JAMAL SALMON ’12
Data Driven
W
hen Paramount Pictures released Gemini Man in early October, it did so with a promotional campaign informed by data analytics. “There are always multiple promotional videos airing online, and my team is able to evaluate which of the ads we are serving up is making the biggest impact,” says Jamal Salmon, senior vice president of research and analytics at Paramount Pictures. “We can tell which are passing along the intended message, which are getting watched the most, and which are prompting the viewer to share the video or mention it online. That information is passed along to digital creative partners who can adjust the campaign accordingly.” Salmon and his team analyze new data sources—from Google searches to social media platforms—to determine how consumers engage with various brands. “This is all digital information that might exist outside of conventional market research, such as surveys or focus groups,” he explains. There is so much untraditional data available that Salmon says most every motion picture studio and TV network has either created a department of data analytics or added one to its traditional market research. “My philosophy is that more information and more analysis are always helpful,” he says. A native of New York City, Salmon came to Syracuse University to study sport management with a goal of working a front-office role in either baseball or basketball. He got that in his first job as a basketball/baseball analyst for Bloomberg Sports. But he quickly realized he had interests in business behind the scenes that went beyond player evaluation. When he was offered a research analyst position at ESPN, where he interned during college, he jumped at the opportunity, changing his research focus to the content that was resonating with consumers on the network. That was just the start. In a relatively short time, Salmon has amassed diverse career experiences that have propelled him to a senior role in the entertainment industry. “I’ve been fortunate to gain a lot of varied experiences at interesting times,” he says. “I arrived at Bloomberg Sports as that division was brand new. Being able to work at ESPN at a time when the behavior of core consumers was changing and you needed to reach them digitally and not rely solely on cable. Joining Netflix right after their launch of original programming, which is core to their business today. And then working in ad sales measurement at Google as advertisers became focused on reaching consumers who no longer constantly watched TV,” he explains.
Salmon joined Paramount in 2017 and says that timing has been interesting as well. “People have a lot of options for their screen time,” he says. “They don’t even have to go to the theater anymore to watch a great movie.” Salmon credits the mentorship he received from faculty at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics for helping prepare him for his career, one reason he is eager to help current students. He serves on the alumni advisory board for the Office of Multicultural Advancement, as an Our Time Has Come (OTHC) mentor, and is a major donor to the OTHC Scholarship Fund. Recently, he hosted 25 Syracuse University in Los Angeles students on the Paramount lot to share “a day in the life.” “Being able to have a direct connection to students to share experiences and offer advice has been increasingly important to me,” he says. “From a data analytics standpoint, being able to help students choose coursework or develop their skill set to help them be competitive in the workforce is something I’m happy to do.” \
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