Advertising magazine Adweek has published its Power List 2016, which covers the top 100 leaders in marketing, media, and technology. Two video game executives were named to the list, including Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick (24) and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson (56).
The list takes into consideration things like corporate performance, including revenue and growth, as well as “consumer reach and affinity.” It also factors in elements like a person’s standing among rivals, how many employees they oversee, and “media buzz.” Additionally, the list aims to represent an executive’s progress compared to the year before.
Kotick, who oversees 9,000 employees, was praised by Adweek for his efforts to establish Activision Blizzard as an “entertainment powerhouse” instead of a gaming company alone. In the past year, Activision Blizzard created a movie and TV division, launched the “ESPN of eSports,” and bought Candy Crush developer King Digital.
As for Wilson, Adweek wrote that the EA CEO helped move the firm away from the “worst company in America” to a brighter future. In praising Wilson’s efforts, the magazine called out the successful launch of Star Wars Battlefront (which has shipped 14 million units), as well as EA’s further push into the mobile space. EA has 8,400 employees.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made the cut this year, coming in at 39, but Adweek focused more on the progress the company has made on cloud computing than gaming.
Here is the top 10 from Adweek‘s Power List 2016:
- Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO)
- Larry Page (Google co-founder)
- Tim Cook (Apple CEO)
- Robert Iger (Disney CEO)
- A.G. Lafley (Procter & Gamble CEO)
- Brian Roberts (Comcast CEO)
- Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO)
- Martin Sorrell (WWP Group CEO)
- Rupert Murdoch (Executive chairman for 20th Century Fox and News Corp.)
- Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo CEO)