MySpace has hired Tom Bosco as VP and marketing head for MySpaceTV. He will be responsible for video advertising sales across the entire MySpace platform.
Bosco was one of the major participants in the launch of AOL and MSN Video. He also was the director of sales at ScanScout.
"Tom has been on the frontlines of online video advertising for two of the major players in the space," said a spokesman from Fox Interactive Media, MySpace's corporate parent. "He has a clear sense of the challenges and opportunities of the medium from a brand advertising perspective and will be able to help drive revenue for the site. Video is a top priority for the company and monetization is key to maturing the business online."
With MySpaceTV quickly becoming the second most-visited video site on the Internet in a couple of short months, it is looked at as having a high monetization potential by the company. In July it drew 17.9 million visits, second to only YouTube's 55.1 million.
As with all user-generated video, it has been difficult to monetize to say the least. As a result, MySpaceTV seems to be implementing the strategy of offering more professional content that would lend itself to more sponsorship deals which can be offered for premium prices. Currently companies have been migrating to the social networking sites from Web portals because of the less expensive advertising opportunities - not a good sign for online community builders.
MySpaceTV is attempting to up the level of its content to cater to the premium advertising market. They've made deals with National Geographic, LonelyGirl15, NHL, Sony Minisode Network, Reuters and the NBA, among others recently for this very reason.
As far as monetization goes, I think this is the future of online video. Putting together professional and semi-professional video will be the best opportunities to make money from this online market.
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