Nada Stirratt Defects From MTV To MySpace As Chief Revenue Officer
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Nada Stirratt is leaving her post as EVP, Digital Advertising for MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA) to take on the role of chief revenue officer at MySpace, MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka reports. Her hiring comes about two months after Jeff Berman exited MySpace as sales and marketing head, after the company hired consultancy MediaLink. Stirratt joined MTVN just over three years ago, after serving as SVP and GM of ad sales at AOL’s Advertising.com. She’ll be starting at MySpace later this month. Stirratt joins a growing list of MTVN defectors to MySpace, including Jason Hirschhorn, who signed on in April as chief product officer, and Courtney Holt, who became president of MySpace Music last November. (A MySpace spokeswoman says the social net isn’t announcing anything.)
By luring an online ad vet like Stirratt, MySpace hopes to counter its advertising challenges amid the economic downturn and the surging of Facebook. It’s no coincidence that MySpace has hit up so many MTVN alums to help meet that challenge. The social net has been trying to fashion itself as more of an entertainment-based outfit. At the same time, MTVN has been trying to build out its social net abilities. As for how Stirratt’s decision will affect both companies, it remains an open question.
SEE ALSO: Industry Moves: Mika Salmi Is Leaving MTVN; Memo From McGrath
Rafat adds: Well, even if MTVN couldn’t buy MySpace back then, its management certainly is taking it over, one by one. Jason missed buying it by a hair’s margin, as has been well documented before, though in hindsight it wasn’t a bad miss, now that you think about it. What next? Tom Freston to actually really rescue MySpace now? How long’s Owen staying there, stuck in his outpost in San Francisco?
Update: An MTVN rep says no permanent replacement for Stirratt has been named yet. The company didn’t say if it will conduct an internal or external search for a new digital ad sales head. In the meantime, Kevin Arrix will continue to lead the sales team, which includes Brad Herman, SVP, digital ad operations; Jason Witt, general manager of Digital Fusion and Heather Hopkins, general manager of the Tribes ad networks. They are all reporting to COO Rich Eigendorff.
Posted In: Advertising, Media & Publishing, TV, Cable & Telecom, Social Media, Companies, News Corp., Fox, Fox Interactive Media, MySpace, Viacom, MTV, nada stirratt
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