An Arabic social networking and video portal site d1g.com has appointed Dr. Usama Fayyad, Yahoo’s former chief data officer and executive vice president of research and strategic data solution, as its new executive chairman.

The d1g.com now has a regional audience of more than 3 million unique monthly visitors who view over 20 million monthly pages and an excess of 15 million online monthly videos making it the leading video streaming site in the Middle East, said a company statement.

Dr. Fayyad’s entry into the company provides great value in helping scale its  infrastructure to accommodate the increased users’ activity and to grow the business to the next level.

Dr Fayyad, an online data mining and data strategist, will help catalyze the company into its next stage of growth, it added.

“Arab audiences are really thirsty for new-generation rich content and social media represented by the Web 2.0 offerings of d1g.com. I am very excited about d1g.com,” said Dr. Fayyad.

“I have been informally advising the firm since its early days, and I am very bullish about their potential to grow and provide some of the most dynamic experiences for their audiences and marketers alike.” he stated.

Dr. Fayyad will play a particularly crucial role in helping the d1g.com management team better monetize the company’s inventory through more targeted ad offerings that allows marketers to dynamically generate ads that target various audience criteria such as geography, demography, and browsing behaviour.

He will also help expand the offering to our rapidly growing user base across the entire Arabic speaking world.

“We are very excited to have Dr. Fayyad on board.  His hands-on approach to the company and the team has already proved to be of enormous value to the business,” said Majied Qasem, d1g.com co-founder.
 
“Dr. Fayyad will be instrumental in helping us capture a larger share of the rapidly growing on-line advertising market as all companies realize the effectiveness and value of this new medium, especially in reaching the youth and high-value audiences across the Middle East, including especially the GCC and North Africa,” he remarked.

Rudain Kawar, d1g.com co-founder and primary investor, said, 'Fayyad's involvement will put d1g.com in the forefront of online innovation and provide globally and regionally relevant insights into the industry.'-TradeArabia News Service