Teads is betting big on marketing leadership as it sharpens its ambitions in omnichannel advertising. The company announced that Dani Cushion will join as Chief Marketing Officer, effective January 6, 2026, tasking her with leading Teads’ global marketing organization and shaping brand, communications, and go-to-market strategy at a pivotal moment for the ad tech firm.

The appointment underscores Teads’ broader push to position itself as a performance-driven platform for the open internet—one that can bridge premium publisher environments, CTV, and multi-screen campaigns with measurable outcomes for advertisers and agencies.

A CMO With CTV and Public-Market Pedigree

Cushion arrives with deep experience across connected TV, digital advertising, and scaled technology businesses—credentials that closely mirror where Teads is placing its strategic bets.

Most recently, she served as Chief Marketing Officer at Innovid, a major player in CTV ad serving and measurement. During her tenure, Innovid sharpened its market narrative around CTV transparency and performance, ultimately culminating in its acquisition by Mediaocean. Prior to that, Cushion held CMO roles at ExecOnline and Cardlytics, where she helped guide the company through its IPO and expansion as a public firm.

Her resume also includes a senior leadership role at Millennial Media, where she supported the company’s IPO, global growth, and eventual acquisition by AOL/Verizon Media—an era that defined much of today’s mobile and programmatic advertising infrastructure. Earlier stops at SiriusXM, Omnicom’s Millsport/The Marketing Arm, ISL, and Major League Soccer add brand, media, and agency-side perspective to her profile.

In an industry that increasingly values executives who understand both brand storytelling and the mechanics of ad tech, Cushion brings a rare mix of strategic marketing, public-company experience, and CTV fluency.

Why This Hire Matters for Teads

Teads’ CEO David Kostman framed the hire as a growth accelerator, highlighting Cushion’s ability to translate complex industry dynamics into actionable marketing strategies.

That skill is especially relevant as Teads evolves from its roots in premium outstream and publisher-first advertising into what it now positions as an “omnichannel outcomes platform.” The company is competing in a crowded market where CTV, retail media, and open web advertising are converging—and where differentiation increasingly depends on clarity of value, not just scale.

Marketing leadership, in this context, is not about brand awareness alone. It’s about clearly articulating how Teads stacks up against rivals like Google, The Trade Desk, Amazon, and newer CTV-focused platforms—particularly around measurement, performance, and privacy-safe reach across the open internet.

Cushion’s experience at Innovid is especially notable here. As CTV ad spend continues to surge, advertisers are demanding more than reach—they want consistent measurement, cross-screen accountability, and outcomes that justify shifting budgets away from linear TV. Teads has been steadily expanding its CTV footprint, and Cushion’s background suggests a sharper, more assertive narrative around performance and transparency is coming.

Marketing at a Time of Industry Reset

Cushion’s arrival also comes amid a broader reset in digital advertising. Signal loss, fragmentation across screens, and mounting pressure on marketers to prove ROI are forcing platforms to rethink how they present value to brands and agencies.

In her statement, Cushion pointed directly to that inflection point, noting Teads’ position “at the center of some of the most important innovations in ad tech—particularly as CTV continues to evolve.” Her emphasis on multi-screen reach and ecosystem navigation reflects a growing industry reality: advertisers no longer want siloed solutions for web, mobile, and TV. They want unified strategies that work across them all.

For Teads, that means marketing must do more than promote features. It must educate the market, simplify complexity, and make a credible case that the open internet—when paired with strong creative formats and outcomes-based measurement—can still compete with walled gardens.

Building Out the Executive Bench

Cushion’s appointment follows another notable leadership hire: Mollie Spilman, who joined Teads as Chief Commercial Officer in November. Spilman is overseeing global commercial strategy and working closely with regional teams and partners to deepen client performance and accelerate growth.

Together, the hires suggest Teads is deliberately strengthening both sides of its go-to-market engine—commercial execution and marketing narrative—at the same time. That combination is often critical for ad tech companies entering their next phase of scale, especially as competition intensifies and differentiation becomes harder to sustain.

The timing is also telling. As agencies consolidate spend, scrutinize supply paths, and demand clearer accountability from partners, Teads appears intent on presenting itself as a premium, outcomes-focused alternative within the open internet—one that can deliver both brand impact and performance without relying on closed ecosystems.

What to Watch Next

With Cushion stepping in, expect Teads to sharpen its messaging around CTV, omnichannel performance, and measurable outcomes—potentially leaning more heavily into thought leadership, industry education, and clearer competitive positioning.

Her frequent presence at industry stages like CES, Cannes Lions, Advertising Week New York, and Fortune Brainstorm Tech also signals a more visible Teads voice in high-profile conversations shaping the future of advertising.

For advertisers and publishers navigating a rapidly changing ecosystem, the real test will be whether Teads can translate that leadership and narrative into tangible market momentum. With seasoned executives now in place across marketing and commercial leadership, the company is clearly positioning itself for that next chapter.

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