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Nielsen Sports has restructured its internal operations to provide direction to the business since the acquisition of Repucom in June. As part of the restructuring, the sports data company appointed Danny Townsend and Glenn Lovett as new co-managing directors. Both will oversee the Nielsen Sports business, including global operations and revenue. Townsend and Lovett will jointly report to Nielsen Sports & Entertainment President Howard Applebaum. Nielsen Sports has more than 1,400 employees and more than 20 offices around the world. It recently signed a deal with FIFA to provide data and analytics at the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup, among other projects. FIFA is one of Nielsen Sports’ more than 1,700 global clients. Prior to the acquisition by Nielsen, Townsend and Lovett worked as chief revenue officer and president of global stragety at Repucom, respectively. Nielsen Sport also appointed Stephen Master, Guy Port and Marco Nazzari as head of commercial for the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe regions, respectively. SBD Global understands the reason for the realignment is to provide new solutions in the areas of sponsorship, media rights, fan development and engagement, brand activation and digital and social media strategy. Nielsen Sports will also expand its global offerings in research, media and digital, with a new trio at the helm. Mike Wragg, Alexandre Callay and Max Barnett will take on the roles of global head of research, global head of media and global head of digital. In the consulting department, Michael O’Hara Lynch will serve as the head of consulting in the Americas, while Claude Ringuet will focus on the Asian market. In Europe, Nielsen Sports’ consulting will be co-managed by Spencer Nolan and Jan Lehmann. Former Repucom SVP for Leagues in North America Michael Tange was appointed global head of strategy and solutions across the company’s entertainment division. The North American business consisting of existing Nielsen Sports and Repucom clients will be combined and led by Peter Laatz, who remains the market leader for North America. Shane Mattiske, however, will now be the sole managing director for Nielsen Sports’ Australian and New Zealand business.
