Tony Cardinale

As Executive Vice President, Insights & Media Strategy, NBCUniversal Media Innovation & Cross Company Initiatives Group, Tony Cardinale is tasked with producing an insights-informed vision to help drive content, audience development, distribution and monetization strategy at a trans-company level.  He is a general thought leader at NBCU, and his teams are consistently conducting new research to understand consumer needs and motivations, particularly as they relate to entertainment of all types and digital interactivity.  Cardinale plays a key role in the Big Data strategy for the company, identifying creative uses of data in all divisions to unlock new experiential, promotional, or marketplace value.  And he provides NBCU with foresight to where consumers, media, and technology are heading, to help guide the company toward smart new investments.

Prior to this role, Tony was Executive Vice President, Brand Planning & Strategic Insights, NBCUniversal Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media (E&DN/IM), running all phases of research and providing brand, content, and monetization insights and guidance for a portfolio including Bravo Media, Oxygen Media, Style Media, Telemundo Media, Sprout, Fandango, Daily Candy, and the NBCU Integrated Media Group.  Prior to that, Cardinale served as SVP, Strategic Insights, NBCU Women & Lifestyle Networks.  From 2005 to 2010, Cardinale was one of the central architects of the Bravo and Oxygen Media brands’ consumer targeting strategies and program development filters, and both networks were among the fastest growing on cable during this period.  Cardinale joined Bravo in March of 2005 as Vice President of Research.

Cardinale joined NBCUniversal from Publicis U.S. where he served as SVP and head of Strategic Insights consecutively at Saatchi & Saatchi Media, Zenithmedia, and Optimedia.  In these roles, Cardinale led cross-platform communications research to support both strategic planning and buying.  His work was used to shape the media and marketing strategies for clients including BMW, Toyota/Lexus, T Mobile, L’Oreal, Armani, Garnier, Nestle, General Mills and HP, among many others.

Prior to ZenithOptimedia, Cardinale served as Director of Program Research for NBC News, and Manager of Sales Research and Development at Comedy Central.

Cardinale holds an M.A. in Television and Film Studies from Northwestern University and a B.A. in American History from the State University of New York at Albany. He currently resides in Manhattan with his wife and son.