Dive Brief:
- Hannah Poferl, The New York Times’ first chief data officer, is departing the media company for the same role at Universal Music Group, according to a Tuesday announcement. The appointment is effective immediately.
- As the chief data officer, Poferl will own the company’s global data and analytics strategy and will be responsible for audience development and engagement, including the use of AI technologies, according to the release. The executive will report to COO Boyd Muir.
- “Her exceptional reputation and track record of strategically utilizing data, analytics and AI technology to grow, connect and engage audiences with creativity and culture, mirrors our own vision for transforming the ways artists and labels can connect with fans,” Muir said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
UMG’s appointment illustrates the ongoing push from enterprises to elevate data and analytics to the C-suite.
The percentage of leading companies that have hired a chief data officer is at an all-time high, according to the 2026 AI & Data Leadership Executive Benchmark Survey. In this year’s survey, 90% of the 110 companies surveyed indicated they have a chief data officer. Almost all — 92.7% — of the companies surveyed report AI is fueling the trend.
A November report from IBM surveying 1,700 chief data officers produced similar findings. In its 2025 Chief Data Officer Study, 81% of respondents indicated that their company’s data strategy is integrated with its technology roadmap, compared with 52% in 2023.
The vendor tied this development to AI, adding that the tech is providing data officers a “clarity of focus.”
Poferl will no doubt tackle areas of focus IBM flagged for chief data officers such as establishing a data culture through data literacy and user-friendly tools.
She brings with her almost 12 years at The New York Times, more than four as its chief data officer, and will be responsible for audience development and engagement and will also support “operational performance for UMG's companies worldwide,” according to the announcement.
Poferl is joining UMG as the company navigates tricky terrain to protect artists’ data while helping to rethink sources of revenue and how music is made.
“Our foundational belief is that artists, songwriters, music companies and technology companies, all working together will create a healthy and thriving commercial AI ecosystem in which all of us, including fans, can flourish,” UMG CEO Lucian Grainge told investors during a Q3 2025 earnings call in October.
In 2025, UMG participated in copyright infringement lawsuits against Suno and Udio, claiming the music generation platform providers trained AI models on its catalog of copyrighted material. In October, the company agreed on a settlement with Udio, which included collaborating on a new generative AI platform.
The company also struck a partnership last fall with Stability AI, a generative AI company, to develop music creation tools. More recently, UMG unveiled a partnership with Nvidia to “pioneer responsible AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement,” which includes extending Nvidia’s large audio language models, Music Flamingo and Audio Flamingo, to its catalog, according to a press release.
