Samsung Ads appoints Nelson Boyce as SVP for ad sales

By Priya Raman

Samsung Ads appointed Nelson Boyce as senior vice president, ad sales, placing a former Google large-customer sales executive at the head of its sales organization.

Boyce will report to Sang Kim, EVP, North America Service Business at Samsung Electronics America. The reporting line places the ad-sales role within Samsung Electronics America’s North America Service Business organization, according to Samsung Ads. His mandate has three connected priorities:

• Strengthen the sales department’s commercial execution.
• Deepen relationships with advertisers and agencies.
• Drive growth for Samsung and its advertising partners.

Boyce told ADWEEK that Samsung Ads “is at a really opportune moment in its history.” He said Samsung’s global recognition has built trust, scale and credibility with consumers over the years, and that those advantages now extend to the company’s advertising services and products.

Kim said Boyce’s experience building business across digital and traditional media “will be instrumental as we scale Samsung Ads and capture that opportunity.”

Boyce previously served as managing director of Americas, Large Customer Sales, Integrated Solutions Sector at Google. Before that, he held senior sales and strategy leadership roles at BET Networks and Nickelodeon, overseeing advertising businesses across linear television and digital media.

Boyce said his years of experience across media and technology will help Samsung Ads in the connected-TV ecosystem. His engagement covers traditional linear and digital channels, products and solutions already in market, and a varied advertiser base.

What does this change for advertisers and agencies?

For advertisers and agencies, the practical change is a sales leader with direct experience across large-customer sales, linear television and digital media. Boyce said that breadth positions the ad unit to deliver against partners’ business goals and objectives, regardless of where those partners operate within the two verticals.

Boyce wants the sales team to work more effectively and efficiently with AI-enabled tools. He said the tools should create capacity for additional higher-value engagement and activities, supported by a client-focused approach to the market.

The execution plan also builds on what Boyce called Samsung’s first-place position among Smart TVs. He wants the sales organization to take advantage of the momentum that already exists and ensure its work delivers against Samsung Ads partners’ priorities while remaining different in the market.

“The things that we are doing are ultimately resulting in providing clear and definable outcomes for our partners against the performance that they seek,” he said.

For agencies and advertisers, the practical change is a sales team focused on cross-platform execution, AI-enabled productivity and partner performance. The next phase will show whether those priorities produce the clear, definable outcomes Boyce said Samsung Ads is targeting.