The Fierce Video editorial team is proud to present its third annual Emerging Leaders Awards, recognizing the brightest young professionals rising up the ranks of the streaming TV industry. Throughout the month of May we’ll be featuring these profiles with each of our finalists. We will announce the winners during our StreamTV Show with a live awards ceremony in Denver on June 6 at 7:30 p.m. MT. Not yet registered for the StreamTV Show, running June 6-8? Be sure to register now!
Eli Rivkin/Warner Bros. Discovery:
Eli Rivkin is the founder and leader of the Growth Marketing Strategy group at HBO Max. He leads the team in their mission to leverage consumer behavioral insights in order to acquire the most qualified subscribers for HBO Max. To do this, the team measures each touch point along a consumer's journey, develops audience-based, channel-level insights based on winning tactics, and works directly with the operational teams to execute against said insights at scale.
His leadership and team output have contributed to the exponential growth HBO Max has seen since its launch in May 2020. Rivkin draws on years of entrepreneurial experience growing companies from inception to maturity, rooting his growth strategies in consumer data and insights. His expertise ranges from leading new business ventures at early stage technology startups in New York City to launching two successful entertainment direct-to-consumer streaming services at WarnerMedia in Los Angeles (DC Universe and HBO Max). As a founding member of both DC Universe and HBO Max, Rivkin used a sophisticated method of determining pre-demand interest in tentpole titles to build audience-based media campaigns aimed at increasing high life-time-value subscribers. His goal is to turn marketing from a cost center into a revenue center.
What his colleagues are saying:
"Eli is a rare growth strategy leader with an innate ability to bring together data and creative to drive revenue. He leads with empathy, compassion and an openness to take on new challenges with consistently fresh perspectives. Eli is one of the most exciting next gen leaders of entertainment!" - Katie Soo, chief marketing officer at KiwiCo Inc.
"I have had the pleasure of working with Eli for the past year and half. From the moment I started working with Eli, I admired his strategic approach to the business. Eli has an amazing ability to boil down complexities of our subscription goals through sound data and analytics. He has been instrumental in developing the growth and marketing strategy here at HBO Max, which has had a true impact on the success of the platform. I feel fortunate to have Eli as a colleague, as I know that I can always look to him for thoughtful guidance and support. He is genuine, thoughtful, smart and a tremendous asset to the organization." - Jill Collado, VP of growth and digital partner marketing at HBO Max
Streaming Industry Q&A:
What streaming services do you subscribe to?
I subscribe to HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and more recently, Discovery+!
Describe your biggest career highlight so far.
My biggest career highlight so far has been scaling HBO Max. I have been through this journey since pre-launch before the platform even had a name to now reaching 76.8 million global HBO/HBO Max subscribers. I worked with my team to launch HBO Max during a global pandemic, which is no easy feat. Working with this incredible team on the growth of HBO Max, and with such world-renowned content, has been the chance of a lifetime, and I can't wait to see what we accomplish next.
What has been your biggest career learning experience?
Throughout this process of scaling HBO Max, I have learned the importance of collaboration, patience and adaptability. Collaboration: HBO Max was formed from a heavily matrixed organization with overlapping functions. Being able to work together with a shared overarching goal allowed for the company's overall success. Patience: Coming from a tech startup world, I often find myself wanting quick solutions to problems in order to move on to the next challenge. While getting to the fastest, most accurate solution is still at the forefront of my decisioning, it's important to have patience when tackling a problem. Sometimes problems work themselves out in time, or more context is needed to understand why the problem exists in the first place. It is also important to test your initial hypothesis rigorously to ensure the right decision is being made. Adaptability: Constant change oftentimes leads to mental and physical exhaustion. One way of beating this is being adaptable to the changing environment and constantly tailoring work toward the most important task at hand. Doing so has allowed me to find success in always providing the right work at the right time.
What's next for you in terms of new challenges in streaming TV?
I'm excited for Warner Bros. Discovery and the combination of content that will be serving these complementary audiences. The best part about working at HBO Max is getting to work so closely to the incredible content. I am always looking to the next great show or movie on HBO Max. The Batman debuted on April 18 and in addition to that, we have some great upcoming programming like the limited series The Staircase, season two of Hacks, and Warner Bros. films made for HBO Max such as Father of the Bride. I can't wait to see what happens next!