Verizon Communications and Hearst have introduced Complex Networks, a service that puts millennial-focused brand Complex and new digital video networks RatedRed.com and Seriously.TV under the same umbrella.
Rich Antoniello, formerly CEO of Complex and its founder, has been named CEO of Complex Networks. Additionally, Neeraj Khemlani, president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, and Brian Angiolet, senior vice president of Verizon’s consumer product portfolio, to take on the additional roles of co-chairmen of Complex Networks.
The debut of Complex Networks follows the formation earlier this year of Verizon Hearst Media Partners, an initiative focused on digital video programming for mobile platforms and younger audiences. They launched RatedRed.com and Seriously.TV in the spring.
They said Complex Networks’s offerings generate more than 500 million videos views a month and have a combined social following of over 75 million users.
“Our partners at Verizon and Hearst respected what we have built with Complex and are now entrusting us with this immense opportunity to bring all of these brands together to build the biggest and best collection of vertical voices of tomorrow,” Antoniello said in a statement. “By combining the resources and assets of our parent companies—with unparalleled offerings in mobile ad and video technology, as well as premium content production—with the differentiation and growth of RatedRed, Seriously.TV and Complex, you’re looking at a set of digital video networks that will continue to grow production, distribution, and monetization of must watch programming for an audience that is as massive as it is engaged.”
Verizon and Hearst also have stakes in AwesomenessTV.
