• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 6, 2012

The Huffington Post on Thursday named Jimmy Maymann as CEO of The Huffington Post Media Group. Maymann most recently served as an AOL SVP and international business head.
 
“I’m convinced it can be the media brand of the decade,” Maymann said of Huffington Post.
 
In his new role, Maymann will still oversee international growth for AOL, while developing strategies to increase traffic and revenue for the site and its new streaming network, HuffPost Live.
 
Maymann will report to Arianna Huffington, president and editor in chief, and, as of Thursday, chair of the Huffington Post Media Group. He will also be expected to work closely with HuffPo Publisher Janet Balis and its sales team to expand the brand’s business and partnerships, along the lines of its recent distribution deal with Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network.
 
At the beginning of 2011, AOL nabbed Maymann when it bought GoViral, an online video distribution network he co-founded, for $96.7 million.
 
When AOL bought the Huffington Post for $315 million, it originally gave its founder, Arianna Huffington, editorial reign over its portfolio of properties, including TechCrunch, Patch.com, MovieFone and MapQuest, while more than 30 AOL properties were aligned under The Huffington Post umbrella.
 
This past May, however, Huffington’s editorial control at AOL was reduced to HuffPo alone, which gave her the opportunity to focus on special partnerships and global expansion.
 
Signaling a revitalized AOL, the company recently beat analysts’ revenue expectations for the third quarter, thanks to robust traffic and ad growth. And, some analysts think Huffington Post deserves partial credit.  
 
On AOL’s third-quarter earnings call last month, Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz said the company was benefitting from “very strong momentum on many key properties from recent events, such as the election on Huffington Post.”