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Fox Interactive to Yahoo: watch out, we are on your digital tail!

Ross Levinsohn, President Fox Interactive Media, is not content that the online properties he oversees represent the “second largest Internet company in terms of page views.
Written by Donna Bogatin, Contributor
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Ross Levinsohn, President Fox Interactive Media (FIM) is not content that the online properties he oversees represent the "second biggest Internet company in the U.S. in terms of page views.” Speaking in New York City this morning, Levinsohn let it be known that number two really does try harder; FIM intends to overtake Yahoo, sooner rather than later.

Levinsohn declared his competitive intentions during a keynote presentation at the OMMA conference.

How will Levinsohn gain the coveted “number one” Internet company moniker at the expense of Yahoo? Levinsohn repeatedly banged the digital drum this morning that FIM is “not just MySpace.” For Levinsohn, in fact, FIM is already the “number one content network on the Web” thanks to its portfolio of online properties:

myspace.com: social networking
foxsports.com: sports content
ign.com: gaming community
rottentomatoes: movie destination
askmen.com: lifestyle portal..

Levinsohn proudly touted his FIM content network:

Has more than 131 million unique users worldwide;
Reaches more than 50% of all 18-34 year olds;
Had 33 billion page views last month;
Has highest concentration of 18-34 year old males…

The FIM content network has grown from a 5% reach of all 18-34 year olds in the U.S. a year ago to a 50% reach today, Levinsohn said.

Levinsohn regales we are “bigger” than Microsoft, AOL, Google…and Yahoo, here we come!

Another key message from Levinsohn this morning: “viral, user-generated media is king.” Levinsohn characterized the FIM “131 million uniques” as “evangelizing, discussing, sharing and connecting!”

Levinsohn underscored that the majority of the content at the FIM properties is created by individuals. Levinsohn put forth that such user-generated content has the advantage of “rich CPMs” from “hyper-targeted advertising.”

During the Q & A, however, I asked Levinsohn how user-generated content could be “king” for FIM as his 100 million MySpace friends are only commanding “junk” CPMs. I pointed out that I had written about one particular MySpace friend--Sexxy Sangria--and noted that even Google shows little interested in trying to sell ads against her very friendly profile.

Levinsohn replied that even at low CPMs there is a great value in an aggregated billions of impressions. He also expressed enthusiasm for “immersing” professionally produced content within the viral MySpace experience.

Regarding Google, Levinsohn said he has $900 million dollars from the company. I indicated to Levinsohn, however, that Google’s millions are in the form of an IOU, not cash in the bank.

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