Doyle was most recently chief of staff to the CEO for video game magnate Activision-Blizzard; he also served as vice president and head of finance for Activision’s largest business unit. Before that, Doyle was investing in software and technology as a vice president with venture capital firm Summit Partners.

Subar was last seen serving as CTO at Oversee.net. He’s also served time as the CTO of PeopleLink and the CIO of Interthinx. Back in 1994 (The Dark Ages), Subar founded game development firm Interna, which created titles for the likes of Activision, Interplay and IBM.

With a reach of 140 million monthly uniques, Break is comScore’s 34th-largest web property in the U.S. It also one of the top five U.S. video ad networks and streams more than 2 billion videos each month. The company aims to develop 1,000 original videos in 2011.

Flagship website Break.com is the top comedy destination on the web, according to comScore (though I swore Demand Media told me Cracked.com held that title). Break also added two new properties to its cabal: Hispanic-male focused entertainment site Tu Vez and video game info depot Games Front.

UPDATED, May 26, 6:30: A Demand Media spokesperson tells me Break.com has 10.8 million monthly uniques, making it the comedy site with the most unique visitors; Cracked.com boasts 5.6 million. However, Cracked.com rakes in with 19.5 million U.S. visits monthly compared to Break.com’s 17.2 million visits. The average Cracked.com visitor comes back 3.5 times, versus the Break.com’s 1.6 visits per unique. Finally, Cracked.com’s U.S. audience spends 118 million minutes (more than 224 years, the spokesperson highlights) on the site per month. Break.com garners 34 million minutes of wasted time a month.

Ah, the power of nuance. Care to join the pissing contest, Break Media?

CEO Keith Richman said the additions, as well as recently inked deals with data horses BlueKai and eXelate, furthered Break’s goals of becoming a one-stop shop for advertisers. With a crew of agency and network veterans, Apogee will assist advertisers in building internal email database as well as boost their social media exposure with a Facebook fan bases and Twitter followings.

In addition, Apogee will complement the Break Media Network’s traffic with a hand-selected group of premium external distribution channels.

With a network that spans an estimated 100 million men monthly, last week Break unveiled Apex, which allows advertisers to manage highly targeted campaigns and create custom ad formats.

Marin Software:

The company has expanded internationally, opening an office in the U.K. It has appointed search marketing executive Ed Stevenson, former head of U.K. operations for 24/7 Real Media, and search operations director at WPP’s GroupM, as European Managing Director. Marin Software’s European operations will be headquartered in central London with an office in Chandos Place.

Media Storm:

Russell Zingale was appointed managing director. He comes to Media Storm from Carat USA, where he held the dual roles of director of business development and managing director of Carat Affiliates. Prior to joining Carat, he held management positions at Initiative Media. He has also held planning positions at Backer, Spievogel Bates and Wells, Rich Greene, managing accounts such as Proctor & Gamble, US Navy, CPC, Avis Rent a Car and others.

Apptera:

Chris Lalonde was appointed as vice president of engineering. Lalonde most recently was the vice president of technology and operations at Meraki, Inc. Before Meraki, Lalonde was chief information officer at Quigo Technologies, an online auction advertising platform. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Lalonde was a senior technology executive at eBay.

Epsilon:

Andrew Bast has joined Purple@Epsilon as Senior Vice President, General Manager. Prior to joining Purple@Epsilon, Bast worked at Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Communications and its sibling agency Glow Worm. Before Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare, Andrew advised clients at a major outsourcing firm.

LBi:

Jake Dyer and Ed Beard have joined LBi. Dyer, who takes the role at LBi as Planning Partner, comes from Agency.com where he had been Head of Strategy and Planning and part of the management team. Prior to Agency.com, Jake worked for Tequila and TBWA\GGT as a Planning Director and CRM expert.

Beard takes the role of Senior Planner at LBi, coming from Digitas where he worked on both B2B and B2C for clients like HP, Shell and Lloyds. He started his career as a BBC journalist.

Break Media:

Jennifer Logan was named Sales Manager of the southeast region.

MARS Advertising:

Sue Golden was promoted to senior vice president and general manager for the agency’s Chicago and Cincinnati offices. Golden, who most recently was vice president, general manager, joined the agency in 1997. Previous to MARS, Golden worked at Nestlé and Stouffer’s.

Kim Pawlak was named vice president and director of creative operations in its Southfield, Mich., corporate headquarters. Pawlak joined the agency in 1989 as a junior account executive. She spent more than a dozen years serving on the agency’s account services team working in various capacities with multiple CPG clients such as H.J. Heinz Co., Philips Lighting Company and Nestlé Frozen Foods.

Microsoft:

Stuart Anderson was named Marketing Communications Manager, mapping and local, EMEA. Anderson moves from the role of UK Online Consumer Marketing Manager. Anderson joined Microsoft in 1996 as Services Marketing Manager for Microsoft UK and went on to become partner programme and trade marketing manager before managing the consumer marketing for MSN UK. Prior to that he worked at global technology company NCR for five years.

Break Media, an online entertainment community for men, has appointed Michael Ziegler as senior director of Midwest sales. Ziegler will run the Midwest office, including Texas, to help drive sales for Break Media’s expanding base of media holdings, which include Break Media’s seven wholly owned sites (Break.com, Cage Potato, Chickipedia, Holy Taco, Wall Street Fighter and Screen Junkies) and the Break Media Network of over 80 sites all targeting men aged 18 to 34. In this role, Ziegler will be responsible for accelerating sales, client services and overall business development. Ziegler hails from Yahoo, where he was a national accounts director.

Vertical media network NetShelter Technology Media announced that for the first time it will draw on editorial resources from five of the sites in its portfolio to develop a wide-ranging Web-based guide to tech holiday shopping, dubbed “Top Tech Gifts: An Expert Guide to Holiday Shopping 2008.” Among the experts drawn together for “Top Tech Gifts” will be phonescoop.com’s Eric Zeman; Slashgear.com’s Vincent Nguyen; TechEBlog’s Steve Sun; i4u’s Luigi Lugmayr; and photographyblog.com’s Mark Goldstein.

Other key findings from the study:
• 63% have a smart phone and one in four use their mobile device to connect to the Web
• 40% use the Internet for more than 22 hours a week
• 36% say they can’t live without the Internet for socializing
• 33% say they can’t live without online entertainment
• 59% notice online ads
• 47% have purchased as a result of an online ad
• 35% like ads that allow them to play a game
• 34% like online ads that allow them to participate in a contest

The study polled a nationally representative sample of more than five hundred males aged 18-34 who access the Internet at least once per month. It was designed to determine what male consumers (aged 18-34) are doing online, what their likes and dislikes are, how they respond to advertising on the Internet versus traditional media and what they think about online advertising in general. The findings also provide additional insight into the general psychographic profile of men aged 18-34 and best practices when it comes to targeting the male demographic.

Break Media’s wholly owned branded properties (Break.com, Cage Potato, Chickipedia, Holy Taco, Wall Street Fighter and Screen Junkies) and the over 80 site Break Media Network reach 60 million men worldwide each month.

Leading brands, including Honda and T-Mobile participated in the study by running campaigns run-of-site on Break.com over and 11 week period. Each campaign used the four IAB standardized ad units: linear non-interactive (pre-roll), linear interactive (interactive pre-roll), non-linear non-overlay invitation ad (non-overlay ad) and non-linear overlay (overlay ad). The ads ran against short-form professional, semi-professional and user-generated content on Break.com with Panache providing the ad delivery and back-end reporting technology to test user interaction and engagement levels with each ad format.

“The standardization of video ad formats by the IAB was a critical first step in streamlining media buying, planning and creative processes across the digital video medium,” said Keith Richman, CEO of Break Media. “Our research was a result of our desire to provide data about the effectiveness of those new standards to our clients and partners, and to lay a foundation for future research initiatives to build and expand upon.”

“For the in-stream advertising market to evolve, the efficacy of ad formats—whether IAB-standard or new emerging formats—needs to be understood in order for our industry to scale,” said Steve Robinson, CEO of Panache. “This research begins to fill the knowledge gap between the formation of standards and the prophetic future of an efficient and scalable online advertising industry.”

“This study offers a window into the measurable effectiveness of new video ad formats, and it moves forward the broader discussion of online brand-building and advertising,” said Daniel Taylor, senior analyst at Yankee Group. “As the industry develops new ways to engage online audiences, it’s important to benchmark the progress we make. By making this study public, Break and Panache have advanced the entire industry.”

The Video Platform expands Break’s current offerings and eases distribution of content via Break.com to relevant audiences on network and partner sites. The platform is customizable, allowing publishers and advertisers to replicate TV audience targeting and reach by cherry-picking which sites the content will land on (they will also have a choice of ad formats).

“Men aged 18-34 are watching less television every month and are increasingly spending their time online,” said Keith Richman of Break. “Given this trend, Break’s powerful Video Syndication Platform provides advertisers and premium content owners the most effective way to replicate the audience sizes and scale they achieved through other media.”

Break also announced record high revenue growth (200% in the second quarter year-over-year) and a freshly padded-out vertical media network of more than 60 sites (no including music, action sports and celeb gossip). Average advertising buys also tripled year-over-year, Break said.

Break’s branded properties include Break.com, Cage Potato, Chickipedia, Holy Taco and Wall Street Fighters. The Break Media Network reaches 50 million men worldwide each month.

Break Media said it will initiate quarterly in-person meetings with council members to analyze consumer engagement; the council hopes its findings will appease brands who are demanding demonstrable evidence that their ad dollars are being effectively spent. Ultimately, of course, the goal is to prove that online media is a more effective method of snaring new customers than print, TV and radio. A recent report from Millward Brown indicates that online awareness and ad recall is better than TV and DVR, Break said.

“Marketers are increasingly challenged to demonstrate results from their advertising dollars, and particularly so as it relates to their online spending,” said Keith Richman, CEO, Break Media, in a release. “We are excited to take a leadership position in providing a forum where innovative research, critical thinking, and demonstrations of online video advertising effectiveness can be presented, discussed and assessed.”

Brands can join the council and have access to custom research that will focus on the effectiveness of online video advertising in niche market segments.

“Our data shows that Internet video is unquestionably a lean-forward experience. The audience is watching with their hand on the mouse, ready to click away as soon as they lose interest,” says Matt Cutler, vice-president of marketing and analytics at Visible Measures, a provider of independent third-party measurement for Internet video. “As advertisers look to maximize the return of their online video investments, media companies must iron out accurate reach and engagement metrics.”

Some of Break’s properties include Chickipedia, Holy Taco and Wall Street Fighter.