Gentile To Lead Ad Sales For Country’s Only Television Network To Super-Serve New Moms

As BabyFirst completes its transition from a subscription-based service to a basic cable network, the television network has appointed Matt Gentile to the newly-created position of Senior Vice President of Advertising Sales and Sponsorships.

Gentile joins BabyFirst at a time when the network has succeeded in emerging as the country’s #1 cable and satellite destination targeting babies, toddlers and moms. Based in New York City, Gentile previously served for the past 13 years as Vice President Advertising Sales for Comcast/NBCU where he represented a number of its major network brands including Sprout, E! and Style.

“We created this important new position in response to the strong interest that major brands have expressed in generating original content and promotional opportunities to new moms. Matt brings to his new position with BabyFirst an extensive track record of success in advertising sales with specific expertise in working with brands that cater to women and especially – young moms. BabyFirst has built an unparalleled multi-screen platform for reaching moms of babies and toddlers and we are excited to make our platforms accessible for brands addressing this fast growing parents’ market,” said Guy Oranim, CEO of BabyFirst.

Since its launch in 2006, BabyFirst has steadily grown to become the largest television vehicle targeting babies, toddlers and their moms in the U.S. Today, BabyFirst ranks among the country’s fastest-growing channels with a reach that exceeds 35 million homes via its cable and satellite partnerships with Comcast, Time-Warner, Charter Communications, DIRECTV and Dish Network. The channel is projected to exceed 50 million homes by year-end.

Recent ratings surveys* show that BabyFirst is among the top television destinations for child-mom tune-in, and ranks within the top three women cable channels in attracting young women (18-34) demos during daytime. BabyFirst also delivers an impressive average viewing time of 93 minutes per day for moms and their children, significantly higher than any other female-based network.

The channel enjoys an exceptional co-viewing appeal for both moms and babies as 97% of moms stated that they watch it with their babies.

The channel also demonstrates a DVR-proof quality as it retains a 99% live tune-ins
Reflecting its commitment to keep the channel clutter-free and allow brands’ messages to stand out, BabyFirst will launch as an brands’-supported vehicle with only 3:00 minutes per hour of advertising avails. Billboarded blocks will also be available.

“Because our programming is completely designed to be interactive between mom and child, not only has BabyFirst captured an impressive number of Millennial Moms, but we have also captured an impressive amount of their daily schedule. Delivering the ideal co-viewing experience, we are looking forward to delivering our message to the advertising community,” said Gentile,.

“Millennial Mons can oftentimes be an elusive market, but it is always a vital market for advertisers. BabyFirst stands alone in its ability to deliver advertiser’s message directly to the young moms who are watching the channel with their babies in a rich and compelling child-mom interactive programming environment ideally crafted for today’s advertisers,” added Gentile. “Advertisers wanting to reach young women in an uncluttered environment will find an exceptional opportunity in BabyFirst.”

*Source: Kantar Research (DIRECTV receivers, live tuning) 2013, households with children 0-3 years old; QuestionPro Research