Expansion of revenue and sales teams marks SAN’s launch into advertising and monetization
Straight Arrow News (SAN), the independent news publisher dedicated to unbiased, fact-based journalism, today announced the expansion of its executive team with the hiring of two new vice presidents: Lincoln Gunn as vice president of Revenue Operations, and Jason Philips as vice president of Sales. Gunn and Philips’ addition to the SAN team establishes a strong foundation for the publisher’s future monetization strategy, and its evolution to become the leading unbiased news platform for consumers and advertisers.
Lincoln Gunn will oversee revenue operations, setting SAN’s strategic ad inventory efforts for both direct sales and programmatic advertising. He will help develop a new advertising infrastructure allowing SAN to sell high-impact media and sponsorships across its platforms via direct sales outreach and programmatic partnerships. Gunn joins SAN with a rich history of revenue operations at Fandom and Digital Trends Media Group, managing over $100M in revenue partnerships.
Jason Philips will oversee advertising sales and partnerships, leading SAN’s go-to-market strategy to drive ad revenue. He will also expand SAN’s content distribution efforts with current and new syndication partners to build consumer awareness. Philips comes to SAN from CBS, where he held the prestigious role of vice president for Digital News for the last eight years. While there, he worked in conjunction with National, Programmatic, and Direct Response teams to drive news revenue.
Both gentlemen will report to SAN Chief Revenue Officer Ken Shapiro. “Lincoln and Jason each bring a wealth of experience to our newsroom and will be instrumental in building out our ad-supported news platform and future subscription service,” said Shapiro. “In order to best service our advertising clients and partners with high-quality inventory, we are putting team leaders in place with proven track records of success. SAN has experienced phenomenal growth since its launch and we are ready to take the next step through advertising and partnerships to monetization.”
SAN has grown tremendously from Q4 2024 to Q1 of this year achieving a 159% increase in unique users. They have also seen a 75% increase in monthly video views and an 87% increase in YouTube views. SAN has been awarded a perfect 100/100 score from NewsGuard, the independent provider of transparent tools to counter misinformation, and Certified Balanced status by AllSides, a leading media bias rating service.
“I’m honored to join SAN and build a solid revenue strategy and advertising channels from the ground up,” said Gunn. “I’ve always loved creating new processes in revenue operations. With the momentum in traffic SAN is already seeing across website, mobile, and video, it’s an exciting time to join the team. I look forward to working with Jason, Ken, and the rest of the team, growing traffic by investing in content and strategic advertising.”
“SAN stands out in the crowded media news landscape and I’m excited to start this initial monetization strategy with the team,” said Philips. “It’s a delicate balance to monetize platforms through advertising without oversaturating or changing the user experience. Always-on programmatic advertising for display and video, combined with direct to consumer brands in short-form video combined with a stronger syndication presence, will drive successful monetization and continue to increase SAN audience discovery.”
For more information on opportunities to partner or advertise with SAN, please email Jason Philips at jphilips@san.com.
ABOUT Straight Arrow News (SAN)
Straight Arrow News (SAN) is an emerging, independent digital news outlet with the editorial mission to bridge the national divide through unbiased, fact-based journalism in an environment where media mistrust is at an all-time high. SAN reports the facts in context, avoiding bias, spin, or filter. Daily and investigative reports, exclusive interviews, and opinion content can be found at www.san.com and on the SAN mobile app available on Android and iOS.
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