Expedia Group Taps Pinterest's Former CRO to Run Its Travel Media Network

Expedia Group has appointed Bill Watkins as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Advertising, bringing in an executive with two decades of digital advertising experience to lead its travel media business.

Watkins was most recently Chief Revenue Officer at Pinterest, where he led the platform's advertising products, international expansion, and AI-powered performance tools. He joins Expedia Group reporting to Chief Marketing Officer Jochen Koedijk.

What He's Inheriting

Expedia Group Advertising operates a travel media network built on confirmed future travel bookings — a meaningful distinction from platforms that rely on modeled or inferred audience intent. Advertisers on the network reach travelers who have already committed to a trip, with known destination, dates, and preferences.

Watkins will oversee the network's continued growth, managing major advertiser relationships, large-scale marketing investments, and the global expansion of the media business.

The hire also comes with a structural change: Expedia Group Advertising is being folded into the company's Marketing organization. The goal, according to Koedijk, is to connect the media network more directly with Expedia Group's brand capabilities, audience data, and loyalty programs.

"By bringing the team into Marketing, we better connect advertiser strategies with how travelers discover, plan, and book trips across our brands," said Koedijk.

Why It Matters

Travel media networks have become a meaningful revenue line across the OTA industry. Booking Holdings, Airbnb, and Google each operate advertising products tied to high-intent travel audiences, and competition for ad budgets from airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and destinations has intensified.

Watkins' background at Pinterest — a platform that generates purchase intent at scale — maps directly to that challenge. His experience with performance-driven and AI-powered advertising suggests Expedia Group intends to push harder on measurable return for advertisers.

"The opportunity to help partners engage travelers across the full journey and measure real business impact is incredibly compelling," said Watkins.

Expedia Group has invested over the past year in AI-powered bidding, richer on-site ad formats, and off-platform programmatic reach. Aligning the advertising business inside Marketing is positioned as the next step in scaling those capabilities.