Stephanie Yates is the Senior Vice President of Research and Insights at AMC Networks, specifically working for the WE tv and ALLBLK brands. Her responsibilities include overseeing all aspects of programming, sales, digital and market research. Yates has demonstrated success in evaluating and implementing primary and syndicated research into compelling insights that help drive the business decision making process for Ad Sales, Programing, Marketing and Affiliate Relations.
Yates is a seasoned media researcher with over 20 years of experience, joining AMC Networks in June 2015. Prior to AMC Networks, her previous roles include serving as Vice President, Research at TV One and Vice President, Group Account Manager at Nielsen Media Research.
In her role as Senior Vice President of Research and Insights for WE tv and ALLBLK, Yates is instrumental in promoting the growth and engagement of the first and best streaming service ever created for Black television and film in ALLBLK and a national cable network that consistently ranks among the most watched by Black women and adults on Thursday and Friday nights in WE tv.
On WE tv, Yates is a key player in the success of many of the network’s fan-favorite franchises, relying on data to identify synergies and opportunities for the channel’s programming, connecting what’s on screen back to what performs best with audiences. Yates was the architect of a recent addition to the company’s Marriage Boot Camp franchise, introducing a new version of the series highlighting Hip Hop stars, forming a stronger bond with the company’s Growing Up Hip Hop franchise, also on WE tv.
As the company has leaned into targeted streaming, Yates has been at the front of the charge identifying ways to organically grow ALLBLK. She’s currently leading a program to forge a stronger bond between the WE tv and ALLBLK brands, bringing content from each brand to the other and using a linear network in WE tv, to drive audiences and viewers to even deeper engagement on the company’s ALLBLK service.
Yates is a critical member of AMC Networks’ diversity, equity, and inclusion CEO council, a group of senior leaders throughout the company who meet regularly with the CEO of AMC Networks to develop a strategy and roadmap for AMC Networks’ efforts to promote and advance inclusion and representation in everything the company does. The council is a group of trusted advisors that act as a bridge between executive leadership and employees and act as a sounding board for strategic areas of focus.
Yates is also an active member of and mentor for the Boyd Initiative, a program dedicated to helping young Black professionals from historically Black colleges and universities across the United States discover careers in advertising and media. Since the program’s launch in 2020, Yates has served as a mentor to several of the hundreds of young students participating in the program, securing internships at AMC Networks for many of them as others have gone on to full-time positions with some of the world’s largest advertising and media organizations. She is also an active member of the ARF’s Multicultural Committee, helping guide the organization’s efforts to increase diversity in the industry’s media research ranks. In addition, Yates speaks at industry events, including the ARF’s Ad Avoidance X Science Conference and has been a repeat guest at the Media Insights & Engagement Conference.