11 Media Executive Search Firms and Recruiters Compared

Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, writes that his company "engaged Filcro Media Staffing's president, Tony Filson to recruit our current Executive Vice President of Global Business Development & Marketing." Steven Goldstein, whose listed titles include senior vice president at Viacom and BET Networks, says Filson recruited him to Viacom and later helped him make more than 30 hires. A Discovery Communications vice president describes "several job searches" with Filson at Discovery and CBS. A station general manager describes a news director search that went from more than 150 applications to five semi-finalists, three finalists and the hire. The reviews page shows no dates.

Filcro has recruited for media since 1985, from the C-suite to manager level, across sales, technology and engineering, and production and creative roles. Its terms page (opens in a new tab), read in October 2026, is the most complete on this list. It bases the retained fee on first-year pay and bills it in three equal parts 30 days apart, with client-approved candidate travel charged as an expense. If a senior executive it identified leaves within the first year "due to a lack of performance", Filcro will find a similarly paid replacement without further professional fees. It does not state the fee percentage. A CEO search for a music TV network (opens in a new tab) narrowed 20 screened candidates to four before the board chose one.

The general manager of Delmarva Broadcasting Company writes that the firm "helped us recruit an experienced General Sales Manager to oversee the sales efforts of eight radio stations as well as our digital services." The general manager of NRG Media describes a director of sales search, and Emmis Communications' vice president of human resources describes the team as an extension of its HR department.

The firm has recruited for the media industry since 1993, and its site lists radio, TV, cable, digital and out-of-home. Its clients page (opens in a new tab) lists management, sales, marketing, engineering and board seats among the roles it fills, offers retained searches and says "We guarantee our placements", without publishing the guarantee's terms. It also offers outplacement, recruitment consulting and yearly sales compensation studies. It announced Lisa Fields as its owner in January 2024.

Alpha Apex Group reports more than 2,000 placements worldwide and a 43-day average time-to-fill for full-time hires on its media page, read in October 2026, without defining the stage the time-to-fill ends at. Both figures are firm-wide. The page shows client logos, including AWS, Meta and Siemens, without saying which roles were filled, and names no media placement.

Its media page describes executive search built on an analysis of the client's market, candidate assessment for creative vision, digital expertise and leadership style, confidential searches, and support for the executive after placement. The same page says new candidates reach the hiring manager within 72 hours, without saying which searches that covers.

DHR Global's homepage, read in October 2026, reports 83% repeat business and a 94-day average fill time, both firm-wide; it does not say which stage the fill time ends at. Its media page names no clients or placements.

The media and entertainment practice says its clients include organizations in broadcast and cable television, home entertainment, theatrical, digital media, location-based entertainment, licensing and gaming. It recruits across editorial, programming and content, general management, finance, sales, marketing, business development, product, operations, human resources and technology.

Korn Ferry's homepage reports that it works with 96% of Fortune's top 50 most admired companies, a firm-wide figure. Its media and entertainment page names no media clients or placements.

The page describes a practice covering executive search, leadership assessment, executive coaching, organization design, succession planning and total rewards consulting, for businesses from television to social media and gaming.

Spencer Stuart reports more than 2,400 senior-level executive searches and board director appointments for media and entertainment companies over a five-year period. It names broadcasting, gaming and interactive media, publishing, film, live entertainment, music, news and consumer platforms among the sectors that work covers. The page names no clients.

Beyond search, the practice advises on succession planning, onboarding, leadership coaching and the leadership side of mergers, before a deal and after it. It publishes no fees or search terms on the pages read.

Gainor's story page (opens in a new tab), first published in 2023, features Peggy Lin, a managing director at a media agency, and says Gainor has helped her build teams "within hyper competitive skillsets." Its media page reports that "more than 75% of the talent we present are accepted to interview", without a period or sample.

Gainor recruits across digital, social and traditional media, marketing, data, communications and ad tech, with freelance, freelance-to-hire and direct-hire options. The roles its media page lists range from programmatic media directors and digital and integrated media directors to brand marketing vice presidents and CMOs.

Media Staffing says its leadership team's 25+ years of digital recruiting have led to partnerships with over 150 advertising companies, and reports a client retention rate of over 90%. It names no clients on the pages read.

The firm describes a business consulting approach to recruiting digital advertising teams, and its recruiters have worked both in-house and at agencies. It also runs workshops and one-to-one consulting on onboarding and employee development.

Its employers page carries testimonials from three media agencies: The Media Kitchen, Bespoke Media and M&K Media. The Media Kitchen's managing director, J. Peacock, writes that the firm found "the right talent not only for the role but for the culture," and a partner at M&K Media says it "found us exactly the person we were looking for."

Media Staffing Inc. recruits for media planning, buying, programmatic and performance marketing (opens in a new tab) roles at agencies, brands and publishers, and for ad tech and data roles, and also places freelancers. Its employers page says "We guarantee our talent" without publishing the terms.

Insight Global's media and entertainment page reports more than 130 media and entertainment clients and 7,700+ placements since 2020; the page does not say whether that placement count covers media work only. It shows the logos of Paramount Global, Warner Bros. Discovery and Meta without saying what it staffed for them, and its case study index lists no media project.

The roles it names are technical: AI, data and security engineers, business analysts, product managers and UX designers, for streaming, studio production, broadcast and experiential technology. It offers contract, contract-to-permanent and direct placement. Its FAQ, read in October 2026, says that, depending on interview availability and decision-making, it typically identifies and screens candidates in 24 to 48 hours, and that interviews and onboarding, up to the person starting work, typically take one to three weeks.

Carol A. Pustorino, director of video communications at Liberty Mutual Insurance, writes that "my producer team has had wonderful success with Maslow's freelance placement service." The testimonials page was first published in December 2023.

Maslow, based in Clarksburg, Maryland, was founded in 1988. Its media production staffing page (opens in a new tab) covers camera crews, photographers, lighting and sound technicians, directors and producers, and post-production editors and visual effects specialists, from a network it puts at more than 12,000 vetted professionals. It also offers executive recruiting, employer of record services, payroll and video production, and its FAQ (opens in a new tab) covers freelance, full-time, temp-to-perm and direct hires.