MTVN Names Atom Vet to Get Digital Ducks in a Row

MTV Networks named Mika Salmi to run its sprawling digital sales operation, which now includes 30 or so properties. Salmi was CEO of Atom Entertainment, recently acquired by the Viacom unit.

As president of global digital media, he’ll oversee sales across a hodgepodge of video and gaming platforms, including XFire, Y2M, iFilm and Neopets.

MTVN believes Salmi is well equipped to juggle the odd assortment of properties, having crafted sales approaches for Atom’s several gaming and video sites, including Atom Films, AddictingClips, Shockwave.com and AddictingGames.

His resume also shows some experience with user generated content. Atom recently added video upload functions to its AddictingClips property in response to the craze for YouTube-style video sharing. Before the breakaway success of such sites, Atom and competitor iFilm were the dominant portals for video content online. Both were grabbed by MTVN in the past year for less than one sixth the price Google paid for YouTube last month.

Atom also has a history of funding original video programming and offering special branded features. A year ago it hosted an “Intel Indies” short movie contest, well before marketing tie-ins with consumer generated video were fashionable. The contest required participants work with a “magic wand” theme and employ an Intel processor in their production process.

Prior to founding AtomFilms in 1998 Salmi was with RealNetworks, leading business development for the media and entertainment vertical.