Master’s Alumni Profile: Courtney Terr G’22

Courtney Terr G’22

Newhouse Master’s Program: Advanced Media Management
Current Position: Sales Planner, Pricing and Inventory CBS Network Sales, Paramount

How did you obtain your current position, and what positions did you hold before it?

I had applied to the sales planner position through the Paramount job portal while I was finishing the summer capstone project. At the time, I did not have any connections to the company, but the strength of my academic and internship experience helped me to land the role shortly after I left Syracuse. 

Before I worked at Paramount, I was a director of audience development co-op intern for the United States Travelers League. I obtained this role by working with Professor Sean Branagan and the Newhouse Startup Garage. The program connects students with media and tech startups so that they can provide the expertise they gain from their coursework to companies in need of their insight. As an undergraduate, I was an audience development intern for NBC News, which I obtained after having an interview on campus with one of the NBC recruiters. I was also a media planning intern for RPM, a boutique ad agency that markets live entertainment in New York City. I completed this internship while participating in the Newhouse NYC program when I was an undergraduate student. 

What’s an average day like for you on the job?

There is not really an average day as a sales planner. There are weekly deliverables and reports where I track the performance of CBS Primetime shows and how they are impacting clients’ sales plans; however, the majority of my work is based on demographic reads and plan edit requests I receive from account managers and account executives. Additionally, whenever there is a change in the airing schedule, my team and I work to figure out new estimates for how a show could potentially perform in its new timeslot. The busiest time of year for me is during the upfront season in the summer, where I am working with clients to plan out where all of their purchased ad spots will air throughout the upcoming season. 

How do you feel Newhouse prepared you for your current position?

My classroom experience played a major role in preparing me for my position here at CBS. My academic coursework, both in my undergraduate and graduate studies in the television industry provided a baseline understanding of how television advertising worked. Therefore, I was able to dive in headfirst and assist my team during the hectic upfront season. Outside of that, courses like Advanced Media Business, Trendspotting in Digital Media, Topics in Advanced Media Management and New Ventures in Media helped me better learn how to identify emerging technology trends and how they could affect my industry. While linear television may not seem like it is on the forefront of new technology advancement, there are changes in the way television audiences are being measured, and I must be in the know of what adjustments are being made and how they could potentially change how we build our advertising plans for clients and determine the success of our shows.

Did Newhouse open your eyes to new professions or aspects of your field you may have not considered when applying?

As a part of our Topics in Advanced Media Management course, we had a week-long immersion trip to New York City where we heard from program alumni and toured businesses that aligned with our coursework. This trip helped me gain a better understanding of what career options were available to me after graduating. The advanced media management program provided me with a versatile degree that I could have applied to careers in social media marketing, search marketing, brand management, UI/UX design and more.  

What unique features of your graduate program drew you to it in the first place?

After completing my dual enrollment program at Whitman and Newhouse for my undergraduate degree in marketing and advertising, I knew I wanted to pursue a career where I would be working at the intersection of data analytics and marketing strategy. However, I wanted to better fine tune my skills in those areas. I came across the advanced media management program and liked how I would not only be able to perfect my search marketing and strategy skills, but also develop a better understanding of how emerging technologies drive innovation in the media landscape. 

Did the Newhouse Career Development Center aid you?

While I was a graduate student, I worked as a director of audience development co-op intern for the United States Travelers League (USTL), a website dedicated to publishing content that would encourage readers to travel to all 50 states. I had taken Professor Sean Branagan’s classes in Trendspotting in Media and New Ventures in Media. He had connected me with the Newhouse Startup Garage group who then connected me to the CEO of USTL. As the director of audience development, I was able to take my coursework knowledge of search engine optimization and social media marketing and apply it to my internship. I conducted an exploratory analysis of the company’s current strategy and then implemented a strategy to improve their outreach and engagement with followers. It was an incredible opportunity to have work experience and apply what I was learning at Newhouse to my job. 

What are some obstacles or misconceptions about your field that students ought to be aware of?

I had thought of ad sales as solely a salesperson department. I had assumed that the only roles in an ad sales department at a major media organization were the account managers and executives who were selling ad spaces to advertising agencies. While there are certainly plenty of client-facing roles in the ad sales department at Paramount, there are also plenty of other roles in areas like research, strategy and branded content marketing. It is important to pay attention to specific jobs that you are interested in rather than focus on what department they are located under. 

What moments in your career have been most exciting or defining thus far? 

One of the most exciting and challenging moments of my career so far has been coming up with audience estimates for a brand-new fall primetime schedule after the Writers Guild of America went on strike. I had just recently joined the primetime group after working in the daytime/ late night group, so I was still getting used to the role. Suddenly, we were tasked with determining how many people would potentially be tuning in to a new slate of programming, including shows that have never aired on CBS, right before the upfront season! With the support of my team, I was able to better understand my role and best determine how to figure out which demographics would likely be tuning into an episode of the U.K. version of “Ghosts” versus a repeat of “Blue Bloods.” Every day was an exciting challenge with updates to the schedule being made up until the fall 2023 season started, and it helped me learn what it takes to accurately predict an audience of a CBS show. 

What advice do you have for current or incoming students?

Take advantage of every opportunity available to you, especially if it is an internship opportunity. My time applying what I learned in Newhouse to the real world has helped me to fine tune and better understand what I have learned, and it has helped me be a more valuable asset to my team. 

I would also recommend using your electives to take a course in an area of interest to you. I had used my electives to take a course in Television Programming and Audience Analysis and Critical and Historical Perspectives on Television, Radio and Film. Even though these courses were not directly related to the overall advanced media management program, they helped me gain expertise in an industry I was interested in having a career in. Ultimately, the knowledge I obtained while taking these courses about the overall television industry as well as how advertisements are sold in a TV market provided me with an edge in my interview process that helped me to land my job at Paramount.  

I have to thank the incredible professors I’ve had at Newhouse while being a grad student, including but not limited to Professor Adam Peruta, Professor Sean Branagan, Professor Ed Hersh, Professor Bob Bierman, Professor Bob Thompson, and Professor Shelly Palmer. My time in their classes learning about the emerging media landscape and the television industry has been so beneficial to my career thus far, and the support they have provided me both while I was a student and after graduating when it comes to my academic and professional endeavors have been so greatly appreciative.