Huffington Post continued its video push on Monday, announcing the promotion of HuffPost Live president Roy Sekoff to president and CEO of newly-formed HuffPost Studios.
Nathan Brown has also been hired as General Manager of video, coming over from Complex Media.
Sekoff helped launch HuffPost Live, which as TheWrap reported, surpassed 2 billion video views in January.
As part of TheWrap‘s State of Streaming report, Sekoff spoke about other outlets imitating HuffPost Live.
“If imitation is truly the sincerest form of flattery, we are really, really flattered by The Shift. And CBSN. And Vice News’ plans for a live talk show,” Sekoff told TheWrap. “It’s not surprising to see so many different companies trying to make their platforms and their programming much more social and in sync with the digital and mobile media world we’re living in – that’s the bet we’ve been making for the last 3 years, with great results. We welcome the new folks to the party.”
Founder Arianna Huffington told staff through an internal memo that Sekoff is the right guy to lead the website’s video expansion.
“There is nobody better suited to lead HuffPost’s expansion into long-form video series than Roy,” Huffington wrote. “In his 10 years at HuffPost, he’s proven himself to be a rare combination of a creative and innovative thinker, and someone who knows how to execute and deliver on those creative ideas.”
Read Huffington’s full memo below
As you know, doubling down on video is one of our biggest goals for 2015. As we expand our original video offerings to include long-form series and documentaries, and approach a time when 50 percent of HuffPost content will have a video component, we are thrilled to announce two big steps in this direction: the promotion of Roy Sekoff to President and Chief Creative Officer of the newly-formed HuffPost Studios, and the hiring of Nathan Brown as General Manager of Video. Together, they’ll be shaping HuffPost’s future in all things video.
As the founding editor of The Huffington Post and the co-creator of HuffPost Live, there is nobody better suited to lead HuffPost’s expansion into long-form video series than Roy. In his 10 years at HuffPost, he’s proven himself to be a rare combination of a creative and innovative thinker, and someone who knows how to execute and deliver on those creative ideas.
In his new role, Roy will continue to lead the creative direction of HuffPost Live, which recently surpassed 2 billion video views and continues to attract top-tier guests who break news on our air, while overseeing the recently-announced HuffPost Show and our push into documentaries.
We met with many candidates for the GM role, and Nathan stood out as someone who clearly understands the “video moment” we find ourselves in, but who also has the ability to think creatively about what’s around the corner. Nathan will be involved in every aspect of HuffPost’s video operation, from strategy and monetization to growing our audience and increasing the quality of our content.
Nathan joins us from Complex Media, where he was General Manager of video and TV, overseeing original and branded content for a millennial audience, on everything from news and pop culture to style and gaming. Before that, he founded and ran Rehab Media, an award-winning film production company in San Francisco that produced short and long-form videos, branded entertainment, documentaries and a feature film. Along with his focus on video, Nathan also has a deep interest in design — his creations range from bar and restaurant interiors to elegant furniture for Disfigure, the San Francisco design firm he co-founded. We can’t wait to see how Nathan, working across all areas of HuffPost — including internationally — puts his experience, expertise and passion to work.
Please join us in congratulating Roy on his promotion, and in welcoming Nathan to the HuffPost team.
Arianna and Jimmy