John Learing

EVP, Broadcasting

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Summary

Senior sports executive, expert in both commercial and creative disciplines. Currently EVP of Global Sports Production and Partnerships at Perform Media. I also act as Managing Director of WTA Media, a joint venture between Perform Group and the WTA, where I am responsible for a yearly P&L of $60M; creation of new best in class production company capable of producing telecasts for 50 WTA tournaments across the globe; media rights sales; brand marketing; management. Past experience as Creative Director for one of the most high profile sports organizations in the world. Multiple Emmy winning producer and commercial director.

Experience

2015 Mar - Present

EVP, Broadcast; Managing Director, WTA Media

Perform / London

Executive Vice President, Global Broadcast Partnerships; Managing Director, WTA Media

Report to Steering Committee consisting of CEOs from both Perform and WTA
Designed the centralization process, consolidating all WTA Tour events under one rights holder; in first year, 47 of 54 events successfully delivered – all to be secured by 2020
Cost management of WTA contract, ensure overall P&L ($50M + per year) are in-line and on-budget
Determine value of WTA Media Rights, create compelling broadcast packages, determine sale process procedures
Carry out and execute successful sales process alongside EVP of Sales. First media rights sales cycle (2017-2019) resulted in 15% increase over budget expectations
Grow HH Reach of WTA. In first sales cycle, increased HH Reach to more than 1.4 billion homes; increased broadcaster commitment to match coverage by more than 50%
- 2017 Linear audience growth of 18%
- Only major sport where average audience age has gotten younger over past five years
Create/launch WTA Media as a new in-house production company and pitch to all events
Establish/sell WTA Media as host broadcaster for majority of WTA events; in year one, 60% of events selected WTA Media as host broadcaster
Successful broadcast production and delivery of all main draw singles matches across WTA tour – more than 2,000 total matches. First time in the history of tennis that this is being executed
Deliver matches to broadcast partners utilizing three distribution technologies: satellite; fibre; cloud
- Transitioning all media partners from satellite to Cloud based delivery – first sport to “turn off” satellite delivery to North America, delivering all via IP/Cloud (2018)
Create and monetize a stand-along OTT product for women’s tennis – WTA TV, launching July
Manage internal staff of 27; external freelance staff of more than 30 per event
Travel to events; manage event and broadcaster relationships
Contract with industry leaders across production facilities; robotics; graphics
Production analysis to find work efficiencies throughout Perform business – creating a standardized production workflow across more than 50 production verticals