The Dallas Morning News names head of digital audience

Posted

The Dallas Morning News has hired Dan Sherlock as head of digital audience. This is a newly created position and is integral to the company's digital strategy.

Sherlock was previously the senior vice president of digital consumer marketing for the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Publishing. He has had a distinguished career in the digital media and publishing industries as a paid digital content pioneer, a career-long subscription marketer and senior executive.

At Tribune Publishing, Sherlock oversaw the development of a centralized digital subscription marketing organization and developed a cohesive strategy to grow acquisition volume and improve retention of the subscriber base – all designed to help the company generate incremental revenue to counter a drop in print revenue, which has been declining industry wide.

"In concert with our executive team, I have been working to craft a position and team within the digital group where our paid digital subscriber base is the sole priority. Bringing in Dan to develop this team and lead the digital acquisition and revenue strategy is the first key step," said Nicki Purcell, chief digital officer.

Sherlock earned a bachelor of science degree in systems engineering with a concentration in marketing management from The University of Virginia.  Before working with The Los Angeles Times, he held prominent senior executive roles at other top consumer brands inclusive of The New York Times Company, The Walt Disney Company, US West Communications and MCI Telecommunications.

Sherlock says much of his focus will be on increasing the company's efforts to prioritize digital subscriber acquisition through the organic audience of the branded mobile and desktop interfaces.  He will also be listening to the existing base and potential subscribers to ensure The Dallas Morning News provides an industry-leading experience and delivers on the value proposition.

He states, "The immense support from Nicki and the rest of the executive team has impressed me and I know with their support we can accomplish great things. Also, importantly, we will prioritize experimentation with different approaches to drive our digital revenue strategy, and ideally forge new territory in an industry searching for success stories in the digital subscription arena."

He said, "There is an earnest and explicitly stated mission and core value for our company to lead and not just follow. I believe the senior management team and I all feel strongly that learning from other industry best practices coupled with a strong appetite for experimentation is going to help us find that there are multiple potential paths to success in paid digital content.  Innovation is a core value of A. H Belo and this team will be embracing that core value as our true north."

Dallas, Sherlock
Calendar View all