• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, August 29, 2014

GumGum, which specializes in digital in-image advertising, has named digital media veteran Mike Rosner as its chief revenue officer, the company announced Friday. In his new role, Rosner will be responsible for global sales for GumGum, including relationships with agencies and brands deploying in-image advertising.

Previously, Rosner served as vice president of sales for MediaMind (now Sizmek), a technology company specializing in multiplatform ad-serving and creative optimization, from 2011-2014. Before that, he was the co-founder and president of Beanstock, a pioneering publisher trading desk. He also served as senior vice president for global sales at EyeWonder, which acquired Limelight Networks under his leadership.

“Having someone of Mike's caliber leading our sales effort is well-timed for the company and will directly benefit our advertiser and publisher clients," stated GumGum founder and CEO Ophir Tanz. "His deep understanding of the display advertising ecosystem will support GumGum as we expand our offerings, and his experience will bring value to both the teams and the advertisers he will directly serve.”

GumGum’s in-image advertising technology overlays interactive ad units on the lower portions of photos selected for contextual relevance, reaching an audience of more than 300 million people per month around the world.

Separately, this week GumGum also published data from online studies showing that in-image ads are more likely to actually be seen than other types of display advertising -- even when those display ads are technically “viewable” according to the new viewability metrics approved by industry bodies, such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Citing research by Sticky using eye-tracking technology, GumGum claims that overall 60% of respondents viewed in-image ads for more than two seconds, while figures from MOAT show an average “time in view” of 26 seconds for GumGum ads, versus just 20 seconds for display ads in general.