MP & Silva has snapped up William Mao from video-sharing website YouTube to serve as the agency’s new vice-president of digital operations in the Americas.
Mao, who will oversee digital and social media operations, will be based in the agency’s New York office with Daniel Cohen, senior vice-president and managing partner, Americas. He previously worked as a sports content manager for YouTube in New York.
Mao will be involved in MP & Silva’s strategic expansion around opportunities in sport via video-on-demand, IPTV, OTT, live streaming, video clips and social media.
The North American digital landscape represents a growth opportunity for the agency, which has partnerships with the North American major leagues of American football, baseball, basketball and football.
“William has a proven track-record having secured and managed multi-year partnership deals for YouTube, and we look forward to leveraging on his well-established relationships to continue building on our success across the region,” MP & Silva chief executive Marco Auletta said. “We are confident his contributions will be key to positioning MP & Silva in the forefront of the sports digital media rights market.”