BURBANK, Calif.–Aug. 27, 2019–Nickelodeon has named Ashley Kaplan to the role of Senior Vice President, Digital Studios, and Luke Wahl has been named Vice President, Digital Studios, reporting to Kaplan.  The announcement was made today by Nickelodeon President Brian Robbins and Kelly Day, President of Viacom Digital Studios, to whom Kaplan will dually report.  Both Kaplan and Wahl will be based out of Nickelodeon’s Burbank, Calif., headquarters.

Said Robbins, “Engagement on Nickelodeon’s social channels has grown exponentially as a result of the amazing work we’ve been doing with Kelly Day and Viacom Digital Studios, and no one is better suited to build upon this success than Ashley.  Ashley and Luke both bring an innate strategic prowess in this space and an award-winning creative pedigree that will keep the momentum going, as we continue to develop content that allows our audience to shift seamlessly across our digital and linear platforms.”

Said Day, “With nearly 1.5 billion video views per month, Nickelodeon is the leader in safe and engaging kids programming for YouTube and other major social platforms. Ashley and Luke both bring an incredible depth of knowledge in creating compelling digital-native content for young audiences, which will further accelerate Nickelodeon’s reach and engagement online. We’re thrilled to welcome them to the Viacom Digital Studios team.”

In her new role, Kaplan will lead Nick’s YouTube strategic vision and oversee the creative and editorial voice for digital content creation, as well as development and production of original short-form content exclusively for Nickelodeon’s YouTube and social media platforms.

Kaplan previously served as the Senior Vice President, Creative and Production at Fullscreen Media, where she oversaw ongoing production and development of premium content. Earlier, she was Vice President of Digital Content and Strategy for the Magical Elves production company. In this role, she oversaw the development, production, and content partnerships for all media adjacent to the company’s television properties—most notably the Emmy® Award-winning series Last Chance Kitchen. Kaplan was also responsible for the development and production of various original branded entertainment projects.  Before joining the Magical Elves, Kaplan did a stint at Viacom’s Logo channel, where she launched their digital content department, producing the first online original series. There she went on to create a vast library of content for the collection of Viacom websites. Previously, Kaplan served as a producer at Current TV and as a development executive at Evolution.

As Vice President, Digital Studios, Wahl will work on the development and production of original short-form content exclusively for Nickelodeon’s YouTube and social channels, with an emphasis on sports-themed content. He will also work closely with the linear development and current production teams to create content that can live seamlessly across the brand’s linear and social platforms.

Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Wahl served as Head of Video at Gear Patrol, a print and digital men’s lifestyle publication and content studio, where he brought the brand’s video strategy to life through their Product Journalism content.  Before Gear Patrol, he helped launch Sports Illustrated’ s OTT service, and did stints as an Executive Producer for Katie Couric’s programming at Yahoo! News, and at AwesomenessTV.  He also served as Showrunner and Co-Executive Producer for Embassy Row’sTakePart Live on Pivot TV.  As a Webby Award-winning Supervising Producer at HuffPost Live, he was part of the launch team for the video streaming network, and was responsible for developing the digital strategy, overseeing the newsroom and editorial content.  At AOL Studios, he served as a Supervising producer creating Webby and Telly Award-winning long and short form content.  Wahl began his career at G4 TV, rising through the ranks to Segment Producer.

Nickelodeon, now in its 40th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, recreation, books and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB).