Colleen Faheylash, one of the longest serving research executives in the media sector, has left the perch at Paramount Skydance, who has worked since 1996.
“At Paramount, research was not a backroom operation. I won table seats as a strategist, translator, forecaster and consultant. I built strong partnerships at all levels of organization and leadership,” Rush said in a statement posted on LinkedIn. “We provided a rigorous and impactful job, but the real magic was a way to bring it back to life, and helped the organization to activate it.
Fahey Rush joined the company in 1996 when he was tasked with investigating analytics and advertising sales research, bound by networks such as VH1, Logo, and CMT. Ten years later, she was appointed Chief Research Officer of All Cable Networks, formerly Viacom. To this day, it includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. Fahey Rush was often responsible for showing how the company’s television audience (the youngest linear era in the industry) behaved and how to demonstrate the media and advertising that are being consumed.
The company’s young cohorts sometimes granted licenses to absorb industry trends. When the TV business was working on adopting a new measurement system in 2006 that tracked audiences for commercials or content for three days, Viacom initially refused to participate, warning that younger audiences were likely not easily counted.
Fahey Rush maintained the role of top research director as the company went through various changes and experienced a second merger with CBS and an evolution into Paramount Global. Paramount was recently acquired by Skydance Media, and executives of the company say they intend to cut costs with major layoffs.
A company spokesman could not immediately provide comment.
“I’m proud of what I’ve built. I’m proud of what we built. I made incredible friends along the way. And I’m deeply grateful for all of that,” Fahey Rush said.
