Madison Avenue media vet Kris Magel has joined TV audience measurement firm Samba TV as head of agency development.

Magel, whose LinkedIn profile describes himself as an "executive in residence" for the last seven months, previously was president of media clients at Dentsu International, and prior to that, held a variety of president roles as well as Chief Investment Officer at IPG Mediabrands' Initiative unit.

He previously was a top media buyer at Publicis Media's Zenith and Optimedia units, and DeWitt Media before that.

“Samba TV has separated itself from the pack when it comes to packaging first-party TV data with a neutral, inventory-agnostic business model,” Magel said in a statement announcing his new role this morning.

"There are existential threats to media agencies due to the growing dominance of walled gardens," said Samba TV co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin in a somewhat more sensational statement, "that increasingly shield marketers from the transparency needed to develop cross-platform media plans and optimize them for business outcomes."