• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 6, 2007

Internet ratings giant NetRatings has a somewhat lighter senior management team following the departure of finance chief Todd Sloan, who has joined online video service Heavy.com as CFO, Online Media Daily has learned. The move is a bit ironic because Heavy.com has been waging a public feud with NetRatings over its online ratings, which Heavy.com chief David Carson asserts substantially underestimates Heavy's actual audience.

A spokesman for Heavy declined to confirm Sloan's appointment, but a NetRatings spokeswoman confirmed that Sloan stepped down several weeks ago and termed the move a "logical transition" following NetRatings merger into the Nielsen Co.

"NetRatings is no longer a public company--now fully owned by the Nielsen Company," she said, alluding that there might have been some corporate redundancies in Nielsen Co.'s finance operations following the consolidation.

In February, Brian West was named CFO of Nielsen Co., succeeding former VNU finance chief Rob Ruijter when VNU officially became Nielsen. West had been CFO of GE Aviation, Infrastructure.

Sloan's move to Heavy.com, meanwhile, could not have come at a better time. The company is one of the red-hot players in the burgeoning online video field, and recently received $20 million in second round financing from venture capital firm Polaris Venture, the same firm that backed its first round with $10 million in early 2006.

Prior to NetRatings, Sloan was CFO of About.com, where he led the portal through its initial public offering and secondary offerings. Prior to that, he was executive vice president and COO of Sony Worldwide Networks.

It was unclear at press time, what Sloan's appointment means for previous Heavy.com CFO Edward Van Saders.