Peter Naylor Exits as Hulu’s Head of Ad Sales to Join Snap

Advertising veteran Peter Naylor, after more than six years at Hulu, is departing the Disney-controlled streamer to join Snap in a newly created role.

Snap on Thursday announced that Naylor will join the company as VP, Americas, in early May, overseeing Snapchat’s business in U.S., Canada and Mexico. He will be based in Snap’s New York office, reporting to chief business officer Jeremi Gorman, who joined in 2018 after serving as Amazon’s head of ad sales.

Naylor most recently served as SVP and head of advertising sales at Hulu. During his tenure, he expanded Hulu’s offerings for brands by introducing interactive ad units and alternate ad solutions, including industry firsts like “pause” and “binge” advertising units.

With Naylor’s exit, the Hulu ad-sales team will report into Rita Ferro, president of advertising sales for the Walt Disney Co. The Hulu and Disney ad sales groups will work closely entering into upfront negotiations, according to a company rep. Disney previously said it was “reinventing” both the May upfront showcase it holds for ABC, ESPN, Freeform, FX and Nat Geo, as well as an event it presents a few weeks earlier for Hulu.

Prior to joining Hulu in 2014, Naylor served as EVP of digital media sales for NBCUniversal where he ran digital advertising sales for NBCU’s entertainment, news and sports digital properties. That came after the company acquired iVillage in 2006. He also earlier held sales management positions at Lycos and Wired Digital.

At Snap, now reporting to Naylor will be Luke Kallis, VP of U.S. advertiser solutions, Dominic Rioux, VP emerging advertising solutions, and Matt McGowan, GM for Canada. Continuing to report to Gorman are David Roter, who leads agency efforts as VP global agency partnerships, and Claire Valoti, VP International.

In 2019, Snap added 31 million Snapchat daily active users, to stand at 218 million as of the fourth quarter. The company posted Q4 2019 revenue of $561 million, up 44% year-over-year. Snap also said sales of Snapchat’s Commercials in video more than tripled year-over-year in the most recent quarter, while sales of Story Ads doubled.

During the coronavirus pandemic, according to Snap, user engagement with ads has risen. In late March (vs. a month earlier), Snapchat says there was a 36% increase in install volume for app ads and a 19% increase in swipe-up rate overall.