Zachary E. Sparkman

Santa Monica, CA(310) 496-3376zesparkman@gmail.comgithub.com/zsparkmanlinkedin.com/in/zsparkman

Summary

Monetization strategist and product builder with 10+ years driving revenue across streaming, CTV, and linear TV platforms. Proven track record architecting yield optimization strategies, pricing frameworks, and cross-platform inventory systems for $190MM in combined annual ad revenue across premium live sports properties. Manages a two-person yield team across LA and Dallas markets, with cross-functional leadership across Sales, Ad Ops, Engineering, and Product. Independently designs and ships web-based data products that solve real business problems, from internal sales tools to public-facing advertising intelligence platforms. Domain expertise in FreeWheel, Salesforce, addressable advertising, FCC compliance, and live sports ad monetization.

Professional Experience

Manager, Yield & Inventory | National & Multi-Market

Spectrum Reach

March 2025 – Present

  • Lead end-to-end yield strategy, pricing architecture, and ad inventory management partnering with the LA & Dallas national sales teams across streaming, CTV, and linear TV — overseeing $190MM in combined annual ad revenue across owned-and-operated inventory (LA & Dallas Interconnects, Lakers and Dodgers RSNs, Spectrum TV app, VOD) plus acquired inventory partnerships. Manage two direct reports across LA and Dallas markets
  • Define rate card frameworks, dynamic floor pricing, and yield optimization rules across FreeWheel, Operative AOS and Wide Orbit; own deal-desk approval governance over order activation pipeline in Salesforce and ShowSeeker Pilot, with team members executing day-to-day clearance against pricing and inventory rules; partner with Ad Ops, Engineering, and national sales leadership to set KPIs (fill rate, sell-through, eCPM, makegood liability) across CTV and linear scheduling
  • Drive yield optimization across acquired inventory spanning MVPD affiliate inventory, FAST/DTC app partnerships, FreeWheel Marketplace, and DSP supply, extending reach and diversifying revenue across MVPD, addressable, and programmatic channels
  • Manage FCC political broadcasting compliance across $34MM in on-cycle political ad revenue, Lowest Unit Rate (LUR) thresholds, equal access obligations, candidate offer management, and political inventory allocation across federal and state election windows

Pricing and Planning Manager | Spectrum SportsNet & SportsNet LA

Spectrum Reach

January 2020 – February 2025

  • Designed and implemented pricing and inventory segmentation strategy for live sports streaming and CTV ad pods in partnership with Sales, Ad Ops, and Product, delivering +74% CPM growth in premium live in-game inventory; supported the cutover to full DAI across both RSNs, enabling addressable monetization on connected devices
  • Operated as deal desk for Sales, reviewing and approving proposals, clearing inventory with Ad Ops as primary Sales/Ops liaison
  • Designed and shipped a multi-property analytics and inventory platform for both RSNs, built on a 10-view product framework over a Power Query data pipeline used daily by yield, sales, and revenue assurance to manage $57MM in annual ad revenue
  • Helped design bottom-up RSN revenue planning model that replaced flat top-down budget targets with a unit-economics framework, deriving revenue capacity from game count, inventory volume per game, impression delivery, ratings, and monetized CPM; informs annual budget and forecast cycles for both RSNs

Senior Account Manager | Agency Sales

Nexstar Media Group

February 2017 – January 2020

  • Managed a 100+ account portfolio spanning national brands (Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Subway, McDonald’s) and agency relationships with Initiative/IPG, OMD, PHD, Carat, and Litha/Media Access Group, developing integrated cross-platform proposals across digital, OTT, and linear inventory
  • Identified a gap in Fox NFL ad packaging, redesigned the DMA-level pricing and inventory bundling strategy, and launched a revised package that delivered +78% growth in average order value
  • Built pricing strategy frameworks for premium sports and local programming inventory, establishing rate card structures and sell-through optimization practices that informed early programmatic and CTV monetization strategies

Digital Account Executive | New Business Development

Coastal Television Broadcasting Company

July 2015 – February 2017

  • Launched the station group’s first digital advertising division from the ground up — defined go-to-market strategy, built pricing models, and established sales operations across 3 DMAs, functioning as a 0-to-1 product owner for a new revenue line
  • Generated $200K+ in new digital revenue within 6 months by pioneering video pre-roll and display ad monetization on station O&O properties alongside SEM, SEO, and social media services
  • Partnered with linear sales teams across 5 broadcast stations to develop integrated cross-platform advertising solutions, bridging $7MM in traditional broadcast spot business with emerging digital inventory in an early cross-platform monetization model

Education & Certifications

Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting

December 2018

University of Alaska Anchorage

Digital Media Sales Certification

March 2023

Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)

Skills & Technical Proficiency

  • Ad Tech & Platforms: FreeWheel MRM, Wide Orbit (Traffic & Media Sales), Google Ad Manager, Operative AOS, programmatic SSP/DSP ecosystems, Hudson MX, Mediaocean Prisma for Sellers
  • Data & Analytics: SQL, PowerBI, ComScore, Nielsen, Salesforce; experienced building analytical dashboards and yield reporting pipelines
  • Technical / Product Building: PostgreSQL, Node.js, REST API design, Git/GitHub, Railway, AWS S3/CloudFront, SharePoint API
  • AI Development Tools: Claude (API, Claude Code), OpenAI (Codex, ChatGPT), LM Studio for local LLM inference, LangChain, Apple Vision (pyobjc) for on-device OCR; integrate AI into production data pipelines and ship features end-to-end with AI-assisted development
  • Domain Expertise: CTV/OTT ad monetization, live sports inventory strategy, addressable advertising, FCC regulatory compliance, programmatic supply-side strategy, rate card design, unit-economics modeling
  • Languages: Fluent in Spanish with full professional proficiency