• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, December 18, 2023

It’s not something Jacqueline Corbelli likes to talk about. She is quite humble when it comes to speaking about how she donates her time. But the founder and CEO of streaming ad-technology company BrightLine has a long list of philanthropic endeavors, including working with some of the projects led by Pope Francis.

Corbelli is a founding member of Pope Francis' Ethics in Action Forum, the U.S. Coalition on Sustainability and SustainChain, all of which help to identify how technology, media, and data can generate justice in society.

Last year she joined the Fraternal Economy of Inteeamgral and Sustainability, a three-year project created as a product for the Ethics in Action initiative. She also is a member of the International Trade Commission, and NBCUniversal Woman Advisory Board, and Atlantic Data Company.

There are many other “causes” and “missions” to which she contributes, but when Data & Programmatic Insider asked how she has time to do all this, Corbelli said “I work better when I meld my right and left brain to engage my passions.”

Success seems to find Corbelli, although she does not want recognition for her philanthropic work. She points to the COVID-19 pandemic years and the relationships with Hulu, NBCUniversal, Disney, and others, along with technology catching up with consumers wanting to consume more media.  

“I have not been more invigorated about BrightLine and our strategy to capitalize on the moment for audiences, because of other philanthropic things I’m involved in,” she said.

BrightLine does quite well. The company announced a partnership with Dish Media to allow interactive ad units to run on live and on-demand inventory on Sling TV. The partnership made two advanced advertising products -- In-Stream Interactive, and Dynamic Addressable -- available on Sling.

Corbelli said the company recently launched a full suite of products called Pedal to the Metal, and expects 2024 will be another big year for BrightLine, with artificial intelligence playing a major role in the strategy.

She also spoke about a new trend the company has become involved in called Fast Channels -- a free, a-supported streaming technology that resides in the television vs. in an app. It enables Samsung, LG, and Vizio to offer consumers free access to stream content without having Netflix, Amazon and others. It requires BrightLine integrating its technology into the TV sets.   

A BrightLine study shows that dynamic connected television (CTV) ad inventory delivered a 126% purchase attribution rate and a 3.5% lift in purchase intent through its technology.

“I always wanted to be part of the solution, but that didn’t mean change the world,” she said. “It means being more of a compass—go where you can add value and help whether in business or organization.”

After graduating from Columbia with a degree in international affairs, she went into banking to pay her bills and became instantly involved with troubled companies. In the 1980s, there were a lot of things going wrong like failing saving and loans and junk bonds. Through restricting debt and sitting on bankruptcy committees for big banks. The thread led her to where she is today.