Former mPlatform lead joins FreeWheel as chief product officer
As TV streaming heats up, Comcast’s video adtech unit FreeWheel has named Jon Whitticom its chief product officer.
Jon Whitticom
Since January 2017, Whitticom had been leading product for GroupM’s data and tech outfit mPlatform. Now at FreeWheel, he will be leading the company’s global product team and developing product vision, strategy and design.
Whitticom will head product development for FreeWheel as the company looks to bolster its offering for what it calls “the new TV ecosystem”. He will report into FreeWheel general manager Dave Clark.
“Jon is the right product leader to drive FreeWheel’s next phase of growth,” Clark said. “He brings a unique blend of product management, subject matter expertise and proven credentials as a trusted, visionary leader. He also shares our conviction about the future of the video ecosystem and we’re very excited to welcome him into the FreeWheel family.”
FreeWheel is cementing its product team as new walled gardens emerge in an increasingly competitive video adtech space. AT&T’s competing group Xandr recently acquired video-focused tech startup Clypd, and Roku just spent $150m snatching up Dataxu.
“FreeWheel’s track record of removing friction from the video marketplace and empowering publishers to better monetize content while also helping advertisers to more effectively engage consumers puts it in a unique position to address the industry’s needs,” said Whitticom. “I’m excited to work with Dave and the FreeWheel team to address advertisers’ demand for access to premium video and more sophisticated, data-driven TV activation capabilities.”
FreeWheel co-founder Jonathan Heller served as product boss for Comcast Advanced Advertising for more than a year until June 2018. Paige Bilins held the title of senior vice-president of product management at FreeWheel until April, when she took the role of chief product officer at Telaria.
Before joining mPlatform, Whitticom was vice-president of global product development at Xaxis.