Paul Kontonis, a veteran of the emerging medium of branded video, who helped define the category as an executive at Digitas, recently joined the  LA-based Collective Digital Studio (CDS), one of the big MCN’s (multichannel networks),   to design and sell marketing programs to brands around the network’s key YouTube channel stars.

We spoke with him about how CDS  creates “authentic” programming for brands including  a   channel created for makeup brand Bobbi Brown.

Last week, the company announced it has sold a 20 percent stake to ProSiebenSat.1, a big German TV network.

Kontonis Leads GOVA

Outside of his position at The Collective, Kontonis is leading the newly formed GOVA, an association of several of the top MCN’s — the big digital video producers with multiple channels on YouTube.   He explains the organization’s industry role and objectives in the interview.

Kontonis was a moderator and panelist at the Beet.TV Content Marketing Summit held at the New York offices of Mindshare yesterday.