# David Cohen
> President and CEO at iab
- Profile type: Person
- Profile status: baseline
- Last updated: 2026-05-03T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/david-cohen/
- Also known as: David Cohen (IAB)
## Summary
David Cohen is President and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the U.S. trade body for digital advertising, since September 2020. He joined IAB as President in April 2020 from MAGNA, IPG's media-investment arm, where he ran more than $20 billion in annual media spend. A 21-year IPG veteran, he leads the IAB's NewFronts and the IAB/PwC revenue report — distinct from IAB Tech Lab, the standards arm IAB spun out in 2014.

## Profile facts

- Current title: President and CEO
- Current company: iab (https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/iab/)


## Career trajectory

- 2001-01-01 — Senior leadership roles (Chief Media Officer, Chief Digital Officer, EVP U.S.) at universal-mccann. Joined Universal McCann (UM), Interpublic Group's flagship media agency, during the explosive growth of digital advertising. Held a sequence of senior roles through 2011.
- 2011-01-01 — Chief Investment Officer at universal-mccann. Promoted to Chief Investment Officer at UM, overseeing investment strategy and supplier relationships for the agency's media buying.
- 2016-01-01 — President, North America at magna-global. Moved to MAGNA, IPG's centralized media intelligence, investment, and innovation arm, with responsibility for more than $20 billion in annual U.S. media spend. Re-architected MAGNA's investment, intelligence, and innovation divisions.
- 2020-04-01 — President at iab. Joined the Interactive Advertising Bureau as President, succeeding into the role just before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the U.S. ad market. Reorganized the trade body around strategic campaigns spanning revenue growth, cost reduction, risk mitigation, and diversity.
- 2020-09-15 — President and CEO at iab. Named CEO five months after joining as President, succeeding Randall Rothenberg, who became Executive Chair. Consolidated the President and CEO roles under Cohen.


## Media appearances

- 2026-03-25 — keynote: 2026 IAB NewFronts — Main Stage opening keynote, IAB (https://www.iab.com/events/newfronts-2026/)
- 2026-03-18 — interview: IAB's David Cohen on NewFronts: creators rival TV as retail media faces fragmentation risk, The Drum (https://www.thedrum.com/news/with-iab-newfronts-a-week-away-ceo-david-cohen-says-creators-catching-up-with-tv-and-retail-media-boom-could-implode-without-standardization)

_This page uses only public-professional information (roles, public statements, media appearances)._

## Key facts

- David Cohen joined the Interactive Advertising Bureau on April 1, 2020, as President, coming from MAGNA — Interpublic Group's centralized media intelligence, investment, and innovation division — where he served as President, North America and was responsible for more than $20 billion in annual media spend. — IAB: https://www.iab.com/news/iab-names-david-cohen-president/
- Cohen was named IAB Chief Executive Officer on September 15, 2020, succeeding Randall Rothenberg, who became Executive Chair. The transition consolidated the President and CEO roles under Cohen roughly five months after he had joined the trade body. — IAB: https://www.iab.com/news/iab-ushers-in-new-era-david-cohen-named-iab-ceo-randall-rothenberg-named-executive-chair/
- Cohen spent 21 years at Interpublic Group across MAGNA and Universal McCann (UM), where his roles included Chief Investment Officer, Chief Media Officer, Chief Digital Officer, and Executive Vice President, U.S. He is credited with launching and building IPG's digital practice in the late 1990s. — IAB: https://www.iab.com/news/iab-names-david-cohen-president/
- At the 2026 IAB NewFronts (March 23–26, New York City), Cohen framed creators as "next-generation studios" and projected a $44 billion U.S. creator advertising business, while warning that retail media's growth "could implode without standardization" of formats, creative specs, and measurement. — The Drum: https://www.thedrum.com/news/with-iab-newfronts-a-week-away-ceo-david-cohen-says-creators-catching-up-with-tv-and-retail-media-boom-could-implode-without-standardization
- Cohen holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Adelphi University. He was named to Adweek's "Media All Star" list and the Adweek 50 in 2012, and previously chaired the 4As Interactive Marketing Committee. — IAB: https://www.iab.com/news/iab-names-david-cohen-president/


## Related

- iab (President and CEO) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/iab/
- iab tech lab (Sister organization spun out of IAB in 2014; Cohen leads the parent trade body that holds the broader industry-advocacy mandate) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/iab-tech-lab/
- magna global (Former employer (President, North America, through 2020)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/magna-global/
- ipg (Former parent company — 21-year tenure across MAGNA and Universal McCann) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/ipg/
- universal mccann (Former employer (Chief Investment Officer, prior senior roles 2001–2016)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/universal-mccann/


## External coverage

- 2020-09-15 — IAB: IAB Ushers in New Era — David Cohen Named IAB CEO (https://www.iab.com/news/iab-ushers-in-new-era-david-cohen-named-iab-ceo-randall-rothenberg-named-executive-chair/)
- 2020-02-13 — IAB: IAB Names David Cohen President (https://www.iab.com/news/iab-names-david-cohen-president/)
- 2026-02-26 — IAB: 2026 IAB NewFronts — Event Page (https://www.iab.com/events/newfronts-2026/)
- 2026-03-18 — The Drum: IAB's David Cohen on NewFronts: creators rival TV as retail media faces fragmentation risk (https://www.thedrum.com/news/with-iab-newfronts-a-week-away-ceo-david-cohen-says-creators-catching-up-with-tv-and-retail-media-boom-could-implode-without-standardization)
- 2020-09-15 — Variety: IAB's Randall Rothenberg Steps Down as CEO, David Cohen to Take Helm (https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/iab-randall-rothenberg-david-cohen-ceo-1234760638/)
- LinkedIn: David Cohen — LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcohen12)

## Profile
Cohen runs the trade body that sets the industry's commercial calendar — the NewFronts each spring and the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting each winter — and that publishes the IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report, the dataset against which the rest of the digital ad market benchmarks itself. His public posture in 2026 has tilted aggressively toward two themes: creators as a parallel video economy that now rivals traditional TV in scale, and the need for standardization in retail media before the channel's growth chokes on its own fragmentation.

That posture is consistent with his buy-side biography. Cohen spent two decades inside Interpublic Group — Universal McCann, then MAGNA — running media investment at a scale (more than $20 billion annually at MAGNA) that made him one of the few trade-body leaders whose career was built sitting across the table from the platforms his members now negotiate with. The IAB's policy emphasis on supply-chain transparency, measurement standards, and post-cookie identity infrastructure traces, in part, to that vantage.
## Coverage on The State of Streaming
- [Three Deepfake Laws Hit CTV in 54 Days. No Federal Floor.](https://thestateofstreaming.com/policy-regulation/2026/05/deepfake-ai-state-law-patchwork-q2-2026/) — 2026-05-03
- [Agentic AI Just Crossed Into the Workflow, Six Weeks Before NY's Disclosure Cliff](https://thestateofstreaming.com/advertising-adtech/2026/04/agentic-ai-creative-production-adobe-deepdub-2026/) — 2026-04-27
- [Agentic AI Just Crossed Into the Workflow, Six Weeks Before NY's Disclosure Cliff](https://thestateofstreaming.com/advertising-adtech/2026/04/agentic-ai-creative-production-adobe-deepdub-2026-2/) — 2026-04-27
- [NY's $5,000 AI-Performer Ad Disclosure Law Hits June 9](https://thestateofstreaming.com/policy-regulation/2026/04/ny-synthetic-performer-disclosure-june-2026-2/) — 2026-04-27
- [NY's $5,000 AI-Performer Ad Disclosure Law Hits June 9](https://thestateofstreaming.com/policy-regulation/2026/04/ny-synthetic-performer-disclosure-june-2026/) — 2026-04-27

## Tags

- trade-body-leader
- advertising-executive
- newfronts
- iab
- media-investment

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