Editor’s note: In an ongoing series, INMA is profiling our most engaged members — our super fans. Today we profile Jason Tate, director, programmatic and partnership development for MediaNews Group in the United States.

As director/programmatic and partnership development for MediaNews Group in the United States, Jason Tate believes customers are everywhere: “If you want to reach them, you must be willing to expand your advertising portfolio to try new products regularly. If you run up against a wall, be prepared to either knock it down or pivot quickly to achieve revenue goals.”

One career lesson Tate lives by is never to stop learning: “Always engage in every opportunity whether you’re passionate about it or not. Anything you can do to expand your knowledge toolbelt, the better.”

INMA recently caught up with Tate to learn more about what’s on his mind.

INMA: If you had your career to do over again, what would you want to know in the beginning?

Tate: I probably would have chosen a different profession. Most likely would have practised law and/or government affairs.

INMA: What makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning?

Tate: Providing for my family.

INMA: What is the craziest job or project you’ve ever done in media — and what did you learn from it?

Tate: Back when I was starting off out of undergrad, I sold radio advertising. The stations that I worked for drummed up a weekly summer concert series every Thursday night, aimed at adults 25-54. I sold every sponsorship opportunity for the season — title sponsor, presenting sponsor, venue sponsor, drink sponsor, stage sponsor, and after-party sponsor. I tried to have management just change the name of the weekly event to my name, “Tate’s Concert Series, presented by Jason Tate, brought to you by Jason Tate, etc., etc., etc.” — hahaha!

INMA: What success within your company are you most proud of right now?

Tate: Being able to clean the slate and rebuild our programmatic business from the ground up to where we are today — and continually hitting goals and budgets.

INMA: What do you do to relax?

Tate: I mostly enjoy spending time playing golf or hunting freely without the pressure of having a deadline to hit. I also love spending time playing with my three kids.

INMA: If you hadn’t gone into news media, what was your backup plan?

Tate: If I didn’t go into media, I would’ve either gone to law school or ventured into the restaurant/service industry in hopes of one day opening a chain of my own stores.

INMA: What is your favourite thing to read?

Tate: While I do enjoy reading our local paper, I don’t particularly have one favourite thing to read … but if I had to pick what I read the most, it’d be emails … haha!

INMA: What do you find the most challenging/interesting about the news media industry right now?

Tate: The biggest challenge that everyone is trying to figure out is where things like identity, privacy, and first-party data play with users of specific media — largely those news Web sites and digital assets. The flailing newspaper industry is poised to make a comeback here due to all of the subscription data they possess. It’s the integration points and execution against advertisers’ and marketers’ KPIs to grow their objectives — which generally is reaching new and existing customers.

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