Dave Blumberg ’12, ESPN

What has your career/education path been like since graduating?

After graduating from Boston University in December 2011, I immediately accepted a position at ESPN in New York City as a Senior Analyst of Advertiser Insights. I report to Ad Sales through ideating and executing cross-platform effectiveness research, utilizing a variety of methodologies, from traditional surveys and insights communities to employing more scientific capabilities, such as Eye Gaze and Biometrics, in our Media Lab. Within two years, I was promoted to an Associate Manager role and whether it’s learning a new piece of software or how to use certain syndicated media research tools, honing my presentation skills or improving my collaboration with internal teams, I have never stopped learning on the job.

Why did you choose your particular field of study at COM?

Communication Research gave me the unique opportunity to combine my natural strengths with numbers, stats and analysis with the writing skills that I honed from my undergraduate Liberal Arts degree. I was also completely sold on the field of study after meeting Professor Michael Elasmar for the first time. He inevitably guided me on my COM journey and enabled me to succeed in both this field and my eventual career path.

What skills from the program have you found most valuable?

The most valuable skills and training I received from the Communication Research program were in Survey writing, SPSS analysis, and Storytelling. The ability to construct a proper questionnaire, to analyze its results using statistical software and to cull down all of the data into a series of key insights are skills that are not only essential to my role within ESPN but are also extremely valued in the research industry as a whole.

Visit the Applied Communication Research page for more information.