Audience Development Director

Audience Development Director
Location: Los Angeles, CA or New York City, NY
Schedule/Shift: Part-time, 30 hours per week; 4 days onsite, 7.5 hours per day
Pay:$132.00 - $140.00 per hour
26-09998

Job Summary
The Audience Development Director will build and lead strategies, systems, and partnerships designed to increase viewership and deepen fandom across television and multiplatform environments. This role will establish a new audience development function, using media analytics, programming strategy, lifecycle marketing, metadata, platform placement, social discovery, and performance optimization to create stronger audience relationships. The successful candidate will develop show-specific audience strategies, lead activation plans with agency partners, and establish measurable frameworks for audience growth, engagement, retention, and fandom. This role requires a strategic, cross-functional leader with extensive entertainment experience and a demonstrated track record of turning audience insights into measurable growth and fandom.

Job Responsibilities

• Develop and implement comprehensive audience development strategies that increase viewership, engagement, repeat viewing, and fandom.
• Build show- and franchise-specific audience strategies across linear television, streaming, FAST, social, digital, partner platforms, and direct-to-consumer environments.
• Use linear programming as a foundation for audience development by building awareness, appointment viewing, promotional momentum, and audience cadence.
• Translate portfolio objectives into measurable initiatives with defined owners, baselines, success thresholds, and fandom indicators.
• Prioritize titles, platforms, and distribution opportunities based on audience potential, lifecycle stage, fan engagement, and business objectives.
• Serve as a strategic partner to senior leadership on audience trends, fandom behavior, platform changes, and emerging audience growth opportunities.
• Lead audience development relationships with lifecycle marketing partners and agencies to develop and execute activation plans.
• Partner with internal teams to use YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels, Snapchat, podcasts, and short-form content as measurable audience acquisition and engagement channels.
• Build always-on audience and community strategies that maintain engagement between telecasts, streaming availability, social conversations, and future seasons.
• Establish audience development measurement frameworks, executive dashboards, KPI reporting, and test-and-learn processes.
• Analyze ratings, reach, frequency, streaming engagement, social conversation, sentiment, retention, cohort behavior, discovery sources, and fandom indicators.
• Develop discovery-source attribution to understand how audiences discover content through platform home screens, search, social, paid media, and emerging AI-powered discovery environments.
• Improve content metadata, universal content identifiers, EPG information, and other inputs that support content discovery, recommendation, and search.
• Partner with Legal, Privacy, Data, Research, and other stakeholders on first-party data, identity resolution, and compliant audience development practices.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Programming, Data Science, Media Agency, Research, Distribution, Product, Platform, Social, and Ad Sales teams.
• Lead and manage agency partners by establishing priorities, expectations, and accountability standards.
• Develop repeatable audience development methodologies, standards, vendor relationships, and playbooks.
• Present audience insights, strategies, performance results, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Support continuous improvement of audience development strategies through data analysis, experimentation, and performance measurement.

Job Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in audience development, programming strategy, entertainment marketing, content strategy, streaming, television, digital media, or consumer media growth.
• Proven experience driving both viewership and fandom for television series, franchises, tentpole programming, or entertainment brands.
• Strong understanding of linear programming, on-air promotion, audience flow, scheduling priorities, and conversion of linear momentum into multiplatform engagement.
• Demonstrated experience developing audience strategies across linear television, streaming, FAST, social, digital, partner platforms, and direct-to-consumer environments.
• Strong knowledge of fandom-building strategies, including community engagement, social conversation, creator and cast amplification, fan rituals, repeat viewing, and ongoing audience relationship management.
• Working knowledge of content metadata systems, universal content identifiers, EPG and scheduling feeds, and the role of metadata in recommendation and search systems.
• Experience managing cross-functional relationships across Programming, Marketing, Research, Distribution, Product, Platform, Social, and Ad Sales.
• Strong understanding of audience measurement, including ratings, reach, frequency, streaming engagement, social conversation, sentiment, retention, cohort behavior, discovery attribution, and fandom indicators.
• Experience developing and executing audience activation strategies with agency or external partners.
• Strong strategic, analytical, communication, and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and operate effectively in a dynamic environment.
• Strong understanding of lifecycle marketing and audience acquisition and retention strategies.
• Experience with CRM or lifecycle marketing platforms preferred.
• Experience with media analytics and audience strategy preferred.

Education

• Bachelor's degree preferred.

Work Experience

• 10+ years of relevant experience required.
• Entertainment marketing, television, streaming, digital media, programming strategy, or audience development experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience developing strategies that drive both audience viewership and fandom required.
• Experience building or launching an audience development function preferred.

About Equiliem

Equiliem believes in empowering success. It's our job to cultivate relationships that connect people and employers in a way that is inclusive, intelligent, and allows both to thrive.

Across the U.S., leading companies in healthcare, government, engineering, manufacturing, professional services, and energy rely on us for their workforce solutions. Our recruiting and HR services include contract and direct hire staffing, Payrolling/EOR, Independent Contractor Compliance, and Managed Services.

For almost 30 years, we've helped shape our industry. Today, we continue to research, ask questions, and continuously enhance the candidate journey and client experience.

Benefits

We offer a comprehensive benefits package to our employees, which includes:

• Medical Insurance
• Vision & Dental Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Matching 401(k)
• Commuter Benefits
• Employee Discounts & Rewards
• Payroll Payment Options

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