Apple | Mobile |
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Business Dev & Design Entertainment | Social Media Tech Web Video |
Apple | Mobile |
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Business Dev & Design Entertainment | Social Media Tech Web Video |
Operates an online ad publishing platform.
Year Established: | |
Funding: | |
Address: | San Francisco, CA 94107 |
Telephone: | |
Mobile: | |
Fax: | |
Mail: | info@5to1.com |
Company URL: | http://www.5to1.com |
5to1.com Launches Innovative Advertising Platform
Emerging Media Pioneers Lead New Venture
San Francisco, CA â September 14, 2009 â 5to1 (www.5to1.com) today unveiled its innovative advertising platform at TechCrunch50 in San Francisco. Attendees got a first-hand look at the only self-service ad publishing platform that empowers content owners to program relevant ad placements to the appropriate context, at the appropriate time and for the right audience.
Founded by a team with multiple entrepreneurial successes and who were instrumental in leading Fox Interactive Media to its pinnacle, founders James Heckman, Ross Levinsohn, Michael Barrett, Dale Strang and Mark Stieglitz have built a platform that restores value to unsold inventory for media companies by empowering publishers to participate in the placement, price integrity, and contextual targeting of advertisements, without increasing operating expenses.
â90% of unsold ad inventory is outsourced to remnant networks,â said James Heckman, co-founder and chief executive officer, 5to1. âThatâs an incredible amount of premium content being forfeited as remnant. Our platform helps partners to reclaim this inventory and convert into a premium experience for brands.â
Committed to protecting brands for both content owners and advertisers so they can achieve maximum value and branding for their clients, 5to1 makes it impossible for undesirable marketers to invade the experience, since no ad runs without publisher participation. This system results in more valuable inventory, a better user experience and brand integrity for publishers.
âPublishers committed to ensuring high quality advertising experiences for their users and brand partners should consider looking at 5to1, JoAnne Bradford, senior vice president, North America Revenue and Market Development, Yahoo!. âGiven how 5to1 allows the publisher to program ad selection, they've made it impossible for a disruptive ad to show up unless publishers choose to place the ad themselves."
5to1âs innovative platform is simple-to-use and is the first premium ad distribution platform that delivers scalability and cost-efficiency of networks with the control of premium buys. Utilizing its own proprietary technology, 5to1 combines real-time publisher and advertiser feedback with a smart, straightforward user interface to make ad selection and placement efficient and effective. Additionally, 5to1 publicly tracks the 5to1 community's choices for ads that are the most viewed, best click-through, highest rated, and other crucial details.
"The curation of advertising by publishers feels like a good idea. Publishers and advertisers are aligned in protecting our brands, and so introducing them into the process benefits the entire industry,â said Kal Patel, head of digital strategy, Best Buy.
At launch, the company has the ability to reach in excess of 100 million uniques, comprised of large and medium media companies. 5to1 publishers already have access to over 1,000 advertisers and 100,000 individual ads.
Founder Heckman brings more than two decades of CEO operating experience, including the successful launch of seven successful start-ups. Prior to his tenure at Fox Interactive Media, where he served as chief strategy officer, he built three network brands that reach millions of viewers today (Rivals.com â sold to Yahoo, Scout.com â sold to Fox, and Rivals.net â sold to 365Sports in the UK).
5to1 has assembled a seasoned team with a combined 150 years experience as senior digital executives including companies such as News Corp., Yahoo!, Fox Interactive Media, Microsoft, MySpace, IGN and Oracle.
About 5to1.com
5to1 is the only self-serve ad publishing platform that empowers advertisers and content owners to work as partners toward the common goal of ensuring relevant ad placement in the appropriate context, at the appropriate time, to the appropriate audience. By tapping the intelligence of publishers, 5to1converts unsold inventory into programmable, sponsorable, premium inventory. The 5to1 platform restores balance to the marketplace by returning placement and price decision-making to their rightful owners without increasing operating expenses. 5to1 launched in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.
PR Contact
press@5to1.com
Fuse Capital,Undisclosed Firm
James Heckman, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer and Founder Heckman is a new media visionary and monetization innovator who brings more than two decades of CEO operating experience as well as major media distribution relationships to 5to1. Heckman is the founder of seven start-ups, which includes five network roll-ups. He was chief strategy officer for Fox Interactive Media, where he architected and led negotiations for the landmark alliance between Google and MySpace, which produced nearly $1 billion in cash-flow for News Corp. Among the major brands Heckman has launched are Rivals.com, Rivals.net (Europe), Scout.com and NFL Exclusive.
Ross Levinsohn
Co-Chairman and Co-Founder Levinsohn is managing director of Velocity Interactive Group and co-chairman of 5to1. Distinguished by his many achievements, he has a combined 20+ years of digital and traditional media experience and is the former president of Fox Interactive Media. Prior to FIM, Levinsohn was general manager, Alta Vista Search and Portal; executive producer, CBS SportsLine.com; and held senior posts at CBS, HBO and Saatchi and Saatchi.
Michael Barrett
Co-Chairman and Co-Founder Barrett has earned his reputation as a true online ad pioneer. He brings 20+ years as a senior ad exec to 5to1 having most recently served as chief revenue officer at Fox Interactive Media. His prior roles include global executive vice president Sales-Partnerships for AOL/Time/CNN and senior vice president Sales at Yahoo! Inc. In addition, he held senior positions with Disney Online and was a sales leader at companies including Meredith Corp., Newsweek and Family PC.
Peter Foster
Chief Revenue Officer Foster is an industry veteran having led several of the most successful online sales teams from start-up to maturity and built revenue from immaterial to hundreds of millions. Most notably, he grew sales at Fastclick to $100 million and once acquired by ValueClick, helped grow revenue to over $200 Million. Soon after, as Senior Vice President of Sales at Photobucket - a division of Fox Interactive, Peter built the business to $45 Million in less than two years. Peter also spent six years at MaxOnline (later acquired by Ask.com), where he was Vice President of West Coast Sales and the company's top salesperson from 2000 to 2002. Most recently Peter architected the new sales model for Hi5, doubling page yield. Foster graduated with honors from Kenyon College.
Mark Stieglitz
Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder Stieglitz is a product pioneer with 20 years expertise in marketing, engineering and operations. He most recently served as general manager of Zazzle.com. Prior to Zazzle, he was vice president products at Fox Interactive Media and before that led development and marketing teams for Oracle, focusing on marketing systems and analytics, for IBM where he was responsible for enterprise messaging and at IGN where he provided reliable technology for video games used by all ten of the top 10 video game manufacturers.
Alok Sinha
Chief Technology Officer Sinha is an online technology expert focusing on massive scale, performance, and community engagement. He formerly was the co-founder and chief technology officer of Terrastrada.com, having held the same position at SecondSpace.com. Sinha also brings 17 years experience from Microsoft as product unit manager of MSN Mobile and MSN HomeAdvisor, as development manager of MSN.com and MSN Community, and as a developer in Microsoft Interactive Television, Windows NT, OS/2 and LAN Manager teams.
John Smelzer
Executive Vice President Smelzer is a digital media executive with substantial business and legal expertise in sports, entertainment and social networking. He most recently served as general manager of mobile for Fox Interactive Media, where he spearheaded MySpace’s pioneering ad-supported mobile website. While at News Corp. he led business development for FOXSport.com and FIM. Smelzer previously led business development for NBCOlympics.com, was Senior Business Affairs counsel for the National Football League and staff counsel for the 1994 FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee.
Mitchell Chun
Corporate Development Chun holds 17 years experience leading M&A and strategic initiatives for major media companies. He was senior vice president Corporate Development at Fox Interactive Media, where he played a key role in the ground-breaking Google/MySpace advertising deal and the development of the Hulu business model. Over his career at Fox, he executed multi-billions in transactions for News Corp. and was part of the original team that built FIM's strategy including the acquisition of MySpace. Prior to Fox, he held a senior positions at Universal.
Wayne Sieve
Executive Vice President, Strategic Partnerships Sieve brings a decade of experience, including heading business and revenue strategy for the nine business units within Yahoo! Sports and Entertainment. He previously served as business development lead for Yahoo! Sports, the number one online sports site, and initiated and developed the acquisition strategy between Yahoo! Sports and Rivals.com. During his more than eight years with Yahoo! Sports he also crafted deals with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, MLBPA, NHLPA, and NFLPA.
Tony Siconolfi
Senior Vice President of Advertising Sales Siconolfi is a sales strategist. He joined MySpace as director of sales in 2004, shortly after the company launched and at a time when there were only 2-3 sales reps. During his five years at MySpace, he worked to build the organization from the ground up, including solidifying advertising relationships to drive revenue, and was responsible for developing the procedures and systems that assisted in taking the sales division to 100+ reps and $250+ million in revenue.
Ben Joldersma
Chief Architect Joldersma is a proven lead architect/engineer who has worked with Heckman on various ventures since 1998, including the design of the 5to1 beta product, served as lead architect of Scout.com’s content management system, was a key engineer with Rivals.com and launched his career at MSN. Ben also recently consulted for aQuantive and Selena Software.