BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Duke University men’s water polo alumnus/Amazon Prime Video Head of Sports Content & Partnerships Charlie Neiman was recently named to the 2002 The Athletic National Football League 40 Under 40.
Neiman, 33, was previously named to the 2021 Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Rising Executives 35 and Under (CLICK HERE), the 2021 Fierce Video Emerging Leaders (CLICK HERE), the 2019 Leaders in Sports Top 40 Under 40, the 2018 Forbes “30 Under 30” in Media and collected 2017 and 2018 honors from The Big Lead/USA Today on their list of “40 Under 40 in Sports Media”. Further, he is a consistent presence on the list of “Top 30 Global Sports Leaders Under 40”.
In 2016, the Washington native became one of Amazon’s first hires to build its sports vertical, after he’d done the same at YouTube. Since then,he led the team that landed rights to the National Football League’s (NFL) Thursday Night Football, the first exclusive sports rights package awarded to a streamer. Neiman has upgraded the deal to an exclusive 11-year pact which joins Amazon’s rights portfolio to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the New York Yankees and the Premier League.
“We think a lot about the customer experience we can offer as a digital-first player,” explains Neiman, pointing to TNF‘s commentator options (including an all-female announcing crew) and Gen Z-friendly interactive co-streams on Amazon-owned Twitch.
A native of Bellevue, Wash., and a 2009 graduate of Duke with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science, Neiman was a four-time All-Atlantic Division selection (First Team: 2008, 2009; Second Team: 2006, 2007), a two-time Atlantic Division Most Valuable Player (2008, 2009) and a two-time All-America selection (Second Team: 2008; Honorable Mention: 2009) while leading the Blue Devils to a pair of Third Place (2007, 2009) and single Second (2006) and First (2008) Place finishes in the division. In 2008, he helped Duke capture the Atlantic Division crown and place 11th at the Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted at Ohio University.
However, it is in his post-collegiate endeavors in which Neiman has earned a reputation of excellence
He began his career in Business Operations and Strategy for Google where he worked from August 2010-to-August 2012. A member of Google’s internal consulting team that drives strategy, market growth, new product offerings and operational improvements across Google’s diverse businesses, he performed quantitative and qualitative analysis on Google products, investigated new opportunities for investment and worked on executive sponsored strategic and operational projects with a direct reporting line to the Vice President of Business Operations and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
He departed Google in Mountain View, Calif., for YouTube in San Bruno where he served until May 2016.
The Manager of Content Partnerships & Business Development from August 2012-to-February 2015, he initiated, structured and negotiated high impact strategic content partnerships that drive YouTube’s premium content business (partnerships include professional sports leagues, media & entertainment companies, colleges & content creators).
Further, he worked cross-functionally w/ teams in product, engineering, sales, operations, finance, marketing and legal to structure new business models & explore new opportunities for revenue generation & viewership growth.
Additionally, he led management of YouTube’s top sports partner relationships, including negotiating deals, driving strategy on increasing monetization & viewership, & building scalable businesses on the YouTube platform.
From March 2015-to-May 2016, he held the title of Vertical Lead for Sports Partnerships & Business Development. In this capaciy, he led YouTube’s College Sports, Olympics, Major Leagues and Sports Broadcaster businesses, working with the likes of Fox Sports, Major League Baseball, PGA Tour and the Pac-12 to drive strategic partnerships across video on demand (VOD) and live properties. Neiman also oversaw all athlete business, facilitating the launch of the vertical and growing a network of strategic influencers on the world’s largest video platform.
His key responsibilities included structuring and negotiating strategic partnerships, developing new revenue and viewership generating business models, setting strategy on content acquisition, and working cross functionally with teams in product, marketing and sales on areas ranging from sponsorship packaging to new product development and implementation.
During his tenure he:
- Executed first of its kind Google Search video highlight integrations with Major League Baseball, Fox Sports and ESPN
- Drove development of YouTube Sports’ premium live service including deals with the World Surf League – the first professional league to broadcast exclusively on YouTube, and the first global live stream of the Bundelisga
- Signed innovative original programming deals with strategic partners including Tony Hawk’s Ride Channel and Bill Simmons’ Grantland
- Built comprehensive College Sports destination including deals with the Big Ten Network and the Pac 12 Network
- Negotiated the launch of the GoPro network on YouTube; GoPro is now the largest brand globally on YouTube with over 1 Billion views
- Developed global strategy and execution plan for YouTube’s Sports offering, including prioritizing target verticals and partners, modeling required investment and setting key performance indicators (KPIs) to track performance
For the past several years, he has worked in Seattle, Wash., at Amazon as he assumed the position of Senior Manager for Global Sports Partnerships and Business Development, Amazon Prime Video in May 2016 prior to being elevated to Principal for Global Sports Partnerships & Business Development, Amazon Prime Video in October 2018. In December 2019, he assumed his current position as
The Athletic 2022 class of the NFL 40 under 40.
- Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins Head Coach) – 39
- Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams Head Coach) – 36
- Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota Viking Head Coach) – 37
- Brandon Staley (Los Angeles Chargers Head Coach) – 39
- Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach) – 39
- Brian Callahan (Cincinnati Bengals Offensive Coordinator) – 38
- Jonathan Gannon (Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator) – 39
- Luke Getsy (Chicago Bears Offensive Coordinator) – 38
- Eric Henderson (Los Angeles Rams Defensive Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator) – 39
- Mike LaFleur (New York Jets Offensive Coordinator) – 35
- Mike Macdonald (Baltimore Ravens Defensive Coordinator) – 35
- Jerod Mayo (New England Patriots Inside Linebackers Coach) – 36
- Christian Parker (Denver Broncos Defensive Backs Coach) – 30
- Aubrey Pleasant (Detroit Lions Defensive Backs Coach & Passing Game Coordinator) – 35
- DeMeco Ryans (San Francisco 49ers Defensive Coordinator) – 37
- Bubba Ventrone (Indianapolis Colts Special Teams Coordinator) – 39
- Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns General Manager) – 35
- Brandon Brown (New York Giants Assistant General Manager) – 33
- Alec Halaby (Philadelphia Eagles Assistant General Manager) – 35
- Ryan Poles (Chicago Bears General Manager) – 36
- Catherine Raîche (Cleveland Browns Assistant General Manager/Vice President of Football Operations) – 33
- Elizabeth Blackburn (Cincinnati Bengals Director of Strategy & Engagement) – 29
- Cal Handelman (Indianapolis Colts Director of Administration) – 29
- Jason Lavine (Los Angeles Chargers Vice President of Content & Production) – 35
- David McDonald (Baltimore Ravens Director of Research & Development) – 35
- Tony Pastoors (Los Angeles Rams Vice President of Football & Business Operations) – 34
- Marcel Reece (Los Vegas Raiders Senior Vice President/Chief of Staff) – 37
- Brandon Shore (Miami Dolphins Senior Vice President of Football & Business Administration) – 36
- Brandt Tilis (Kansas City Chiefs Vice President of Football Operations) – 37
- Richmond Williams (Green Bay Packers Director of Pro Personnel) – 38
- Patrick Collins (Creative Artists Agency) – 33
- David Mulugheta (Athletes First) – 39
- Emily Leitner (NFL Films Producer) – 32
- Charlie Neiman (Amazon Prime Video Head of Sports Content & Partnerships) – 33
- Greg Olsen (Fox Sports Lead Analyst) – 37
- Grace Senko (Senior Director of NFL Media Strategy) – 30
- Maria Taylor (NBC Sports “Football Night in America” Host) – 35
- Kevin Boothe (NFL Management Council Director) – 38
- Dan DeVece (NFL Senior Director Consumer/Retail Strategy & Emerging Products) – 35
- Stanley Wakefield Jr. (NFLPA Senior Manager – Player Services & Data Acquisition) – 32
