Friends Reunited Press

Friends Reunited today announced that Craig Nayman has joined as Commercial Director. Craig will look to secure key partnerships across a range of content verticals on Friends Reunited.

Friends has been steadily growing traffic to its verticals since going free to users in May 2008 and since launching user-generated groups in October 2008. Overall unique users to the site have grown 16% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009 (source: Nielsen Site Census), and there has been particular growth in the verticals such as travel, pets, cars and entertainment. Craig’s role will be to identify key partners who can benefit from the rich targeting opportunities that these growing communities present.

Partners can engage with users by integrating their content (editorial, search boxes, competitions etc) into user groups, as well as taking advantage of Friends’ highly targetable advertising, which allows partners to target by social demographic, specific location, hobbies and ownership criteria.

Craig will report to Andy Baker, Managing Director of Friends Reunited Group. Craig joins Friends Reunited Group from ITV Local, where he was Commercial Director.

Of the appointment Andy Baker said:
“This is a fantastic recruit for Friends Reunited and we look forward to the wealth of knowledge and experience that Craig will bring to the role. Unlike other social networks, Friends is over-concentrated in users aged 35 to 60, and not surprisingly, our user communities reflect the leisure interests of British people in those age groups, such as travel, pets, cars, photography and entertainment. Working alongside our ITV sales team, Craig will be invaluable in helping to take our targeted advertising and ecommerce opportunities out to major partners”.

Craig Nayman adds:
“I’m delighted to be joining the Friends Reunited team. Based on the recent developments to the site we are now in a position to offer advertisers a range of opportunities linked to our members’ interests and passions – a real chance to be part of the 20million plus Friends Reunited community”

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Notes to editor:
About Friends Reunited
Friends Reunited is the original online social network. It was launched in 2000 as a back-bedroom hobby to put old school friends back in touch with each other and swiftly became a British media phenomenon. The Friends Reunited Group comprises the leading websites Genes Reunited and Friends Reunited Dating, as well as the core Friends Reunited site. Over 20 million people have registered with the Friends Reunited Group, representing an unparalleled cross section of Britain’s online population. In 2005 Friends Reunited Group was acquired by ITV and in April 2008 dropped its subscription charge and evolved into an interactive social networking site for grown-ups.
Contact:
Ella Gascoigne
Press Officer
Friends Reunited Group
ella@friendsreunited.co.uk
01883 717 468