Colby Smith was named vice president of ABC News Digital in January 2015. In this position he oversees the full spectrum of ABC News’ digital portfolio, including product development, audience development, content strategy, business development, marketing and technology, as well as sales strategy for all ABC News’ properties across mobile, OTT, site and social channels.
Under Smith’s leadership, ABCNews.com received the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Website in 2016 for the first time since 2001. He has revamped ABC News’ distribution strategy around emerging mobile and social platforms, including Google AMP, Apple News and Facebook Instant Articles, to grow the size of ABC News’ audience significantly in 2016.
During his tenure, Smith has spearheaded several product launches for ABC News, including a new suite of products for web, mobile and tvOS in 2016. Ahead of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in August 2016, Smith announced a groundbreaking partnership with Facebook for gavel-to-gavel live stream coverage, resulting in 28 million streams. He is a graduate of Stanford University and received his MBA from UCLA.