Delta Is Building a Media Network and Your Flight Data Is the Product

0:20Welcome back to the Skift Daily Briefing. It's Tuesday, October 6th. I'm Bailey Schulz, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter. Let's get into it. First up, former Visit California Chief Caroline Petita is becoming Brand USA's interim president and CEO. Petita led Visit California for nearly three decades, wrapping up just last month. This is her second stint as Brand USA's interim chief after holding the job briefly in 2012. This time around, Brand USA is working through a dramatic cut to federal funding and a decline in inbound travel to the United States. Another potential hurdle will be getting reauthorization from Congress, which approved funding only through September of 2027.

1:02Betita says her singular focus will be getting that reauthorization. She steps in as CEO Fred Dixon leaves to run New York City tourism and conventions. He's replacing Coker, who's hanging out in California to replace Betita. Next up, a vacation rental role that flips the usual private equity scripts. Pavilion, formerly Stakeholders VR, manages about 5 ,000 vacation rentals and rebranded this weekend. It launched in May by buying 20 local property managers and single closing. Here's the twist. These operators sold 100 % of their businesses, then rolled a collective$100.4 million back into Pavilion's equity.

1:41Together with management, they own the majority. Private equity holds a minority stake. Pavilion's operators keep their own brands and PMS software. Essential team handles accounting, payroll, insurance, and tech. Co-founder Joe Freeman argues that the founder whose name is on the door is the one asset you can't replace. And finally, Delta is building its own media network. The airline said it's developing new media capabilities and hiring for several roles. Former Deloitte digital manager Carrie Payson posted on LinkedIn that she's leading it. Delta hasn't said what the network will look like.

2:16One piece could be Delta Sync. its free Wi-Fi and personalized entertainment platform. In June, its CMO said about 400 aircraft had Delta Sync. Around half of passengers were logging into Wi-Fi, and customers spent about two and a half hours with CDAC screens. Add third parties, and company execs say it becomes a really exciting flywheel. United is already doing this. It launched Connected Media in 2024, using traveler data to target ads on flights, in lounges, and in its app. A TD Cohen report last year estimated that it could bring United as much as$350 million in incremental revenue by 2028.

2:54That's it for your Skift Daily Briefing. For more on these stories, head to skift.com and sign for a newsletter at skift.com backslash daily.

3:11Thank you.