End of an Era: Joe Abruzzese to Step Down as Discovery Ad Sales Chief
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TV’s longest-serving ad sales boss is calling it a day after 46 years on the job.
Joe Abruzzese, Discovery Communications’ longstanding president of advertising sales, announced this morning that he will retire at the end of the year, capping a career in which he established himself as one of the most respected and well-liked execs in TV. Stepping in to fill Mr. Abruzzese’s handmade Crockett and Jones shoes is Ben Price, who has sold ad inventory for the Discovery networks for more than a quarter of a century.
Speaking to Ad Age earlier this morning, Mr. Abruzzese said he’d been planning his exit for some time, and that he’d established his succession plan back in March, when he consolidated the company’s linear TV and digital ad sales units under his lieutenants Mr. Price and executive-VP Scott Felenstein. Having wrapped Discovery’s upfront business with strong CPM and dollar volume gains, Mr. Abruzzese said the last order of business is to “finish the year strong and help Ben make the transition.”
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