Seeking nominations for the top executives leading the rise in free, ad-supported streaming TV in 2020

• Business Insider is seeking nominations for its second annual list of the top executives who are leading the rise of free, ad-supported streaming video. We want to hear from you.
• Please submit your ideas through this form by September 9.

People have been spending more time streaming video during the pandemic, and it's growing the market for ad-supported services.

Nielsen looked at viewers during one week in July and found people were spending more time streaming video that wasn't supplied by one of the majors — Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney Plus — than they were last year. Of that "other" category, as Nielsen called it, ad-supported video-on-demand services like Vudu, Crackle, and Tubi made up 20% of the streaming share.

Free, ad-supported services have also been among the hottest acquisition targets by major media companies of late, helping to legitimize the services and expand their reach. Fox snapped up Tubi, Comcast acquired Xumo, and Fandango bought Vudu this year.

Media giant NBCUniversal also launched its own ad-supported streamer, Peacock, in 2020.

As free ad-supported streaming reaches its next level, Business Insider is seeking nominations for its second annual list of the top executives shaping the AVOD industry. We want to hear from you.

Please submit your ideas through this form by September 9.

We're looking for senior execs who are overseeing key elements of free, streaming-video services. They could be the CEO of service that's charting tremendous growth; a smart-TV exec bringing free content to a video platform; a team leader charged with a crucial part of an AVOD business, like content development, data and analytics, or advertising sales; a programmer with an innovative strategy for selling to AVOD services; or an executive championing ad-supported streaming within a media conglomerate.

These leaders are helping their companies navigate the evolving TV landscape, and shaping the future of ad-supported video.

We're seeking leaders who are innovating around streaming-video services that don't charge subscription fees

For this list, we are interested in people who are innovating around free, ad-supported streaming-video services that do not charge subscription fees. That could include TV services like Pluto TV; free on-demand platforms like The Roku Channel, IMDB TV, or Vudu; free tiers within broader streaming services, like Hotstar's AVOD offering in India; as well as platforms like Facebook Watch and YouTube that have ad-supported video.

The list will be determined by Business Insider based on our reporting and the nominations that we receive.

The rankings will factor in the executive's roles and responsibilities, the scope of the changes they've introduced, and the person's impact on the company's performance and AVOD industry broadly.