Ex-Propagate president Greg Lipstone lands at prodco American Song Contest

Former Propagate Content president Greg Lipstone has been appointed president and chief operating officer at US production company American Song Contest Inc (ASC).

Greg Lipstone

ASC is one of the prodcos behind the upcoming NBC reality series of the same name, which is scheduled to premiere on Monday March 21.

The series, hosted by Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg, is an offshoot of the Eurovision Song Contest and will see artists from all 56 US states and territories compete in a singing competition over the course of nine weeks. It is produced by Propagate Content and Universal TV Alternative Studio.

In the new role, LA-based Lipstone, who left Propagate in September, will be tasked with growing the Eurovision Song Contest brand globally and expanding it into new markets, finding new revenue streams and identifying production and broadcast partners. Lipstone, who serves as an executive producer on the American Song Contest series, will also join ASC’s executive management team.

Since his departure from Propagate, Lipstone has been working with the company on international sales for the reality series, which has now been sold to YLE in Finland, RUV in Iceland, RTS in Serbia, ERT in Greece and SVT in Sweden.

“Greg’s unique profile with a combination of entrepreneurship and experience makes him the perfect complement to further expand the ASC footprint,” said Peter Settman, CEO of American Song Contest.

“As one of our executive producers, we liked how he worked, and I learned that his lifelong success is a result of hard work combined with a fearless pursuit to excel in our industry. I’m thrilled and our entire team is beyond excited for Greg to join with us and build the next big entertainment universe.”

Prior to his three-year stint with Propagate, Lipstone was CEO at All3Media America. He started his career as a talent agent and spent 21 years at William Morris Agency, climbing to head the TV department. He was later a founding partner and board member at ICM Partners, where his client roster included BBC America Productions, ITV Studios America, Matt’s Kunitz, Sam Donnelly, Alycia Rossiter, Natalka Znak and Conrad Green.

Lipstone is credited with packaging TV series such as Dancing With the Stars (ABC), The Office (NBC), Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), Top Gear (History) and Chrisley Knows Best (USA).

American Song Contest was first announced in 2019 when Sweden-based Nordic Entertainment Group subsidiary Brain Academy acquired the format rights from the European Broadcasting Union. Other producers on the project are Christer Björkman and Ola Melzig, who have worked on more than 20 Eurovision Song Contests between them.