Nielsen Business Media has created a new entertainment group that brings together the company’s leading entertainment brands into one unit.
Media industry veteran Gerry Byrne, who has been named senior VP, Entertainment Group for Nielsen Business Media, will lead the new division beginning March 1. Byrne will be based in New York and will report to Greg Farrar, president of Nielsen Business Media.
Previously, the company’s entertainment properties existed under two separate market groups — Film & Performing Arts and Music & Literary.
The new division sets in place a more unified editorial approach across entertainment properties to provide audiences with the most inclusive, in-depth access to news, data, analysis and insights on every aspect of the industry.
John Kilcullen, who has served as senior VP of the company’s Film & Performing Arts and Music & Literary groups since October 2006 and president and publisher of Billboard since 2003, will leave the company at the end of February to pursue his passion as an entrepreneur. In his five years with the company, Kilcullen has been instrumental in the strategic growth, development and success of Billboard. He has also successfully built strong senior leadership teams at the Hollywood Reporter, Back Stage, the Bookseller and Kirkus Reviews.
Byrne has served as an advisor to Nielsen Business Media since January 2007. In his new role, he has responsibility for the global entertainment, music and literary publishing enterprises across digital, print and face-to-face platforms.
A native New Yorker and graduate of Fordham College, Byrne served as a United States Marine Corps Officer in Vietnam and was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and the Navy Achievement.
