CNBC is expanding the leadership team behind its direct-to-consumer ambitions, naming Ian Moore vice president of subscriptions and Tom Mahar vice president of strategic partnerships. Both executives are due to begin September 21 and will report to Sally Shin, CNBC’s executive vice president of growth and partnerships and interim general manager of direct-to-consumer operations.

The appointments arrive as CNBC develops more direct-to-consumer services within a broader initiative at parent company Versant Media. They are not, on their own, a product announcement or a detailed blueprint for a new service. What they do provide is a clearer view of the work CNBC considers essential: finding audiences, keeping them engaged, building business relationships and identifying models beyond a conventional subscription.

For a news brand operating in an increasingly fragmented video, publishing and technology environment, those are closely connected jobs. A subscription cannot thrive merely because a payment page exists; it requires a reason for people to sign up, a useful ongoing experience and a credible reason to continue. Partnerships can supply technology, distribution, data capabilities, content opportunities or commercial routes that a publisher may not want—or be able—to build entirely by itself.

What the two new roles cover

Moore’s remit is subscriber acquisition, engagement and retention. Those three terms describe different stages of the same audience relationship:

  • Acquisition is persuading a new customer to begin a subscription or other direct relationship.
  • Engagement is whether that person actively uses and values the service after joining.
  • Retention is the ability to keep the customer over time rather than losing them through cancellation or inactivity.

This scope puts Moore at the center of a practical challenge for any subscription business. Strong acquisition can make a service look healthy in the short term, but it is not a durable answer if people quickly leave. Engagement and retention matter because they test whether the service is delivering continuing value after the initial decision to subscribe.

Moore joins following work as general manager of subscription growth and revenue operations at Business Insider. His prior experience also includes Verizon Media and The New York Times Company. The combination is relevant to the task at hand: the role calls for both audience-growth thinking and the operational discipline needed to support a recurring-revenue business.

Mahar’s job is broader and more exploratory. As vice president of strategic partnerships, he is tasked with identifying and building opportunities across technology, financial services, media, content, data, distribution and emerging business models. That list is significant because it does not confine the position to a single deal category. It suggests CNBC is looking at the full set of relationships that can help a direct-to-consumer effort reach people, provide a service or create revenue.

Mahar spent more than a decade in roles across News Corp in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. More recently, he worked with News Corp leadership as a consultant on artificial-intelligence developments and changing commercial models. That background does not establish any particular CNBC AI product or partnership; no such plan was detailed. It does, however, give the role a potentially useful perspective as media businesses evaluate where technology and commercial strategy meet. That broader industry question is also visible in areas such as AI-assisted 3D production and conversion, where technical capability and business application are increasingly discussed together.

Related coverage includes CNBC Names Ian Moore and Tom Mahar to DTC Growth Roles.

Why “direct to consumer” is more than a subscription button

Direct to consumer, frequently shortened to DTC, means a brand establishing a more direct relationship with the people who use its product or service. In this case, that could involve subscriptions, but Shin has indicated that the strategy is meant to extend beyond traditional subscriptions.

The distinction matters. A traditional subscription is generally straightforward: a customer pays a recurring fee for access. A wider DTC strategy can instead consider several ways to create an ongoing relationship, while still leaving the eventual offerings unspecified. It may involve how a brand recognizes its audience, communicates with them, distributes material, measures use or works with other companies. The reported appointments speak to that breadth: Moore is assigned to the subscriber lifecycle, while Mahar is assigned to the outside relationships and potential models around it.

Shin has framed the objective as developing deeper, ongoing relationships with audiences. That emphasis is notable because it shifts the question away from a one-time transaction. The relevant measure is not simply whether somebody can be converted into a customer; it is whether CNBC can create a repeatable relationship that audiences consider worthwhile and the business can sustain.

“I’m excited about the experience and expertise these new leaders will bring to CNBC as we continue to strengthen our business and position the team for what’s ahead, while contributing to Versant’s broader strategy to deepen audience engagement, extend the reach of its brands and invest in long-term growth,” Shin said in an employee memo.

Analysis: complementary jobs for the same audience problem

The two appointments are best read as complementary rather than separate tracks. Moore’s work concerns the direct customer journey: how someone arrives, participates and stays. Mahar’s work concerns the ecosystem around that journey: which partners, technologies, distribution paths or commercial arrangements can make the offering stronger or reach more people.

That pairing reflects a basic reality of modern media services. A company can have recognizable content and still need a dependable way to make discovery, access and continued use work. It can also have a subscription proposition yet need partners to expand distribution, add technical capacity, develop data approaches or open connections with other industries. CNBC’s assignment for Mahar explicitly includes financial services, which is especially germane to a business-news organization, though the company has not disclosed a specific initiative in that area.

There is also a useful division between a role devoted to established subscription mechanics and one assigned to emerging models. The first is accountable for making an audience relationship work today. The second is positioned to investigate where the next useful relationship or revenue structure might come from. Neither description confirms what a future service will look like, what it will include or how it will be priced. Those remain open questions.

What remains unknown

CNBC has announced leadership responsibilities, not a consumer-facing package. There are no disclosed details here on new product names, subscription tiers, pricing, launch timing, geographic availability, exclusive programming or partnership agreements. It would be premature to treat the hirings as confirmation of any of those specifics.

Still, the organization has made its priorities unusually legible. It is investing in people whose mandates cover subscriber growth and longevity on one side, and cross-industry opportunity building on the other. With both leaders reporting to Shin, the structure also centralizes those efforts under the executive overseeing growth, partnerships and CNBC’s interim DTC management.

For audiences, the practical takeaway is modest but meaningful: CNBC is building the personnel needed for a more sustained direct relationship, rather than describing DTC as only another checkout flow. For the wider media business, the move is a reminder that subscription strategy increasingly includes product experience, audience behavior, distribution, partnerships and experimentation with new models—not just the monthly fee.