- Steve McClellan

NEW YORK PV Media Group, parent of the AdOn Network, a contextual and behavioral targeting online ad net, has launched BreakingNews.com, a hybrid online social network/news aggregation site that caters to news junkies.

The company has hired veteran newspaper journalist James McDonald to run the service as president and CEO. McDonald was part of the team that developed and launched The Washington Examiner in Washington, D.C.

PV will use its search engine optimization firm, Prime Visibility, to enable BreakingNews to quickly capture paid search words for breaking stories, the company said, thereby insuring that the new site is prominently ranked in consumer searches.

PV CEO Steve Rosenberg noted that the term "breaking news" is already one of the most searched terms on the Internet. "A highly trafficked domain name like this, encompassing a term that has become such a significant part of the global vernacular, holds tremendous value for advertisers seeking prime online real estate," he said.

In addition to news that runs the gamut from international, political, entertainment, business, health and science, the site will feature blogs, videos and podcasts, widgets and other commentary and discussion forums from a network of pre-screened contributors.

PV will promote the new site through its online ad networks AdOn and Premium Access Media, providing millions of additional impressions to create brand awareness and traffic, said Rosenberg, a former TV executive who ran the Universal Television Group before forming PV in January 2008.