MTV Networks Makes Key Moves to Enhance Digital Ad Sales Team

Suzanne McDonnell Named Senior Vice President, Digital Fusion; Heather Hopkins to Lead Marketing and Sales Development

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Feb 23, 2010, 10:17 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- MTV Networks (MTVN), a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today made new moves to enhance its Digital Advertising Sales team. Suzanne McDonnell will assume leadership of the team's specialized Digital Fusion unit as Senior Vice President. Heather Hopkins will serve as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales Development in addition to her current role as General Manager of the Tribes vertical ad network. Both McDonnell and Hopkins will report to Kevin Arrix, Executive Vice President, Digital Advertising Sales, MTVN.

"Suzanne has been a driving force behind the success of Digital Fusion, both in client relationships and product innovation," said Arrix. "As head of Digital Fusion, Suzanne will continue to work across all of our brands to provide marketers with some of the most creative and compelling opportunities in the digital marketplace."

"In little more than a year, Heather successfully led the Tribes business across MTV Networks," continued Arrix. "She will now apply her extensive knowledge and proven foresight of the digital marketplace to help drive MTVN Digital's overall strategic vision and positioning."

As SVP of Digital Fusion, McDonnell will be responsible for developing unique digital ad products and brand integrations to drive deeper connections between MTV Networks' advertisers and consumers. Digital Fusion is currently running the Subway Fresh Buzz campaign. McDonnell previously served as Vice President, Client Services, Digital Fusion, where she managed client relationships for the Digital Fusion unit that spanned MTV Networks online portfolio.

In her new role leading Marketing and Sales Development for MTVN Digital Ad Sales, Hopkins will be responsible for communicating the breadth and depth of the company's digital offerings to the marketplace. Digital Ad Sales research, focused on providing MTVN's advertisers with audience insights and a better understanding of ad product effectiveness, will now also align with Hopkins' group. Since joining MTVN in 2008, Hopkins has led the Tribes business, forging partnerships with more than 240 publishers and developing a wide range of products to provide MTVN advertisers with additional scale, targeting and efficiency.

MTVN Digital Advertising Sales is divided into four core selling teams: a horizontal portfolio team and vertical brand-group teams for the Nickelodeon Kids & Family, MTVN Entertainment, and MTVN Music and Logo Groups.

"We're focused on super-serving our clients, innovating through new ad product development and research, and effectively leveraging advertisers' messages around our strong content and highly engaged audiences," added Arrix. "Our structure allows the team to function more efficiently and inform the marketplace of our multidimensional solutions."

About MTV Networks

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products. The company's portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Harmonix, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, AddictingGames, Shockwave, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, SPIKE, TV Land, Atom, GameTrailers and Xfire.