Whale TV hires regional ad sales leads to monetise 47.5M TVs

Whale TV has put a number on the commercial bet behind its two latest senior hires: 47.5 million monthly active TVs. The independent smart TV operating system announced on October 20, 2026 that Naguib Elkhangy joins as Head of Ad Sales, Emerging Markets, and Vanessa Delgado as Head of Ad Sales, Latin America, for its advertising business, Whale TV Ads. Both will build and lead dedicated regional ad sales teams.

The hires target the two regions where connected TV advertising is growing fastest. CTV ad spend in emerging markets and Latin America is still under-monetised relative to viewing hours, and Whale TV Ads wants operators on the ground who can convert installed screens into programmatic revenue.

"Whale TV Ads is where our scale with 47.5M monthly active TVs turns into value, for our TV brand partners, for content owners and for advertisers," said Chris Hock, Vice President of Whale TV Ads. "The CTV growth is currently accelerating in emerging markets and Latin America, and winning there takes people who know these markets from the inside."

Who is Naguib Elkhangy?

Elkhangy brings more than 10 years of experience across digital media, programmatic monetisation and CTV, concentrated on MENA and OEM-led CTV ecosystems. At ArabyAds, his most recent role, he built and led exclusive CTV partnerships spanning LG, TCL, VIDAA, Coolita and Whale TV itself, alongside broader programmatic monetisation work. Earlier roles at Gemini Media and Sarmady, a Vodafone company, round out his carrier and media background.

At Whale TV Ads he will own commercial growth across MENAT and Sub-Saharan Africa. His remit also covers Türkiye, Eurasia, APAC, Southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand, giving him one of the widest geographic briefs in the business.

What does Vanessa Delgado bring?

Delgado arrives from AD Digital, where she led the company's FAST-streaming business. Her CV lists more than 20 years in media tech and advertising across Latin America, with stints at OTTera, MetaX, Omnicom Group and McCann. That mix spans the sell side and the buy side, which matters for a vendor that must sell to both advertisers and agencies.

Her mandate at Whale TV Ads is to build advertiser and agency relationships across the Latin American region from the ground up.

Why the hires matter for practitioners

For adtech and CTV stakeholders, the signal is straightforward. An operating system vendor with 47.5 million monthly active screens is moving from passive distribution to direct ad sales in regions where it previously relied on intermediaries. That shift typically compresses margins for regional resellers and opens direct inventory access for agencies in Dubai, Johannesburg and São Paulo.

"Naguib and Vanessa have built ad businesses where it is hardest and where the growth is greatest," Hock added. "Now they will build the teams to match."

The commercial reality sits alongside the marketing claim. Whale TV Ads frames the hires as a turning of scale into value, but the value depends on whether the new teams can close programmatic deals in markets with fragmented measurement and uneven broadband. Elkhangy's OEM partnership record and Delgado's FAST experience suggest the vendor is prioritising operators who already know the local agency landscape.

Both hires start with a build mandate rather than an inherited book of business, meaning advertisers in these regions should expect new direct sales contacts and locally structured packages as the teams assemble over the coming quarters.