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Newspaper Industry Vet James McDonald to Lead Key Sector of Online Marketing Company PV Media Group

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 09:00 CDT

Newspaper industry veteran James McDonald has joined online marketing firm PV Media Group (pvmediagroup.com) as VP, corporate sales & development. In the newly created role, McDonald will concentrate on extending and building the online presence of media companies with strong local and national brands.

Steve Rosenberg, CEO of PV Media Group, comprised of leading online ad network AdOn Network and the rapidly expanding search engine optimization (SEO) marketing company Prime Visibility, made the announcement today.

"Jim's terrific track record of creating online success for established media brands makes him the ideal choice to lead us in this important sector," Rosenberg says. "Newspapers, magazines, television stations, cable networks and other traditional media companies have been moving aggressively to create online businesses. But we've seen examples of some reacting too slowly, leaving room for someone else to come along and build a web brand of their own. We want to help these established companies successfully translate their brands online and continue to thrive."

Adds McDonald, "I'm excited to bring my experience and entrepreneurial nature to a company that has a strong history of results for their clients and that operates in an entrepreneurial manner. I see it as a perfect fit, and look forward to assisting newspapers and other media companies make an accelerated transition to the web."

Newspapers represent a major expansion of the company's unprecedented emphasis on traditional media. Since acquiring Prime Visibility and AdOn Network in January 2008, PV Media Group has broadened the two companies' wide range of client categories to include an expanding slate of broadcast and entertainment businesses.

Rosenberg, former president of Universal Domestic Television and co-president of Universal Television Distribution, has assembled a senior management team that is well versed in both traditional and online media.

McDonald joins PV Media Group from his Philadelphia-based M6 Media consulting firm, which he started in 2005. He has advised media companies and private equity firms, including E.W. Scripps Co., Cox Newspapers and Hicks Muse Capital, on sales development, strategic planning, acquisitions and new product development opportunities.

In 2004-05, McDonald served as president/publisher of Newsco, a holding company for Suburban Richmond Newspapers, Journal Newspapers and Suburban Washington Newspapers. He successfully restructured the business into individual operating units prior to spearheading their individual sales. As part of McDonald's strategy, Anshutz Investments' Clarity Media Group acquired and re-launched Journal Newspapers as the Washington Examiner, a free 260,000-circulation daily newspaper, allowing the new owner to build out a national network with Examiner newspapers and websites.

Prior to Newsco, McDonald led the turnaround of Metro International's first free daily newspaper in Philadelphia, nearly tripling sales and cutting expenses to bring the paper back to the breakeven point. McDonald next moved to Metro's North American corporate offices to facilitate new rollouts and partnerships in the U.S.

Additionally, McDonald has run two of the nation's largest weekly newspapers in Manhattan and Philadelphia, while also overseeing the launch of a hugely successful newspaper for then-Capital Cities/ABC Publishing in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa., market.

PV Media Group, established in January 2008, combines the resources of two leading web-based companies:

AdOn Network (adonnetwork.com), founded in 1999, is one of the largest contextual and behavioral advertising networks online, providing innovative solutions to more than 1,000 national and international advertisers and publishers. Based in Phoenix, Ariz., AdOn Network ranked 72nd on Entrepreneur Magazine's "Hot 500" list of 2007's fastest-growing companies in America.

Prime Visibility LLC (primevisibility.com), founded in 1998, is a leading, full-service search engine marketing (SEM) firm committed to increasing traffic, sales and ROI for its clients. Prime Visibility provides integrated online marketing plans and individually tailored services, including SEO, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), email marketing, conversion tracking solutions, Web 2.0, social networking, and other SEM services. Based in Long Island, N.Y., Prime Visibility has developed outstanding revenue growth and is on the 2007 INC. list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Source: Business Wire

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