through a combination of primary research, advanced data science and technology innovation will be game changing for creators, brands and marketers alike, and I look forward to helping shape and bring this vision to life.”
Friend will join a growing MarketCast organization, which includes former leaders from Nielsen, Gracenote, IAC, NRG, Inscape, Dreamworks and Comscore. Earlier this year, MarketCast acquired data science services leader, Deductive, and integrated its previous acquisitions of social digital opinion measurement firm, Fizziology, custom research and insights leader, Insight Strategy Group, and Turnkey Intelligence (sports) under the MarketCast brand and leadership team. Combined, the new MarketCast organization provides the scale to support the largest media brands and sports leagues on the planet with the speed and agility to focus on solving unique client business challenges.
About MarketCast
MarketCast research, analytics and data science fuels fandom for leading studios, entertainment platforms, sports and lifestyle brands on the planet. Our unique mix of research analytics is combined with big data science to provide clients powerful insights to inform their biggest business decisions. Today, MarketCast counts some of the biggest names in entertainment as clients, including leading Hollywood studios, streaming services, video games publishers, lifestyle brands and sports leagues and teams.