A visionary entrepreneur in digital entertainment and advertising, Ryan Magnussen is founder and CEO of Ripe Digital (RD), a media company that develops short-form, on-demand entertainment for broadband Internet, cable TV and mobile outlets. Since the company’s launch in September 2004, Magnussen has rolled out three distinct lifestyle brands – RipeTV (original programming for young men), OctaneTV (auto) and FlowTV (urban) – with the ability to satisfy young consumers and advertisers alike.Responsible for RD’s strategic planning and partnerships, Magnussen remains in the creative vanguard of an entertainment revolution that continues to shift control from the major networks during the heyday of “appointment television” toward the more consumer-focused Internet era. Magnusson pioneered RD’s “connective advertising” model that allows users to simultaneously watch programs with ads as commercial messages embedded in each show, and his company continues not only to create new formats, but to produce ads, track them and report their efficacy to advertisers. Under his direction, RD is also producing more short-form content in-house, growing its library to well over 10,000 segments.
Prior to RD, Magnussen founded Zentropy, Inc., one of Hollywood’s first interactive ad agencies. Over a four-year period he built it into one of the largest interactive agencies in the U.S., and one of the most prolific content streamers in the world, with annual revenues of over $80 million. Under his leadership, Zentropy developed online platforms and strategies for such entertainment companies as Fox, MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros., Polygram, Universal Music and Virgin Records, while leading e-commerce and interactive advertising for other major corporate clients such as Microsoft, GM, Coca-Cola, Reebok and Procter & Gamble. By the time Magnussen sold Zentropy to Interpublic Group in 1999, the company had ten offices operating in six countries.
Magnussen developed Zentropy at USC’s Marshall School of Business, where he received top honors, including the Most Outstanding Student Award and Best Business Plan of the Year, as a 1995 graduate. Today, as an authority in digital entertainment and advertising, he has appeared on covers of numerous publications and been a guest speaker for trade organizations including OnHollywood, Digital Hollywood, Red Herring and NATPE.