Mark Chippendale, the former Sky Media director of sales, has joined Yahoo! Europe in a new role to boost advertising sales across the region.

Mr Chippendale, who left Sky last September after 14 years, has joined the web portal in the new pan-European role of regional vice-president of media sales.

He will be responsible for overall European commercial media strategy and revenue streams across Europe and will report to Dominique Vidal, the regional vice-president and managing director of Yahoo! Europe. Online advertising revenues are growing strongly as more people subscribe to broadband, which allows for more sophisticated adverts. Boosting advertising revenue is a prime concern of Yahoo!, which was punished by investors last month after results only matched expectations.

Last month its share price slid 9% after the company reported a sixfold rise in second-quarter net profits to $754.7m, (£431m), compared with $112.5m a year ago. Total revenue for the quarter was $1.25bn, up 51%. "We are operating in a dynamic online advertising market that continues to grow at unprecedented rates," Ms Vidal said. "More and more, marketers are turning to the internet as a branding medium capable of engaging consumers in a unique and exciting way."

Mr Chippendale, who left Sky Media following the arrival of Nick Milligan from Five and was installed above him as managing director of Sky Media, said the old advertising order was shifting.

"Advertisers are starting to fully appreciate the power of online advertising at the same time as internet usage is soaring. Yahoo! is dedicated to providing users with the very best services on the internet and has one of the most significant online audiences."

Yahoo! Europe has six local websites in the UK and Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Catalonia.

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