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James proposed a network differentiation strategy and then conceived of a new TV series genre. He influence the launch and partnered on the marketing campaigns for the first “Outdoor Adventure” content on the Outdoor Channel including Duck Dynasty (Deadliest Catch and Wicked Tuna launch ‘2018). Outdoor Channel became the fastest growing network on Monday nights in second quarter 2016. The network was one of the few posting ratings growth on average for all of 2016 – +35% Prime and +11% Total day. Outdoor Channel was also the top TV network overall in ratings growth among men in Q1 2017.
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His presentation of the network portfolio strategy and “Outdoor Adventure” program approach to executives at Comcast, DirecTV, DISH, Charter, TimeWarner, and others was a key component of the negotiation that grew network distribution at a time when there were plans by some to drop Sportsman Channel.
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James conceived of the Outdoor Sportsman Group’s digital relaunch research program, and partnered on the launch of MyOutdoorTV.
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James previously worked on Microsoft’s global multi-product ad campaign which earned a 2012 David Ogilvy Award. His groundbreaking SEA/SEM search advertising work on the Windows Phone campaign earned recognition for innovation at the 2012 ARF Great Minds Awards.
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He introduced the first entertainment series to The Weather Channel (TWC) convincing the ownership to support TV series as a concept for the previously all-live weather information channel. James developed and helped launch “Storm Stories” and “When Weather Changed History,” the most popular series on the network.
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As a leader and strategist for weather.com, mobile applications, and the television network, James developed target audiences and positioning for each TWC platform and its advertisers.
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James helped develop a break structure strategy and positioning for The Weather Channel network which resulted in the highest commercial/program ratings ratio in TV. TWC became the first television network to guarantee advertising delivery on the new commercial ratings (C3).
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During his tenure, TWC became the second cable network to reach the 100 million subscriber mark (improving overall ranking to #2 from #14) and weather.com consistently ranked in the top-10 in monthly unique visitors.
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While at CNN, Jim persuaded then HLN president Jon Petrovich to allow him to develop and market test the first TV news ticker. Ted Turner approved the HLN SportsTicker launch which subsequently headlined Turner Broadcasting System’s shareholders meeting and pioneered the trend of 24-hour news headlines scrolling across the TV screen.
