Group Nine Media has announced the hiring Jeff Siegel, formerly head of syndication for Verizon's defunct streaming service Go90, as its senior vice president of distribution.
Siegel's main task is to drive sales and strategy across Group Nine's four brands: Thrillist, The Dodo, Seeker and NowThis, and to expand their collective IP across platforms worldwide.
A veteran in the digital media space, Siegel has spent 20 years monetizing digital content on a global scale. On Verizon's Go90 team, Siegel brokered its first international content licensing deal and drove revenue across cross-functional teams to distribute IP that had garnered global appeal. Go90 was turned off back in July. Siegel also had served in executive roles at Defy Media, Fremantle, and MTV Networks.
Siegel will report to Group Nine’s chief network and IP management officer, Mickey Meyer and will be based in the company’s New York headquarters.
Meyer said in a statement: “Jeff has extensive national and international media distribution experience and deep expertise in sourcing and negotiating TV and digital content sales and licensing deals with leading global platforms. As we continue to expand Group Nine’s IP library and evolve onto new platforms and into new formats, Jeff’s experience will be invaluable to helping us connect with new and diverse audiences around the world.”
Siegel added: “Group Nine is a proven leader in creating compelling IP that successfully lives across digital, social, linear and beyond and I’m so excited to join the team at this exciting stage in their growth. The company’s brands have already built huge audiences of superfans both domestically and abroad, and I Iook forward to helping to continue to expand the audience in new and exciting ways.”
The expansion of the popular content publisher has been quickening during 2018. Since the hire of president Christa Carone in December 2017, the Discovery-based digital network had hired a west coast sales lead and has expanded its IP across digital and linear platforms. A notable sign of growth within the company has been from news outlet NowThis, which launched its first morning show for Facebook Watch in September and partnered on a sports documentary highlighting sports legends Pele, Wayne Gretzky and Jerry Rice.