Zach Mannon
Product and data executive in Los Angeles. I build consumer platforms where content, data, and monetization have to work together.
I’m a product, data, and platform executive. For more than 15 years I’ve built consumer platforms at the point where content, data, product, and monetization meet. Right now I lead product and data for The CW’s streaming platform across connected TV, mobile, and web.
At The CW, I helped scale the streaming business to more than 120 million app installs and more than $125 million a year in ad revenue at its peak. I also launched the network’s first-ever live sports streaming product. Before that, at Warner Bros. Television, I helped build the original CW digital platform (CWTV and CW Seed) and the internal systems behind content distribution, screeners, licensing, and sales. Along the way I introduced Agile and Scrum to the team, led early platform work with Facebook and Xbox, and picked up a Communicator Award and multiple Webby Honoree nods.
Earlier, at Disney Parks & Resorts Online, I helped lead product and creative development for Virtual Magic Kingdom. We grew it from 1 million to 2.8 million users and designed experiences that connected the online world to the physical parks.
What ties it together is connecting product, engineering, data, design, editorial, ad sales, marketing, and executives around outcomes everyone can measure. I build the operating systems (measurement frameworks, dashboards, decision loops) that help teams move faster with fewer arguments.
I studied Anthropology and Marketing & Consumer Behavior at UC Santa Cruz, which turns out to be decent training for figuring out why people watch what they watch. I’m also a Certified Cicerone, which is a longer story best told over a beer.
I know what it takes to make the thing we’re streaming.
I’ve worked in film and television at both ends of the process. I’ve been on set for multiple broadcast series, including the hit series 24, as well as Zack Snyder’s 300 and a handful of short films. I was also in development on Martin Scorsese’s Silence, helping move the project forward for producer Gianni Nunnari long before cameras rolled. Very different jobs, same lesson: an hour of finished content comes from hundreds of people, months of work, and thousands of decisions the audience never sees.
That changes how you build the platform it lands on. A buffering spinner, a clumsy ad break, or a great show buried three rows down isn’t just a UX bug. It’s someone’s best work not getting seen. So I build with the people who make content in mind: discovery that actually surfaces it, ad experiences that respect it, and data that tells creators and programmers something real about who’s watching.
Most product leaders know content as rows in a catalog. I’ve also known it as scripts and call sheets.
Five principles
01
End-to-End Fluency
I’ve worked across the whole chain: production, distribution, product, data, and monetization. That keeps me from optimizing one layer at the expense of another.
02
Product Plus Data, Not Product Versus Data
I build the measurement frameworks, dashboards, and decision loops that make teams faster and smarter, not just the roadmap.
03
Monetization Without User Hostility
Ads are part of the product experience, not a revenue layer stapled on top. I build monetization that sustains the business without burning the audience relationship.
04
Cross-Functional Operator
I connect product, engineering, data, design, editorial, ad sales, marketing, and executives. Outcomes over org chart.
05
Practical AI & ML
I apply AI to personalization, discovery, operations, and better decision-making, as a product layer that produces measurable results.