Videoplaza appoints Xavier Rius Planas sales and business director for Southern Europe

The appointment reinforces Videoplaza's commitment to the Spanish market to help meet the growing demand for video monetization.

The video platform for editors Video Plaza has announced the appointment of Xavier Rius Planas as the new sales and business director for Southern Europe. With 10 years of experience in the online advertising sector, Xavier will bring to Videoplaza a deep knowledge of the online media industry and the content monetization market in Southern Europe. In his new role, he will manage the company's business development in the region, helping media owners achieve greater revenue from their content, save costs and increase efficiency in the management of video advertising.

Over the last year, Videoplaza has recorded a 400% increase in traffic for video monetization, demonstrating the growing interest that television networks, publishers and brands are now placing on video over the internet as a key medium to reach the connected audience.

Sorosh Tavakoli, CEO of Videoplaza, highlighted that "our business is growing rapidly, as publishers and television networks seek to maximize all the opportunities that video offers. Xavier combines a deep knowledge of local markets with successful experience in directing and driving digital media companies in the region, so we are delighted that he has assumed the responsibility of developing our business in Southern Europe. We trust that his experience will help us position Videoplaza as the leading company in video content monetization. video in these markets.”

With more than a decade of experience in the field of digital advertising, Xavier Rius has focused on the evolution of IPTV and advertising strategies for video on mobile devices. For the last three years, Xavier has been CEO and new business director for television and mobile at Smartclip, helping the company's founders develop a leading business in Spain. Before Smartclip, Xavier worked at the Puig Group and founded his own digital company, Ad One, which merged with Adsmedia in 2008. Xavier began his career as a campaign technician at Ad Pepper Media, later joining the founding team of ya.com as head of the campaigns department.

For Xavier, "audiovisual content reaches more and more multimedia devices, such as tablets, smartphones, video game consoles and televisions connected to the Internet. More than 44% of Spaniards have a smartphone or tablet, with which they watch videos on the Internet, and this percentage will increase to 59% by the end of 2012 according to the IAB. We are facing an audiovisual revolution and we must prepare our companies for this new era. Publishers, content owners and television networks in Southern Europe “They are quickly understanding that they can get tangible value from this new online audience with the right monetization approach. The market is poised for significant growth and I am excited to help media and content producers lead the new multi-screen era.”

With an aggressive international expansion strategy for the next 18-24 months, Southern Europe is key to Videoplaza's success. The company already works with leading companies in Spain, including the Godó Group.

Following the launch of its Karbon platform in March, designed to target multi-device environments, Videoplaza has confirmed that traffic from mobile devices and tablets has reached 10% in September, compared to 1% registered in January. As further evidence of the increasing relevance of online video advertising, Videoplaza and IHS Screen Digest have carried out a study that shows that advertising spending on online video is growing exponentially compared to the practically flat growth of television advertising in Europe (53% Internet compared to 2.5% on TV).