NEW YORK N.Y. (May 18, 2017) JW Player, the world’s largest network-independent video platform, today announced it has hired Bill Day as Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he will be responsible for the company’s strategic leadership while also managing sales, product, marketing, business development, finance and human resources.
An internet pioneer, Day joins JW Player after eight years as CEO of Tremor Video, where he helped grow the company from a startup to over $250mm in annual revenue and profitability while migrating the company from an ad network to software platform business model. Tremor Video executed a successful initial public offering in June 2013. An early proponent of the online video market. Bill has served as a member of JW Player Board of Directors and seed investor. In his new capacity, Bill will continue to serve on the company’s Board.
“As a seasoned entrepreneur and executive, Bill has a proven track record of building and delivering strong results in high-growth technology and media companies such as JW Player,” said JW Player CEO Dave Otten. “In addition, Bill has a unique understanding of the digital video landscape that will be invaluable as we continue to evolve and execute against our strategy. He is the perfect partner for me and the rest of the team as we continue to scale our company. ”
The new appointment underscores JW Player’s continued acceleration into the enterprise space and the expansion of its business model from the video player into more complex data service capabilities. The company’s strong growth has pushed its overall client base past 20,000 including enterprise customers such as Univision, Hearst, Red Bull, VICE Media and Bell Media. The company’s video player footprint now spans 193 countries and its technology is live on more than 2 million sites with over 1.3 billion monthly unique viewers across all devices.
“The online video marketplace continues to be one of the most exciting growth opportunities in the TMT space. The combination of JW Player’s strong technology, large install base of enterprise clients, and enormous footprint of global users, from which it gains unique insights around video consumption behavior, distinctly positions it as a leader in the next phase of digital video,” said Day. “I couldn’t be more excited to join the team as we move through this period of rapid growth.”
Day has a career spanning thirty years running private and public companies in the internet and online services space. He co-founded About.com, the largest and—at that time—fastest-growing content destination on the Internet, advancing blogging and search engine optimization along the way. He served as the company’s President and COO during its 1998 IPO through its sale in 2000, and then as CEO from 2001-2003. Bill began his career at Prodigy Services Company, managing the firm’s internet initiatives including the launch of the world’s first consumer-oriented web access and browser in 1993.
Bill holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.