Dawn Ostroff is an American businesswoman. She was the chief content officer and advertising business officer of

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

and was the former president of entertainment of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

and also the former president of

Condé Nast Entertainment Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE) is a production and distribution studio with film, television, social and online video, and virtual reality content. CNE is headquartered at 1 World Trade Center. Background Previously, Condé Nast (CN) magazin ...

Early life and education

Ostroff was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1960. She had an early introduction to music, her father being a concert promoter who worked with

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

. Ostroff holds a Bachelor of Science degree from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

Career

Ostroff began her career in news as a reporter for WINZ, a CBS affiliate in Miami. She also worked in local news at

WPLG WPLG (channel 10) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property. WPLG's studios are located on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembro ...

and

WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. She later held senior positions at

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

, Michael Jacobs Productions (Disney) and the Kushner-Locke Company.

Lifetime

From 1996 to 2002, she served as executive vice president of entertainment at

Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...

and led the network to become the #1-rated cable network in prime time.

UPN Network

From 2002 to 2006, Ostroff served as president of the

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

Network, a subsidiary of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, where she developed the popular reality series ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'', along with other programs including ''

Veronica Mars ''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen neo-noir Mystery fiction, mystery Drama (film and television), drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas (writer), Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional city, fictional town of Ne ...

'' and ''

Everybody Hates Chris ''Everybody Hates Chris'' (stylized in all lowercase) is an American semi-autobiographical sitcom created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi that originally aired on UPN from 2005 to 2006, and then on The CW until 2009. The series is based loosely ...

''.

The CW

Beginning in 2006, Ostroff launched

broadcast network - a joint venture of

and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

- and served as president of entertainment. Ostroff was in charge of programming, digital initiatives, branding, marketing, research and sales. As president, she developed several TV series, including ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series created and developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students on Manhattan's ...

'' and ''

The Vampire Diaries ''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the The Vampire Diaries (novel series), book series ...

''.

Condé Nast Entertainment

Ostroff and

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...

CEO Bob Sauerberg co-founded and launched

(CNE) in 2011, a studio and distribution network for film, television, premium digital video, social, and virtual reality. At CNE, Ostroff produced film projects including ''Only the Brave'', adapted from a GQ feature; '' The First Monday in May''; '' The Old Man & the Gun'' with

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous accolades such as an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the ...

as well as TV series including '' Last Chance U'' on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and ''Vanity Fair Confidential'' on

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries, similar to corporate sibling HLN. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's netw ...

. Additionally, through its digital franchises, such as ''Vogue's'' "73 Questions" and ''WIRED's'' "Autocomplete Interview," CNE made 5,000 videos, garnering more than 11 billion views in 2017.

Spotify

Ostroff joined

in August 2018 as Chief Content Officer. She led all aspects of content and distribution operations, including global advertising, global original content, content marketing, industry and creator relationships, and licensing. During Ostroff's time as Chief Content Officer, she focused on expanding the music streaming service into other forms of audio, primarily

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

s. She signed

Barack Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

and

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

's production company, Higher Ground Productions, to produce a slate of exclusive podcasts for Spotify. She also negotiated exclusive podcast deals with

Kim Kardashian West Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the sex tape '' Kim Ka ...

Joe Rogan Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American podcaster, Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC color commentator, comedian, actor, and former television host. He hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, ''The Joe Rogan Experience'', which is o ...

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to ...

and

Meghan Markle Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle, August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, entrepreneur, and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son ...

. She is also responsible for overseeing the acquisitions of digital media company and podcast network

Gimlet Media Gimlet Media LLC was a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing narrative podcasts and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who served as the company's ...

, the podcast creation tool Anchor, digital media firm Parcast, and Bill Simmons's The Ringer. Ostroff helped Spotify increase the number of podcasts from 185,000 to 3 million, as of January 2022, and in 2020, the company's stock more than doubled. In January 2023, it was announced that Ostroff would be departing Spotify.

Board memberships

Ostroff serves on the board of New York University College of Arts & Science. In June 2020,

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

appointed her to its board as an independent director. She has also served on the board of directors for

Westfield Corporation Westfield Corporation was an Australian Commercial property, commercial real estate company and operator of Shopping mall, shopping centres. It was founded with the Corporate spin-off, spin-off of the Westfield Group in 2014, where assets in ...

and on the City Year LA board. Ostroff is also one of the listed directors for the

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New Engla ...

-backed digital

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...

company

Autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...

and is on the board of trustees for the

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...

. She also served on the board of American entertainment company Anonymous Content. Ostroff joined Paramount Global’s board of directors in May 2023 as an independent, non-executive director. She stepped down from the position in 2024. In February 2024, it was announced that Ostroff joined Mattel Corporate’s Board of Directors.

Awards and recognition

*Hollywood Reporter 2021 Women in Entertainment Power 100 (2021) *New York Women in Communications Matrix Award (2021) *Billboard Power List (2020) *Rolling Stone The Future 25 (2019) *New York Women in Film & Television MUSE Award (2014) *AdAge Women to Watch (2012)

Personal life

Ostroff resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with her husband Mark Ostroff and their four children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostroff, Dawn 1960 births 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews American television executives Businesspeople from Miami Paramount Global people Warner Bros. Discovery people Warner Bros. people The CW executives Florida A&M University alumni Living people Businesspeople from New York City Presidents of The CW Spotify people UPN television network executives American women television executives