MySpace has its first general manager for Canada.
Dave Stevens, formerly vice-president of product management and strategy at CanWest Digital Media, was hired last month and will head up the Canadian office in Toronto.
Stevens said MySpace, based in California and owned by News Corp., sees a lot of “value from an advertiser and user standpoint” in Canada and he plans to increase the online social network’s presence in this country.
On the consumer side, MySpace will do more to promote Canadian musicians and comedians on its site and at offline events like its “Secret Shows.”
On the advertiser side, Stevens said MySpace will be meeting with marketers and will also set up meetings to explain how advertisers can use MySpace in their campaigns. Stevens pointed to website domination campaigns on the site, like one recently done for The Incredible Hulk.
He also cited Rogers Wireless, which is sponsoring MySpace Karaoke. “What we can do is create a dialogue with users” and hyper target consumers that advertisers want to reach based on their MySpace profiles, said Stevens.
Although MySpace is wildly popular worldwide, in Canada it lags well behind Facebook as the social network destination of choice. In May, MySpace received just over 4 million unique Canadian visitors, while Facebook had 16.2 million, according to ComScore.
MySpace’s Canadian office, which opened last year, employs 11 people, but Stevens said he wants to increase that to about 20 by next June, including the addition of more salespeople.
While at CanWest, Stevens was responsible for strategy and operations for Canada.com and Dose.ca, and led business development for emerging media platforms like mobile, IPTV and digital outdoor display.
Prior to CanWest, he worked at AOL Canada and Rogers Television.
Stevens reports to Travis Katz, MySpace’s U.K.-based managing director of international operations. “Dave’s impressive background in every form of media and tremendous leadership qualities make him the ideal fit for this crucial role,” Katz said in a statement. “Driving growth in Canada is a top priority for MySpace internationally and it was crucial that we find someone with his depth of experience of the Canadian market.”
