Chris Spadaccini named chief marketing officer for The CW Network

Chris Spadaccini has been named chief marketing officer for The CW Network, where he will oversee the network’s broadcast and digital marketing divisions.

“It is very rare that any company gets to add someone of Chris Spadaccini’s stature to its team,” commented Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment for The CW Network. “When it comes to marketers who have built and defined legendary brands for decades and created passionate emotional attachment between content and audiences, Chris is a true pioneer and the best in the business. As the broadcast and digital landscape changes at a rapid pace, we are building a dream team with the excitement and experience needed to drive The CW forward. I just wish he could have brought ‘The White Lotus’ with him.”

An award-winning marketing leader with over 20 years of experience building media, entertainment and lifestyle brands that consumers love, Spadaccini was a driving force behind building the iconic HBO brand. As chief marketing officer for Warner Media Entertainment, Spadaccini was responsible for marketing a portfolio of category-leading brands including HBO, TBS, TNT, truTV, and all aspects of brand and content marketing for HBO Max, the company’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform.

“There are exciting changes underway at The CW and I’m thrilled to be a part of the network’s evolution,” said Spadaccini. “I’m looking forward to creating innovative brand experiences that resonate with mass audiences and help accelerate the next phase of business growth.”

Spadaccini had a remarkable 20-year career at HBO, where he served as head of marketing, responsible for overseeing brand strategy, creative advertising, media, consumer promotions, multicultural and digital platform marketing. Under his leadership, the HBO team built a reputation as the gold-standard in television marketing and helped propel the network to record-breaking results. While he has built a career in ‘big media,’ Spadaccini is an entrepreneurial builder at heart, most recently evolving the marketing function and driving growth at CAMP, an early-stage retail-entertainment company targeting young families.

As a senior marketing executive for HBO and WarnerMedia, Spadaccini helped to advance the organization’s digital transformation to support a global, direct-to-consumer business. Among his many success stories, Spadaccini launched award-winning campaigns for HBO’s culture-defining original programming including Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Entourage, The Wire, Euphoria and Succession. Additionally, over a 10-year period, he led the marketing strategy for three streaming services — HBOGO, HBO NOW, and most recently, HBOMAX — all of which contributed to record revenue and subscriber growth. Spadaccini also differentiated the brand with innovative global campaigns such as “It’s What Connects Us,” which showcased HBO’s breadth and depth of premium content.

Spadaccini’s work has been recognized with numerous Cannes Lion, Emmy, Clio, Webby, Effie and One Show awards. In addition, he has been named one of “The 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World” by Business Insider and one of “Hollywood’s Top 25 Marketing Masterminds” by The Hollywood Reporter.

Before joining HBO, Chris worked in marketing at VH1 and in public relations at PMK/HBH. He has a BA in English Literature from Colgate University and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

About The CW Network:

The CW Network, LLC is one of America’s major broadcast networks and reaches 100% of US television households. The CW delivers 14 hours of primetime programming per week in addition to sports and other entertainment programming and is the exclusive broadcast home to LIV Golf. The fully ad-supported CW App, with over 90 million downloads to date, is available for free to consumers on all major platforms and is the exclusive home to the latest episodes and seasons of The CW’s primetime programming, live streaming of its sports content, and a library of entertaining film and television content for on-demand viewing. The CW is 75%-owned by Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST), a leading diversified media company and largest CW affiliate group with 37 CW and CW Plus affiliates, covering 32% of the population. For more information about The CW, please visit www.cwtv.com.