Greg Clayman is leaving his post as MTV’s EVP, digital distribution & business development, and is jumping to News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). to manage its tablet-based news organization, MediaMemo reports. Other the past month, News Corp. has been working on creating a dedicated news unit that would provide content specifically for tablets and mobile devices, such as Apple’s iPad and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android.
Over the past few days, some more details about the project have come out. For example, New York Post executive editor Jesse Angelo was chosen to handle the tablet venture’s editorial role. We’ve been able to confirm that News Corp could invest $30- to $40 million in the venture.
While Angelo will run the edit side of the project, Clayman’s role will essentially be that of a publisher, MediaMemo says.
In the wake of Clayman’s departure, Jeremiah Zinn will continue his oversight of product development, including working on MTV’s apps business. Zinn will also assume leadership of MTV’s mobile business, with Jim Eadie continuing to run point on mobile and app distribution deals. Tom Gorke will continue to be the lead for online distribution deals, but he’ll do so as a member of EVP of Content Distribution and Marketing Denise Denson’s team.
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Matt Prohaska, the former AOL (NYSE: AOL) sales VP who joined online video ad network Smartclip as its North America CEO in April, has left the company after only four months on the job to start a new online video ad network, which he is officially launching today. Prohaska tells us there were “major strategic differences” between himself and the Smartclip board; Smartclip COO Jay Drago says the company “is moving forward in a new direction,” although company representatives wouldn’t say more.
Prohaska says his new company, which is called Open Book Video, is trying to differentiate itself by being uber-transparent with publishers about the rates they are getting, and with advertisers about where their ads are running. The company is also partnering with ad targeter Lotame to provide Open Book’s advertisers and publishers with audience data.
Prohaska says Open Book Video expects to sign on the first publishers to its network this week and add advertisers “a couple weeks later.” For now, the New York City-based company, which has 12 employees, is being bootstrapped, although Prohaska says the company hopes to announce outside funding by year-end. He says he expects the company to be profitable by then as well.
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Appolicious, the app directory site founded by former Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) News head Alan Warms, is broadening its ties to Warms’ former employer. Appolicious is launching a new site dedicated to helping people find third-party apps that work on Yahoo sites, including the home page and Yahoo Mail. It’s also relaunching AndroidApps.com, the Android apps reviews site it acquired when it purchased AppVee in February, and co-branding that site with Yahoo.
In April, Appolicious began co-branding its flagship site, which covers iPhone and iPad apps, with Yahoo, as part of a larger distribution relationship with that company. Relevant articles from Appolicious now appear on Yahoo sites, including Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance. Warms tells us that traffic to Appolicious has grown by a “multiple” since then. Articles from the overhauled AndroidApps site and the new Yahoo Apps site will now show up on Yahoo sites as well.
Warms says that the company is tying itself so closely to Yahoo because because both companies believe that there is an “unmet need” from consumers looking to find apps. “By co-branding down to the property level, and linking throughout the Yahoo content sites (and occasional front page) we’re able to reach these consumers in a super contextual relevant way,” he says. “By always being co-branded—to the extent a Yahoo consumer becomes engaged with our site and comes back again and again—Yahoo continues to reap the benefit of our relationship from a reach and revenue perspective, as they are the ones who introduced us to that consumer.” The two companies split revenue.
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