Executive Summary
Jonathan Carson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Antenna, a data and analytics company specializing in subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market insights. Based in New York City, he has held this leadership role since the company’s inception in January 2018. Jonathan possesses extensive entrepreneurial and technology leadership experience, with a proven track record in product development, data analytics, and media monetization.
Professional Background
Jonathan Carson is a serial entrepreneur and technology executive with over a decade of experience in software engineering, product innovation, and leadership in digital media analytics. Prior to founding Antenna, he was the founder and CEO of BuzzMetrics, a pioneering social media analytics company later acquired by Nielsen. He also served as Chief Revenue Officer at The Trade Desk, a leading programmatic advertising platform.
Educationally, Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science in Business, English, and Marketing from Georgetown University (1991).
Jonathan’s career highlights include:
- Founding a company (BuzzMetrics) that invented social media analytics technologies and scaling it to global market leadership.
- Leading product development initiatives that resulted in award-winning mobile applications.
- Executing strategic research and monetization efforts specifically in advertising and subscription sectors.
Role and Responsibilities at Antenna
As CEO, Jonathan directs Antenna’s vision and growth strategy, focusing on delivering deep, actionable insights into consumer subscription behaviors across streaming, video, audio, gaming, and health verticals. Antenna's core product suite provides data analytics to help brands understand subscriber acquisition, churn, and engagement trends within the SVOD industry.
Under his leadership, Antenna has:
- Published industry-leading reports such as the “State of Subscriptions” and State of SVOD market analyses.
- Delivered insights on subscription churn, re-subscriber behavior, and the increasing adoption of ad-supported streaming plans, debunking common consumer myths related to advertising tiers.
- Analyzed impacts of live sports streaming (including the NFL and other events) on subscriber acquisition and retention, highlighting the stable growth phase streaming has entered after years of volatility.
- Facilitated partnerships with entertainment, media, and advertising firms, serving as a crucial research source for industry executives and strategists.
Jonathan often participates in exclusive interviews and industry podcasts, including “Inside the Stream”, where he discusses Antenna’s research findings and market dynamics with leading streaming analysts.
Company Overview – Antenna
Founded and co-led by Jonathan Carson, Antenna is positioned as a leading subscription analytics startup. The company aggregates and analyzes subscriber data to provide brands and content owners with insights that empower growth and retention in an increasingly fragmented streaming market.
Notable company attributes include:
- Recognized authority on subscription video behavior, including the nuanced trends in premium vs. specialty SVOD services.
- Reporting on the rise and significance of subscription video ad-supported plans (SVOD ad tiers), a key growth area in 2024-2025.
- Successful Series A funding round raised $10 million in March 2022, indicating investor confidence in its market approach.
- Presence in key industry conversations on the economics of streaming, subscriber churn management, and subscriber engagement tactics.
Recent Public Commentary and Thought Leadership
Jonathan has been featured extensively in media and industry forums throughout 2024 and 2025, offering expertise including:
- Insights into subscriber churn behavior and strategies for turning churn into sustainable growth drivers.
- The evolving role of ad-supported streaming tiers, emphasizing their critical role in market expansion.
- Analysis of sports streaming’s impact on subscription growth, notably crediting live sports partnerships with driving new signups.
- Perspectives on subscription swapping trends and how consumers balance multiple service subscriptions.
- Recognized as an ad industry veteran with deep specialization in research and monetization.
Summary of Strategic Insights Relevant to Industry Stakeholders
Jonathan Carson’s leadership at Antenna reveals key actionable insights:
- Streaming services are entering a phase of more stable growth after prolonged volatility, necessitating sophisticated subscriber analytics.
- Ad-supported SVOD plans are no longer niche but central to subscriber growth strategies, requiring customized data-driven approaches.
- Live sports content remains a pivotal driver for new subscriber acquisition, influencing how streaming companies structure content and marketing.
- Consumer behavior around subscription churn is complex, involving serial churners and re-subscribers; understanding this dynamic is critical to retention.
- Antenna’s analytics platform leverages multi-industry data to provide comprehensive subscriber intelligence that supports both content programming and revenue optimization decisions.
Contact & Public Profiles
- LinkedIn: [Jonathan Carson](http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathancarson)
- Company: Antenna (New York, NY)
- Previous Roles: Chief Revenue Officer at The Trade Desk; Founder & CEO at BuzzMetrics
- Educational Background: B.S., Georgetown University (Business, English, Marketing)
This dossier compiles Jonathan Carson’s verified professional credentials, leadership role at Antenna, and relevant industry insights which jointly position him as a prominent authority on streaming subscription analytics and media monetization strategies.
