Fim kills one unit, forms another to refine brand and performance sales

FIM's former EVP of engineering and production, Adam Bain, will head the Audience Network, putt to use his experience in assisting in the acquisition and integrating of ad optimisation firm Strategic Data corp. Bain, who started his stint with the company as VP production and development at FOX athletics Interactive, will continue to study to FIM President Peter Levinsohn. The web group encompasses performance-based ad sales, operations, serving and engineering development.

Bain's group will deploy the HyperTargeting ad platform, built with SDC's engineering, across FIM place. The scheme uses data gleaned from MySpace profiles and other company sites to mark display ads to 100 of niche audience segments. According to FIM, at least 750 section currently exist. The company aims to put that engineering to use on other publishing house properties, too. This could mean either selling it to other sites or using it to build an ad web, allowing FIM to purchase and serve ads into third party stock list.

The new division will also lead development of a self-serve ad platform in the works for MySpace, which has been delayed. The company expects to launch that merchandise, aimed at smaller advertisers, by the end of June.

In add-on to creating new gross streams through extension of its targeting platform, FIM hopes to generate more dollars from brand advertisers. Hence the determination to repositing brand ad salespeople within person product units such as IGN amusement and Fox Sports, rather than keeping them lumped together in the now defunct Revenue Group. This means salespeople will work hand in hand with product development teams to better integrate premium ad opportunities such as sponsorships or custom offerings. For instance, the head of IGN Entertainment Sales will now report to IGN GM Roy Bahat. No changes are expected for product group leadership, according to FIM.

"Our individual business units have evolved to a point where it is clear they are best served by dedicated professionals who live and breathe those products alone," said FIM President Peter Levinsohn in a memo to company staff. "By integrating the sales teams in this way," he continued, "each operating unit will be empowered to assume responsibility for its revenue, growth and profitability."

The dissolution of the Revenue Group unseats the head of that unit, chief revenue officer Michael Barrett. He is expected to leave FIM two months after the restructuring. Although FIM is still sorting out the internal changes, it does not expect any former Revenue Group employees to be laid off as a result.

FIM is one of many large online media firms moving pieces on its chessboard to keep up with advertiser needs and shifts in media consumption. Recognizing the need to expand reach, increase ad yield, and create more performance-based and higher-CPM ad opportunities, firms like AOL and Yahoo are also undergoing structural changes. AOL, for example, is folding its advertising properties, including ad network powerhouse Advertising.com, behavioral targeting firm Tacoda and mobile ad network Third Screen Media, into its Platform A unit, created last year. However, because FIM essentially has separated its brand ad operation from its new performance advertising and platform services division, the firm considers its approach much different from AOL's.

Yahoo is also expanding its reach and ad management services by building a local network with a growing list of newspaper publishers in the hopes of competing directly with AOL. A broadened FIM network and competitive ad platform service could pose a new threat to AOL and Yahoo, as ad network behemoth Google sharpens its own display advertising and ad management teeth.