IGN Entertainment, the owner of GamesIndustry.biz, has promoted veteran media executive Justin Davis to the new role of VP, Editorial and Commerce. He was previously VP, Commerce, overseeing affiliate content, user subscriptions and IGN Store, following a long editorial career which included co-founding IndustryGamers (later acquired by GamesIndustry.biz).
The new position has been created to further unify the company’s Editorial, Commerce, Audience Development and Tech Editorial teams, and drive more effective communication and collaboration between them. As part of this change, the company announced it would be combining the previously separate Games and Entertainment editorial teams to “better match how our audience engages with fandom” and support a more flexible approach to content programming, citing the success of its blended editorial events like IGN Live and IGN @ San Diego Comic Con.
A unified editorial pool will be led by Senior Editorial Director Rachel Weber, while Senior Editorial Events & Partnerships Director Michael Peyton will lead a unified Editorial Events, Partnerships, and First Looks team. Alex Simmons continues as Senior International Editorial Director, managing the former Gamer Network editorial brands (including GamesIndustry.biz) alongside leading features for IGN Entertainment. Corrado Caretto continues as VP Video, Production and Social for all of IGN Entertainment.
“I’m honored by this opportunity and excited to get started,” said Davis. “This is a pivotal time for IGN and all media companies, and I’m confident we have the right people and the right structure to make IGN even more vibrant and successful over the next 30 years as it has been for the last 30. I am deeply committed to fostering an environment where our talented editors can do their best work.”
“I’m delighted to appoint Justin into this new role, which is a key part of delivering our unified vision for IGN Entertainment,” said Yael Prough, President, IGN Entertainment. “Our goal is to ensure our editorial excellence directly fuels our business growth, and unifying our content teams and aligning our objectives at the highest level means that the entire organization is positioned to collaborate on delivering world-class editorial even more effectively.”
Prough also said that the company would be opening a new position of SVP, Content to lead the newly-combined group, with recruitment starting later this year.
