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CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cook Associates Executive Search (www.cookassociates.com/executive-search), a leading retained executive search firm, today released its first quarterly East Coast Internet and Digital Media Jobs Index, which tracks job creation at almost 350 digital media companies in Boston and New York. Cook Associates found that these two cities employ approximately 30,000 individuals in the digital media sector.

According to John Barrett, a Managing Director in Cook Associate’s Digital Media Practice, “Silicon Valley is synonymous with venture capital, yet the East Coast has also attracted significant venture capital dollars, especially in the explosive digital media sector. Boston and New York have exceptional talent pools that are growing. In addition, many of the largest public players such as Google continue to expand hiring on the East Coast. We found a number of surprises in Internet and digital media employment in New York and Boston. We’ll be following digital media hiring trends as we benchmark industry growth in these cities.”

Index data indicate that New York is home to a larger number of newer companies that have emerged in the past five years. While Boston’s hiring trends will continue to be favorable, Internet and digital media headcount in New York City in the future will likely grow at a faster rate given the current venture investment trends favoring that city. Another proof-point of New York City’s surge in start-up activity is that only 50 percent of NYC-based employees work for a publicly-traded company, whereas 59 percent of Boston-based employees work for public companies, reflecting that many of the older start-ups in Boston have been gobbled up by larger enterprises.

Barrett noted, “Our study focused on identifying those Internet and digital media companies with 10 or more employees. We tallied more than 10,900 digital media employees in Boston while there are over 19,600 in New York City. Despite Boston not being known as a large consumer-driven town, we were surprised to find over 6,400 people employed in consumer Internet companies, about 59 percent of the total for the city. By comparison, New York City has approximately 13,500 employees, or 71 percent of the total, in the consumer Internet sector. Not surprisingly, large national players such as Google, Yahoo and AOL, each have large offices in both cities. Up-and-coming employers in New York include Gilt Groupe, Etsy, Yodle and Ideeli while Boston has Wayfair, Hubspot, Rue La La and Carbonite.”

New York data:

230 Internet and digital media companies who have 10+ employees in New York City

50% of companies are consumer-focused vs. 50% business-focused Top 20% of largest employers in NYC employ 68% of the headcount

Approximately 19,600 NYC-based employees among those 230 companies

50% working in public companies vs. 50% in private companies 71% working in consumer-focused companies vs. 29% in business-focused companies

Boston data:

116 Internet and digital media companies who have 10+ employees in Boston

46% of companies are consumer-focused vs. 54% business-focused Top 20% largest employers in Boston employ 67% of the headcount

Approximately 10,900 Boston-based employees among those 116 companies

59% working in public companies vs. 41% in private companies 59% working in consumer-focused companies vs. 41% in business-focused companies

Cook surveyed only pure-play Internet and digital media companies. Based on its research, the company believes that the businesses surveyed represent more than 90% of the Internet and digital media employees in New York and Boston. Virtually all companies in the survey are currently or were previously financed by venture capital investors. Major digital sub-sectors covered include media/content, social networking, advertising, mobile media/commerce, e-commerce, video, local, analytics and marketing software. Excluded from the survey were digital-focused employees of “traditional” companies and digital ad agencies. Cook’s East Coast Internet and Digital Media Jobs Index is current as of January 1, 2012.

For more information about Cook Associates’ Digital Media practice, please visit http://www.cookassociates.com/executive-search/practice-areas/digital-media---entertainment/ Follow Managing Director John Barrett on Twitter at @jbarrett.

About Cook Associates Executive Search

Cook Associates provides retained executive search services to multinational corporations, early-stage entrepreneurial companies, midcap, privately held and family-owned businesses, as well as venture capital- and private equity-backed firms. The company’s reputation as a trusted business advisor is built on decades of successfully identifying and guiding clients to the right solutions to drive performance and gain competitive advantage. For more information, visit http://www.cookassociates.com.

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Internet and Digital Media Jobs Index Shows Significant Job Creation by East Coast Digital Media Companies