Ksenia Alekseeva

Media and growth marketing leader · UK and UAE

KseniaAlekseeva

Ksenia Alekseeva is an international media and growth marketing leader and Head of Paid Media at Yango Play, one of the fastest growing streaming platforms in MENA. For over twelve years she has helped brands like Samsung, Visa, Sephora and LVMH grow through smarter media, honest measurement and a lot of testing.

Get in touchSee the results
Portrait of Ksenia Alekseeva, media and growth marketing leader
Based between
UK and UAE
Experience
12+ years
Focus
Paid media and B2C growth
Recognition
TikTok Ad Awards 2025

Brands, agencies and awards behind the work

  • Yango PlayHead of Paid Media
  • Publicis Groupe8+ years, Publicis Media
  • Samsung21× more orders on Meta
  • TikTok Ad Awards2 wins, 2025
  • Sephora76% higher ROAS
  • VisaAdvised at Publicis Media
  • Yango Yasmina AI assistantUAE market launch, from day one
  • NEOMGlobal go to market playbook

Also advised: LVMH, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Accor.

About Ksenia

Ksenia runs paid media for Yango Play, a streaming platform with exclusive and original Arabic content. Launched just two years ago, it has grown past 5 million Google Play downloads and reached #2 among top grossing entertainment Android apps in Egypt. Her job is to turn product, content and commercial priorities into media plans across social, search, video, CTV, programmatic, affiliates and offline, then prove what actually worked.

Before Yango Play, she spent more than ten years with Publicis Groupe. She grew from performance manager to Paid Social & Programmatic Director, building and leading a team of 30+ specialists, and then expanding into a Regional Media Strategy Director role. Along the way she advised Visa, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Samsung, LVMH, NEOM and Accor, and wrote go to market playbooks used across MENA, Europe, APAC and North America.

She cares most about measurement you can trust (incrementality, MMM, brand lift) and about using AI to make creative testing faster and cheaper. Today she is based between the UK and the UAE. She studied journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University and graduated with a Diploma of Excellence, which may explain why she likes a good story behind the numbers.

Selected results

  1. +40%install growth

    Yango Play: turning Ramadan into a growth engine

    Year on year install growth from a TikTok programme built on premium placements, creators and content and search hubs, with acquisition up 32%.

    Source: TikTok for Business case study
  2. 3×ad recall

    Yango Yasmina: launching an AI speaker in the UAE

    The market's first TikTok Logo Takeover delivered three times the ad recall and double the awareness lift.

    Source: Campaign Middle East
  3. 2×response rate

    Samsung: AI personalisation at scale

    Led development and go to market of a proprietary dynamic creative optimisation product. Samsung used it to run 600 personalised creatives and doubled its response rate.

    Source: Little Black Book
  4. 100+assets

    AI creative production at Yango Play

    Production frameworks that generate 100+ assets per title, cutting creative costs by 20 to 40% while lifting ad performance by 10 to 50%.

  5. 76%higher ROAS

    Sephora and Samsung at Publicis

    Higher ROAS for Sephora, plus a community launch on TikTok, and 21 times more Samsung orders on Meta.

    Sources: TikTok for Business case study, Boosting sales with dynamic feed

Career

Head of Paid Media, Yango Play, fast growing streaming platform in MENA | Dubai, UAEMarch 2025 to present

  • Owns the growth and launch roadmap and a multi million dollar budget across digital and offline, delivering 10 to 30 point year on year lifts in brand health.
  • Runs experimentation on audiences, propositions, campaign structures and creative, with winning tests improving conversion and subscription efficiency 2 to 4 times.
  • Uses attribution, incrementality, MMM, brand lift and audience research to decide where the next dollar goes.
  • Built AI creative production frameworks generating 100+ assets per title.

Paid Social and Programmatic Lead, Publicis Group | Dubai, UAEJune 2022 to February 2025

  • Advised Visa, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Samsung, LVMH and others; one ecommerce client grew sales 40% at the same cost per order.
  • Built and commercialised new ad tech products, growing paid social net profit 30% year on year.
  • Wrote global go to market playbooks for NEOM and Accor, adopted across MENA, Europe, APAC and North America.
  • Coordinated strategy, creative, analytics, commerce and activation teams across Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat, Amazon Ads, DV360, The Trade Desk and X.

Performance Manager to Strategy Director, Publicis Groupe | MoscowJanuary 2014 to June 2022

  • Built and led a 30+ person programmatic and paid social team; seven interns grew into full time roles.
  • Built cross channel growth strategies with SEM, SEO, data science and analytics teams, including 21 times more Samsung orders on Meta and 76% higher ROAS for Sephora.

Expertise

Growth and acquisition
Full funnel B2C growth, paid acquisition, budget allocation, audience strategy, go to market, CAC, CPO and LTV optimisation.
Experimentation and measurement
A/B testing, incrementality, marketing mix modelling, attribution, brand lift and experimentation frameworks.
Platforms
Meta, Google Ads and YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Amazon Ads, DV360, The Trade Desk and X.
Leadership
Building teams, senior stakeholder management, multi market launches and localisation, cross functional work with product, analytics and creative.

Awards and recognition

Ksenia Alekseeva on stage at TikTok Summit
Effie Awards MENA jury announcement featuring Ksenia Alekseeva
Ksenia Alekseeva at the IAB MENA Growth Series
Ksenia Alekseeva presenting at a TikTok event
Ksenia Alekseeva on the Next Audio podcast panel
Ksenia Alekseeva with a TikTok award
This Wasn't in the Manual podcast cover
  • TikTok Ad Awards 2025, two category wins for Yango PlaySound On Please and Big Branding EnergyWinnersPost
  • Effie AwardsJudgePost
  • TikTok case study: Yango Play RamadanTurning Ramadan into a full funnel growth engine, featured with her quoteTikTok
  • TikTok case study: Yango Play and Bershama, Spark Ads in EgyptFeatured with her quote, also covered by Campaign Middle EastTikTokCampaign ME
  • Campaign Middle East: Yango's TikTok Logo Takeover for YasminaFeature with her quoteArticle
  • Snapchat whitepaper on first impressionsYango Play featured as a case studyPost
  • Sephora TikTok community launchTikTok for Business case studyTikTok
  • Samsung: boosting sales with dynamic feedCase studyCase study
  • TikTok Certification beta testNamed one of the top 10 talents in MENAPost

Speaking and stage

  • NXT Media Days MENAModerated "The Data-Driven Brand: Smart Advertising in MENA"EventPost
  • NXT MediaPanel: "The social media revolution: impact on advertising"Post
  • Next Audio, The Power of PodcastsPanellist in 2023, 2025 and at the 5th edition202320255th editionPost
  • Augustus Media x LG roundtable"So FAST: The Future of Streaming with LG Channels"Post
  • TikTok SummitPresenterPost
  • Yango CMO SummitPresenterPost
  • IAB growth eventIAB member, presented research learningsPost
  • Kazan Digital ForumSpeakerProgrammePost

Podcast, writing and teaching

This wasn't in the manual

Ksenia's own podcast about the parts of marketing and leadership nobody teaches you.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Guest appearances

  • Below The FoldOn creative personalisation, on MENA's leading marketing and advertising podcastWatch
  • The Power of Podcasts, Next AudioGuest episodeSpotifyPost

Writing

  • AI-Powered Personalisation at ScaleLittle Black BookRead
  • Top 5 targeting strategies for the highest ROASSostav, in RussianRead

Teaching

  • Sorbonne University Abu DhabiGuest lecturer on advertising and marketingPost
  • Publicis MediaLaunched and taught an internal programmatic coursePost
  • HSE UniversityDigital marketing teacherProgramme

Quick answers

Who is Ksenia Alekseeva?

Ksenia Alekseeva is an international media and growth marketing leader with 12+ years in B2C acquisition, experimentation and measurement. She is Head of Paid Media at Yango Play, a MENA streaming platform, and previously led paid social and programmatic at Publicis Media, working with Visa, Samsung, LVMH, Sephora, Commercial Bank of Dubai, NEOM and Accor.

Where is she based?

Between the UK and the UAE. Her work has covered MENA, Europe, APAC and North America, including global go to market playbooks for NEOM and Accor.

What does she do at Yango Play?

She leads media investment across digital and offline channels, owns the growth and launch roadmap, runs experimentation and measurement, and built AI creative production frameworks that generate 100+ assets per title. She has helped scale Yango Play to 5M+ Google Play downloads.

What awards has she won?

Her Yango Play work won two categories at the TikTok Ad Awards 2025, Sound On Please and Big Branding Energy. She also judges the Effie Awards and was named one of the top 10 talents in MENA in the TikTok Certification beta test.

Does she speak at events?

Yes. She has moderated at NXT Media Days MENA, joined Next Audio's Power of Podcasts panels, presented at TikTok Summit, the Yango CMO Summit, an IAB growth event and Kazan Digital Forum, and hosts her own podcast, This wasn't in the manual.

What is she like away from work?

Mostly in or near water. She surfs, windsurfs, wakesurfs and dives, plays tennis and padel, runs, and has travelled to more than 30 countries.

Talks, panels, podcasts or a good growth problem? Say hello.

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