VEVO Appoints David Kohl to Executive Vice President, Customer Sales and Operations

VEVO Appoints David Kohl to Executive Vice President, Customer Sales and Operations

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- David Kohl has been appointed Executive Vice President of Customer Sales and Operations for VEVO, the new premium music video and entertainment service created by Universal Music Group in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment and powered by YouTube. The announcement was made today by Rio Caraeff, President and Chief Executive Officer of VEVO, to whom Mr. Kohl reports.

"David's leadership, innovation and track record for building successful sales teams makes him the ideal choice to lead our company-wide efforts in this vital area," stated Mr. Caraeff. "With his extensive background in sales management in a variety of mediums including online music, mobile and television, he is tailor-made for this role and we're delighted to welcome him to the growing VEVO family."

"I'm excited to join the VEVO team and help build the business," added Mr. Kohl. "At VEVO, when a user selects a video, whether they are 15 or 55, they are passionate about their music; it's their choice. This passion translates into higher engagement and a richer ad environment yielding higher brand awareness and retention. The VEVO audience combined with a host of integrated brand partnerships at VEVO.com will provide for one of the most compelling platforms in the online video space."

Prior to joining VEVO, Mr. Kohl served as Head of Sales and Publishing for Nokia Interactive Advertising, the world's largest global mobile ad network. In this capacity, Mr. Kohl built the team that closed the industry's first mobile "Upfront Commitments," and developed an ad program that quadrupled year-over-year ad revenue in the key auto, entertainment and travel categories. Formerly, Mr. Kohl worked at Viacom, where he led the team that developed 360 ad programs for brands across MTV's online/television channels including MTV, MTV2, VH1 and CMT. As a result of his efforts, major marketers such as American Express, Ford, BestBuy, Pepsi and Anheuser Busch, among many others, were able to take advantage of fully integrated music programs both online and on-air. Mr. Kohl's background also includes being in charge of advertising sales for such Web properties as getmusic.com and farmclub.com, where he created the first integrated national digital and TV tour generating in excess of $4 million in revenue.

Launching later this year, VEVO is the innovative online premium music video hub for consumers, advertisers and content owners that blends the very best in top-notch music content with YouTube's leading edge video technology and user community. The content will be made available on YouTube through a newly created VEVO channel, on VEVO.com, the service's marquee destination site, and through a special VEVO branded embedded player. The service will also serve as a syndication platform for additional internet destination sites, expanding the reach of the VEVO brand across the worldwide web.

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Source: Universal Music Group

CONTACT: Peter Lofrumento or Maria Ho-Burge, maria.ho-burge@umusic.com,
both of Universal Music Group, +1-212-331-2569

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Profile: International Entertainment