Former Facebook Exec John Smolen Hired to Lead International Sales Efforts
AUSTIN, TX – October 12, 2021 – Atmosphere, the worldwide leader in streaming TV for businesses, announced today the expansion of operations into Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The move extends Atmosphere’s US-based footprint to additional growth markets, building on the company’s momentum over the past year, which includes a $25 million Series B funding round led by Valor Equity Partners that valued the company at $275 million dollars. Launched in 2019, Atmosphere’s streaming platform is specifically designed for the out-of-home market, providing short-form TV programming to more than 15,000 restaurants, bars, gyms, hotels, doctors’ offices, and other venues across the country and abroad.
To lead the new international push, Atmosphere has hired former Facebook and TikTok executive John Smolen to serve as Director of International Business Development. Smolen comes to Atmosphere from TikTok, where he was the entertainment, experiences, and travel industry lead. Earlier, he served as the Industry Manager for entertainment and media at Facebook, where he built and led the team responsible for Facebook’s largest entertainment accounts, including ViacomCBS, Spotify, Warner Media, and The New York Times. Smolen was also part of the team that launched Facebook advertising in the Philippines.
“We’ve been incredibly excited by the response we’ve seen in the US market over the past year and a half as we’ve more than doubled our footprint from 6,000 to more than 15,000 locations,” said Leo Resig, co-founder and CEO of Atmosphere. “Canada, Australia and New Zealand represent the next phase in our growth strategy, and we are thrilled to welcome John to lead our efforts in these and future international markets.”
Among Smolen’s initial tasks will be hiring an international sales team and securing office space for the new locations in both Canada and Australia. Atmosphere aims to have six to eight employees across both markets by end of year. In 2022 Atmosphere plans to significantly expand its international footprint, expecting to add 20-30 members to its team outside the US. In addition to Canada and Australia, the company is currently running a pilot program in Latin America and the United Kingdom for possible expansion in the future.
“With an emphasis on visuals over audio and channels designed for every audience, Atmosphere is ideal for international expansion,” said Smolen. “Having worked at global platforms like Facebook and TikTok, I can see the same potential in Atmosphere, and I’m excited to be leading our growth efforts in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and beyond to make Atmosphere available truly everywhere.”
Atmosphere streams an aggregate of more than 250,000 hours of programming per day across 54 channels of both owned and partner content, reaching over 48 million visits every month. Atmosphere retail clients include Westin, Hilton, McDonald’s, and thousands of other businesses of all sizes. Atmosphere provides venues with TV hardware and programming for free, monetizing its content through its proprietary advertising platform and paid subscriptions, allowing venues to run their own ads during programming breaks.
About Atmosphere
Atmosphere is a free streaming multi-channel platform for businesses offering over 50 original and partner TV channels licensed for global, commercial venue usage. Atmosphere also provides value added features for venue operators including a digital signage feature for businesses to run their house promotions within the content and a paid ads-free version. The platform was developed using proprietary content, technology and data to deliver unparalleled experiences for businesses, consumers and advertisers. The business was incubated within Chive Media Group as CHIVE TV and spun out in 2019 into Atmosphere. For more information, visit www.atmosphere.tv.