Director of Media Strategy

About Gaia Gaia, Inc. is seeking a Director of Media Strategy to lead a full-funnel, audience-led media strategy that drives measurable member growth and lifetime value. This is a senior leadership role for a strategic thinker who believes media should do more than generate impressions — it should intentionally connect audience intent, content engagement, and brand health + performance driven subscription outcomes. As a leader within Gaia’s marketing organization, you will architect integrated media strategies that accelerate subscriber acquisition, retention, and brand affinity. You will translate business objectives into privacy-safe, data-informed, future-ready media plans that scale nationally. This role partners closely with our Publishing, Creative Studio, Data & Analytics, Marketing Technology, and external agency partners (Brand and Performance both) to ensure media investments drive meaningful business impact. What You’ll Do

Audience & Journey Strategy

Develop and evolve audience segmentation frameworks aligned to Gaia’s core member personas and growth priorities

Design cross-channel consumer journeys that reflect how audiences discover Gaia, engage with content, and convert into long-term subscribers

Lead first-party data activation strategies leveraging behavioral signals, lifecycle insights, and platform intelligence

Identify key intent moments across the funnel and define how media influence drives subscription conversion and lifetime value

Partner with in-house Lifecycle Marketing and Creative Studio teams to align paid media with retention, upsell, and re-engagement strategies

Integrated Media Strategy

Own omnichannel strategy across paid search, paid social, programmatic display, online video, CTV, affiliate, and emerging platforms

Align paid, owned, and organic efforts to ensure cohesive messaging, sequencing, and measurable outcomes

Translate business goals into actionable plans including budget allocation, channel roles, testing roadmaps, KPIs, forecasting, and measurement frameworks

Lead planning, pacing, optimization, and performance governance across US campaigns

Define channel sequencing and creative alignment based on audience intent and lifecycle stage

Brand Health and Performance Growth

Build scalable media strategies that drive efficient subscriber acquisition while protecting long-term brand equity

Optimize toward KPIs including CPA, ROAS, LTV:CAC ratio, retention contribution, and engagement depth

Identify opportunities to increase conversion efficiency through audience refinement, landing experience insights, and creative testing

Partner with Agencies and Analytics to ensure media performance is tied to downstream conversion, engagement and retention metrics

Innovation & Platform Leadership

Establish standards for testing, experimentation, and media quality across platforms

Lead incrementality testing, lift studies, creative testing, audience validation, and attribution experiments

Evaluate emerging platforms, targeting capabilities, and AI-driven media tools to improve scale and efficiency

Collaborate with agency partners to pilot new features and translate innovation into scalable growth initiatives

Measurement & Strategic Narrative

Partner with Marketing Technology and Analytics to support privacy-compliant measurement, attribution modeling, and executive dashboards

Create compelling performance narratives that connect media inputs to subscriber growth, engagement, and revenue outcomes

Translate insights into optimization strategies, budget reallocations, and long-term growth opportunities

Leadership & Cross-Functional Influence

Serve as a senior strategic advisor within the marketing organization

Influence cross-functional teams across Growth, Creative, Content, Product, and Analytics to ensure cohesive go-to-market execution

Mentor and elevate media team capabilities, fostering a culture of experimentation, accountability, and performance excellence

What You Bring

8+ years of experience in paid media, integrated marketing, and/or audience strategy within subscription, DTC, or digital media environments from either in-house Brand or top tier Agency.

Deep expertise in full funnel orchestration, rapid test and learn, and measurement

Strategic fluency in platforms including Google Ads, Meta, YouTube, TikTok, Demand Gen Display, Audio, leading DSPs, and subscription-focused growth channels

Strong analytical literacy including GA4 interpretation, attribution modeling, incrementality testing, KPI development, and forecasting

Experience activating first-party data, building segmentation models, and mapping full-funnel audience journeys

Proven ability to architect scalable media plans with clear budget allocation, channel mix rationale, testing agendas, and measurable business outcomes working in tandem with our agency of record

Understanding of how creative, messaging, and content strategy intersect with audience behavior and platform context

Exceptional storytelling skills with the ability to translate complex performance data into executive-ready insights and solutions.

Experience driving measurable growth within subscription, streaming, wellness, lifestyle, or mission-driven brands is strongly preferred