X

Google loses ad exec to CBS

Patrick Keane, a four-year Google veteran, has been named chief marketing officer at CBS Interactive.

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
See full bio
Elinor Mills
CBS has hired a top Google advertising executive to sell the media company's content to emerging Web-based platforms and expand its advertiser base.

Patrick Keane, formerly head of advertising sales strategy at Google, has been named executive vice president and chief marketing officer at CBS Interactive, CBS said late on Wednesday. In addition to helping CBS make money off its content, he will manage CBS Interactive's online research, reporting and analytics efforts. Before he joined Google more than four years ago, Keane was a vice president and senior analyst at Jupiter Research and head of Jupiter's online advertising service.

"Patrick brings rare business intelligence and a wealth of relationships that will help us monetize all future platform opportunities," said Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive. "He is widely considered an industry expert in online distribution and marketing, and his transition to an audience company like CBS is a testament to our commitment to partner with technology companies worldwide."

The news comes shortly after CBS and Google were reported to be in ad-distribution and possible content-sharing talks. The Wall Street Journal, however, recently reported that the negotiations had broken off. Spokespeople for both companies have declined to comment. CBS has experimented with distributing content on Google's YouTube video-sharing site and on Google Video.