Friday Abernethy

General Manager, Network
Monumental Sports & Entertainment

Picture of Friday AbernethyFriday Abernethy is a strategic dealmaker with high-impact media experience and a proven ability to inspire, grow, and reimagine businesses. An innovative and collaborative leader known for meeting industry disruption head-on, Friday has managed billion-dollar revenue streams, reimagined long-time partnerships, and transformed business models to reflect technological advances.

Serving as General Manager of the Network at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Friday oversees day-to-day operations of the network while working with existing leadership to build best-in-class linear and digital services for current and new partners alike.

An executive at Univision for eight years, Friday was at the forefront of the network’s content distribution strategy, improving revenue through legacy cable and satellite providers even as she accelerated an expansion into major streaming platforms. As Executive Vice President, Platform Strategy, Content Licensing, & Business Development, Friday managed licensing distribution across all cable systems in the US, with revenue of $1B+, as well as the development of streaming businesses and other business development strategies.

One of her key successes during this era was securing distribution of ViX TV as a free ad-supported TV (FAST) product with Roku, Amazon Fire, and Samsung (a key strategic priority of the CEO). As Senior Vice President, Head of Content Distribution & Business Development, Friday expanded Univision’s content portfolio across Hulu, Netflix, Google, Facebook, Roku, Snap, and other major platforms. Importantly, she also negotiated distribution agreements over three transmission cycles with all major cable and satellite companies (including Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, and DISH), growing revenue from $700M to $1B. She has received multiple awards for her innovative work, including a Wonder Women Award from Multichannel News in 2020.

Since leaving Univision, Friday has been a strategic advisor to the Founder and President of Tagger Media, a venture-funded social listening platform that helps brands, agencies, and media companies leverage social media platforms.

Earlier, Friday played a key role in transforming TV Guide Network from a legacy provider of TV listings to a marketable entertainment network (later rebranded as POP TV). To enable this transition, Friday renegotiated cable and satellite contracts to ensure access for the reimagined network, paving the way for CBS to acquire 50% of the company in 2013.

Friday also was instrumental in establishing the video-on-demand strategy for Viacom Media Networks, home to Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and VH1. As Vice President, National Accounts/Field Operations, Friday was part of the negotiation team that made thousands of hours of content available to Comcast’s VOD customers and helped shape the first digital content windowing strategy for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “South Park,” which established a standard for other franchises.

Streaming Media West 2022

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