Tom Ascheim serves as President of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics. In this role, he is responsible for leading the global strategy for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Boomerang, as well as the company’s two powerhouse animation studios Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios. KYAC also oversees all kids and family content on HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer platform.

Iconic IP, series and characters under the KYAC banner include Looney Tunes, DC’s animated Super Heroes, Rick and Morty, Craig of the Creek, the classic Hanna-Barbera library, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, Warner Bros.’ unrivalled film library, and many more.   

Ascheim works collaboratively with his colleagues across WarnerMedia Studios and Networks to build, enhance and drive growth for the kids, young adults and classics brands across all platforms, while developing and implementing global and local strategies to unlock the full potential of the division. The KYAC brands are currently distributed in 192 countries around the world with its networks in 500 million homes and delivered through more than 65 channels in 31 languages. 

Prior to joining Warner Bros., Ascheim was president of the cable network Freeform, named to that position in December 2013. In that role, he had oversight of original programming and acquisitions, franchise management, marketing, sales and operations, and responsibility for the overall strategic and creative direction for the channel. In January 2016, Ascheim led the former ABC Family network in a major transformation, rebranding it as Freeform, deepening the network’s commitment to the young adult audience. Additionally, he was an industry leader in embracing streaming, pivoting Freeform’s business strategy to programming and marketing to both streaming platforms and the linear network simultaneously. 

In 2011 Ascheim joined Sesame Workshop as chief strategy officer and executive vice president of Sesame Learning, where he led the team in developing a digital, in-school and companion-home offering, which paired differentiated learning solutions with in-school assessment. 

From 2007-2011, Ascheim was chief executive officer at Newsweek, overseeing all global operations, web and mobile sites, and regional magazines in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. In this role, he successfully led the effort to sell Newsweek and worked with new ownership to merge Newsweek with The Daily Beast.

In 2006 Ascheim was named executive vice president and general manager of Nickelodeon Television, where he oversaw the day-to-day operations for all of the company’s portfolio of channels including the #1-rated kids’ network Nickelodeon, preschool-targeted network Noggin, its primetime, tween-targeted arm, The N, and Nicktoons Television. 

Ascheim originally joined Viacom in 1990 as vice president of Nickelodeon Business Development and Media Products, where he was responsible for strategic and long-range planning, market analysis, annual budgets, launch plans for new digital TV channels and new licensing deals. Through a series of internal promotions, Mr. Ascheim later served as the EVP and General Manager of Nickelodeon Digital Television Networks. In this role, he managed all aspects of the brand including production, development, programming, online, on-air promotion, marketing, and advertising sales. He led the negotiation between Nick and Sesame Workshop, which resulted in a joint venture and the creation of Noggin, and repositioned Nick@Nite away from reruns to become the driving brand in Nick's family strategy.

Ascheim received his Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Yale College and a Master of Business Administration from Yale School of Management.

Featured in: Master planning with WarnerMedia’s Tom Ascheim