Mail Online names the executive team appointed to spearhead US commercial effort
Mail Online has announced the appointment of two experienced US digital executives, Rich Sutton and Sean O’Neal, to run ad sales and marketing in the US.
The hires signal the newspaper websites emerging strategy to monetize its strong audience growth in North America. Sutton will oversee advertising chief revenue officer and O’Neal will head marketing as global chief marketing officer.
Both appointments will be based in New York and will report to Mail Online Publisher Martin Clarke.
Speaking of the announcement, Clarke said: “Over the past few years we have had great success in building a substantial audience in the US and are now America’s third biggest online newspaper behind the NYTimes.com and WashingtonPost.com, according to comScore. Sean and Rich, both accomplished digital executives in the U.S., position us well to capitalize on our huge traffic growth in the States.”
Sutton joins Mail Online from CBS Interactive Music Group where he held the role of global head of sales. Before that he was SVP/Consumer Markets for WebMD, and spent nearly 13 years with Warner Bros. and Time Warner where he lead the start up of Warner Bros. Online.
Of his appointment Sutton commented: “When I started running ad sales at Warner Bros. in 1996, it was just a few weeks after Yahoo had run their first online ad. I am looking forward to bringing 17 years of experience in the digital space to Mail Online.”
O’Neal’s most recent role was as president of Vizu Corporation, the online ad research company recently sold to Nielsen. Prior to that he was a member of the founding team at Datran Media and has also held executive positions at Sony Online Entertainment and CD-Now.
O’Neal added: “Mail Online traffic is growing by five per cent a month, as well as enjoying huge mobile and video growth. I am excited to begin the journey of marketing its highly attractive audience to the advertising community and introducing the site to new consumers.”