Alan Goodman is an American advertising executive, businessman, consultant, writer and television producer. He has played a key role in creating and launching many media brands since 1981, first in cable television and now for the internet and other platforms.
He began his career as part of the team that built MTV, and with his partner at the time, Fred Seibert, Goodman developed and popularized the world-famous MTV logo. He also produced the channel’s animated IDs and often the music that played behind them, forming the look and sound of the network. Later, the team re-launched Nickelodeon and turned it into the home base for kids, laying the foundation that has made it the #1 Network For Kids for more than eleven straight years. They also served as the company’s advertising agency for nine years, and during that time, launched VH-1 and created and launched Nick-at-Nite.
Goodman’s relationship with MTV Networks, the parent company of both MTV and Nickelodeon, continues to this day. In just the past two years he consulted with the Nicktoons Network; Neopets (a recently acquired internet community site); Noggin (the commercial-free service of Nickelodeon); Spike TV (MTV’s network for men); and the company’s movie division. He was at the core of a development team that created four new broadband networks for the company; and consulted on two brands for demos beyond MTV’s traditional targets. He continues to work closely with the company’s top executives on assignments affecting overall image, on-air promotion, feature films, daypart programming, and consumer product development. Increasingly he is devoting his time to the area where content creation, promotion, and distribution blur – taking the brands into the world of social networking.
Outside of MTV, Goodman has worked with a major cable MSO to launch a new pay-per-view and broadband network; advised independent production companies; and works with an internet start-up company.
Goodman has also written scripts for several well known shows including Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains It All, Clifford's Puppy Days, JoJo's Circus, Generation O! and two episodes of Random Cartoons 6 Monsters and Bronk and Bongo (he also provided voice direction for both these episodes and voicing the character Ted Strawberry Head in Bronk and Bongo) and created three television series Kids' Court, The Movie Masters and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo.