Buzz Catches Two From MTV

by Gavin O'Malley, Aug 28, 2009, 5:39 PM

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Buzz Media, the pop culture media network formerly known as Buzznet, has named former MTV sales exec Doug Rohrer as its new chief revenue officer. Meanwhile, Andi Poch, formerly VP of ad sales for MTV and MTV.com, has been named SVP of ad sales at Buzz Media.

Rohrer, who served as EVP of sales at MTV Networks, will now oversee the ongoing expansion of Buzz Media's sales operations. The company has recently added sales executives in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, opened a Manhattan office, and upgraded its ad support staffing.

"Marketers tell us every day how we can provide full value for them," said Rohrer. "They want scale against a hard-to-reach audience, brands that consumers trust and touch multiple times every day, an audience that's dense with purchasers who influence those around them, as well as ad products and related programming that flat out perform because the audience and marketer's objectives are considered in each campaign."

Poch will work closely with Rohrer to devise and manage sales efforts at Buzz Media.

The Los Angeles-based startup, which oversees popular blogs like the Superficial, Stereogum, and Idolator, has recently raised a new round of financing worth $12.5 million.

Existing investors--including Anthem Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures -- participated in the round, along with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Focus Ventures. Each Buzz Media property is made up a professional editorial team, which encourages contributions from audiences. This approach is designed to cost-effectively program thousands of topics to drive large and engaged audiences across its branded properties. "In these challenging economic times, it's also extremely efficient," said Tyler Goldman, CEO of Buzz Media, referring to the company's business model.

In regard to sales efforts, Goldman said the company is increasingly focused on "highly programmed custom sales and sponsorship campaigns." The recent funding is being used to expand Buzz Media's present network, which presently reaches roughly 40 million unique monthly users. Other sites in the Buzz Media network include Buzznet, Celebuzz, SocialiteLife, What Would Tyler Durden Do, Just Jared and Absolute Punk.

Less than a year ago, Buzz Media closed a round of financing in the neighborhood of $25 million. The company has used some of its capital to buy independent Web publishers like music blog Stereogum, which it acquired for a reported $5 million in stock.

In addition, Rose Ferraro has been added as senior sales director of Buzz Media's Western Region; Paul Magyar as senior sales director, Eastern Region; and Cheryl Beley as senior sales director, Midwest Region.

Ferraro was most recently West Coast sales director at MySpace. Magyar previously held management and sales positions with Yahoo, CBS and Thrillist, while Beley joins Buzz Media from Veoh Networks.

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