Jeffrey Kaufman has been named Senior Vice President of Digital at USA Networks.
If the name sounds familiar to savvy online video readers, it may be because Kaufman had a successful 19-or-so-month stint at Alloy Digital where he had the title of Senior Vice President of Digital Video. While at the company now known as Defy Media, Kaufman was responsible for “video strategy, programming and production for all channels including Smosh and Clevver and launched new original channels including Smosh Games.” That last responsibility he ostensibly handled particularly well, as Smosh Games became one of (if not the) fastest YouTube channels ever to amass one million YouTube subscribers. The gaming offshoot of the popular Smosh comedy channel hit the seven figure subscriber mark in only 93 days.
Before Alloy, Kaufman spent time at Howcast (where he helped with their strategic and branded programming) and NBC Universal (where he helped launch a little online video startup called Hulu).
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Aside from a few online spinoffs of its television programming, USA Networks hasn’t done much in the digital media space. Kaufman will presumably change that. He’s tasked to develop product, monetization, and content strategies for USA Network’s digital properties at his new position.
