Ryan Gould, who helps oversee U.S. ad sales for Warner Bros. Discovery, has been appointed chairman of Open AP, the consoritum of media and tech companies working to make new digital ad-buying pracitces more interoperable among different publishers.
He replaces John Halley, the former head of ad sales for Paramount Skydance, who left that role late last year.
“Ryan brings both strategic vision and operational fluency to this role,” said David Levy, CEO of OpenAP, in a prepared statement. “He understands that the future of premium video depends on common standards and interoperable identity. His leadership will help accelerate OpenAP’s mission to turn audience consistency from aspiration into infrastructure.”
Gould takes the role as advertisers place increasing emphasis on the purchase of digital ad inventory, much of it placed around streaming video. OpenAP debuted in 2017 with a goal of backing a single system to facilitate a type of advertising buy that has become more common in recent years as new technology allows marketers to pick and choose the audiences they pitch with a greater deal of precision. Armed with reams of data about customer choice, viewer behavior and digital presence, Madison Avenue has grown more enchanted with “audience buying,” or deals based on narrower consumer segments – think first-time car buyers, expectant mothers, or orange soda drinkers – that some blue-chip advertisers find more meaningful than the traditional parameters, which largely have to do with age and gender.
The company was founded by the former 21st Century Fox, Viacom and WarnerMedia, but its partners have broadened to include Samsung, LG Ad Solutions, Hallmark Digital, Vevo, Allen Media Group’s Local Now, Future Today’s FawesomeTV, MediaCo’s Estrella and Canela TV, along with Yahoo DSP; FreeWheel and PubMatic; Screenvision; and Nexstar Media Group, Scripps Networks, Reelz and Audyns.
“OpenAP plays a critical foundational role in enabling the industry to transact on audiences with clarity and consistency,” said Gould, in a statement. “As the ecosystem continues to evolve, shared identity infrastructure in Streaming and all of data-driven video becomes even more critical. I look forward to helping guide OpenAP as it deepens its role in powering a more unified, audience-first video marketplace.”
Gould was first appointed to OpenAP’s Board of Directors in 2025. At Warner Bros. Discovery, he oversees sales tied to the company’s U.S. advertising sales portfolio across linear, streaming and digital platforms, including sports, news, research, marketing, brand solutions and commercial strategy. He has played a central role in shaping how the company markets its premium video inventory.
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