January 14, 2009 — Mountain View, Calif — Kosmix™, the Guide to the Web, today announced that former Fox Interactive Media executive Peter Foster has joined the company as senior vice president of monetization. Foster will be responsible for accelerating Kosmix's offerings for advertisers, as well as directing the day-to-day operations of the Kosmix sales team. Foster's appointment is part of Kosmix's drive to support its growing consumer base, a strategy that builds on the company's recent $20 million round of funding, led by Time Warner, and newly-announced relationship with former Chairman and CEO of Motorola, Ed Zander.
"At Kosmix we're developing a targeted way for advertisers to connect with consumers at the moment when they are most receptive," said Kosmix co-founder Anand Rajaraman. "Peter's deep experience at organizations like Fox will benefit our monetization efforts as we expand to reach a broader consumer base. He will take a strong role in ensuring Kosmix's advertising model delivers meaningful content to consumers and offers measurable results for advertisers."
Foster joins Kosmix from Fox Interactive Media, where as senior vice president of sales for Fox's Photobucket division, he formulated strategy for direct sales and partnerships, and grew revenue 300 percent. Prior to Photobucket, Foster led ValueClick Media's sales group, a team that generated annual revenues of more than $150 million. Foster 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."As the Web matures, personalization will become the future of online advertising," Foster said. "Kosmix is at the forefront of a growing movement to reinvent online publishing into a more targeted, personalized experience for the end user. By aligning online ads with relevant content, our goal is to reach consumers precisely when and where they are most engaged."
Kosmix organizes the Internet by topic, creating a better way to navigate the Web. Consumers use Kosmix to explore any topic, browse subjects that interest them and discover something new online. Any query — from "Inauguration Day" to "Slumdog Millionaire" —delivers a rich, dashboard-style page filled with immersive content. The site offers a 360 degree view of any topic and presents a unique mix of the best content on the Web, including news, videos, reviews, images, opinions and communities.
With eleven million unique visits per month, Kosmix sites give consumers access to content that is meaningful to them. In addition to Kosmix.com, Kosmix owns and operates RightHealth, a health site that has demonstrated strong growth in traffic and revenue. The site, a proof-of-concept for the Kosmix.com model, is the #2 most visited health site online (Hitwise) and has increased over 156% in user traffic year-over-year (ComScore).
January 22, 2009 — Mountain View, Calif — Kosmix™, the Guide to the Web, today announced that it has been selected for the 2009 OnMedia 100 List. The OnMedia 100 Award is given to private, emerging technology companies in the advertising, publishing, marketing, branding and public relations spaces. Kosmix was selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team based on demonstration of growth, market opportunity, quality of innovation and customer traction.
Kosmix organizes the Internet by topic, creating a better way to navigate the Web. Consumers use Kosmix to explore any topic, browse subjects that interest them and discover something new online. Any query — from "Michelle Obama" to "Twitter" —delivers a rich, dashboard-style page filled with immersive content. The site offers a 360 degree view of any topic and presents a unique mix of the best content on the Web, including news, videos, reviews, images, opinions and communities.
Kosmix and the other OnMedia 100 winners will be recognized at the OnMedia 100 Conference at the Ritz Carlton, New York City, on February 2-4. This two-and-a-half day executive conference is co-presented by Forbes and will feature presentations and high-level debates from CEOs, journalists, industry experts, investors and publishing and advertising executives. "The 2009 OnMedia 100 companies have demonstrated their tenacity even in the toughest economic conditions that the technology world has ever encountered," said Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. "We applaud their success in pushing the boundaries of innovation, creating market opportunities and transforming the industry even in the earlier stages of their businesses."
The OnMedia 100 winners were selected from among hundreds of other technology companies nominated by investors, bankers, journalists and industry insiders. The AlwaysOn editorial team conducted a rigorous three-month selection process to finalize the 2009 list.
View the full list of all the OnMedia 100 winners
Kosmix is the definitive guide to the Web. Kosmix was founded by Internet pioneers Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Funders include Time Warner Investments, Accel Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Dag Ventures, as well as private investors, including Jonathan Miller, Jeff Bezos and Ed Zander. For more information, visit www.kosmix.com.
AlwaysOn ignited the open-media revolution in early 2003 by being the first media brand to launch a global blog network. In 2004, AlwaysOn continued to lead the media industry in innovation by introducing a social network where members can connect and engage. AlwaysOn is also revolutionizing the media business by applying its open-media principles to its executive event series (Stanford Summit, AlwaysOn Hollywood, AlwaysOn Media and GoingGreen) and quarterly print “blogozine” by empowering its members to post and share their ideas and meet each other online. As our loyal readers know, AlwaysOn is committed to the free-market, merit-driven approach to reporting and event programming. No other media brand has dared to create such open interaction with its readers and event participants.
