The Wrap hires chief product officer

Entertainment industry news site The Wrap has hired a chief product officer to grow its revenue, reports Keith Kelly of The New York Post.

Kelly writes, “Dan Strauss, based in Los Angeles, had been the senior vice president and general manager of entertainment and lifestyle at the Los Angeles Times starting in November 2017, but stayed with the parent company Tronc — as Tribune was known briefly — when the LA Times was in the process of being sold to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.

“He started with TheWrap June 1 as its first chief product officer.

“The hire comes as TheWrap battles the 800-pound gorilla of Penske Media, which owns TheWrap’s one-time bitter online rival, Deadline, as well as the leading trades, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

“Sharon Waxman, founder and editor in chief, said Strauss will be charged with growing subscriptions, developing new products and seeking licensing and partnership deals as the company rebounds from COVID-19, which shut down much of Hollywood.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.