MEDIAWEEK 100, 2024

Nicholas Gray

Managing Director & Publisher, The Australian & Prestige and Managing Director, Tech Platform Partnerships

News Corp’s The Australian and Prestige titles division recently announced a new leadership team to drive the next phase of audience and commercial growth.

The division is led by Gray and editor-in-chief Michelle Gunn. Gray said: “These new roles are key to building on our relationships with commercial clients, growing subscription and marketing capabilities, and deepening our global connections to deliver the greatest impact for Australia’s largest media portfolio reaching and engaging with affluent and invested Australians.”

Gray has been with News Corp for 13 years including time as CEO of The Australian and managing director of Vogue and GQ Australia. Previously he spent time with Macquarie Bank, Lion, iSelect and ninemsn.

Kate Watson (NEW)

Commercial Director, The Squiz

Watson is the co-host of Squiz podcasts in addition to looking after commercial partnerships. She spent the early part of her career working in federal politics in the Office of Prime Minister before moving into media.

She worked at Sky News Australia producing live television as well as delivering commercial partnership content for some of Australia’s largest brands.

Since its launch in 2017, the Squiz Today podcast has expanded to also include News Club, Squiz Sort Cuts and The Weekly Wrap. The Squiz Today regularly sits in the Top 20 podcasts as measured by Podcast Ranker.

Daniel Monaghan

Senior VP Content and Programming, Paramount ANZ

It has been another challenging year for TV executives. At Paramount ANZ, Monaghan and his colleagues have been managing how audiences engage with their content across live linear channels, on-demand at 10 Plus and via subscription to Paramount+. He has had to make some tough calls in dropping key franchises like The Bachelor and The Masked Singer.

Speaking to Mediaweek earlier in 2024, Monaghan revealed that after two seasons of trying new things, The Bachelor “frankly wasn’t rating anymore”. “There were elements of The Bachelor that we were trying to reinvent and reinvigorate for that format because it was such a success for us in the early years, but it wasn’t showing the right trajectory,” he said. “To be honest, we just need to walk away sometimes.

His schedule for 2025 will boast a new Sam Pang series, a local version of the global hit comedy Ghosts and the return of Big Brother to 10. The latter should fill many hours screening across six days a week.

Nikki Rooke (NEW)

Director of Sales – Total Television, Nine

Earlier this year Nine promoted Rooke to replace Richard Hunwick who announced his resignation in May. Rooke joined Nine two years ago from SCA to oversee Nine’s TV, streaming, audio, and publishing assets.

In the current role, Rooke leads Nine’s national total television sales team overseeing metro TV, regional TV, and BVOD. Speaking of her new role, Rooke said she was “thrilled to be leading Nine’s Total TV team and fill the very big shoes left behind by Richard Hunwick.”

Rebecca McCloy

Executive Director of Commercial Sport, Foxtel Group

McCloy has responsibility for the sports acquisition strategy and its content, channel and commercial partnerships across Kayo, Fox Sports and Foxtel.

She has over 20 years of expertise in sports broadcasting, media rights negotiations and strategy, having also worked previously for Network 10 and Stadium Australia in creative services. She has worked at the coal face on sports rights in free-to-air, broadcast and digital environments.

McCloy has led hundreds of domestic and international rights negotiations across all major sports codes and manages the largest portfolio of sports media partnerships in the country.

Currently sitting on the Foxtel Group sports platform are AFL, NRL, cricket and Supercars among many others.

Tom Malone

Managing Director, Nine Radio

The Nine Radio group has continued its strong grip on audiences 10+ under Malone’s guidance. The challenge at the broadcaster has always been bringing in a new audience as the older ones tune out.

The group successfully replaced Alan Jones with Ben Fordham several years ago. The latest challenge for Malone and his team – replacing Ray Hadley as the 2GB morning announcer decided to end his current contract early. The biggest contributor ratings-wise continues to be 3AW where the breakfast show with Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft doesn’t miss a beat and boasts a market share of around 20% every survey.

The Melbourne station has also done well placing Tom Elliott into Neil Mitchell’s old morning slot. Across the four markets it operates in, Nine Radio boasts a commercial radio share of 15.8% (1.8m listeners weekly) and a streaming share of 27.8 (with a cume audience of 405,000).

Cate Hefele

Executive Director, Kayo Sports

Earlier this year Hefele told Mediaweek: “Our growth profile has always been: grow in winter, hold in summer.” That strategy will be tweaked with summers featuring cricket tours from India and then England which will lure lapsed and new Kayo Sports subscribers.

The streaming platform will also make a big push for more customers as it unveils its plans under the new AFL rights agreement. Hefele also told us: “We are looking at how we leverage the sports that we have and tap into each of the audiences that are fans of those sports. And if we have someone who is an AFL fan, it’s about making sure that they know there’s NRL, BBL or F1 on Kayo that they can watch as well. The data works hard on that and we are continuing to focus on that for retention.”

Previously, Hefele worked for McKinsey & Company in New York and later Sydney before joining Foxtel Group as chief of staff under CEO Patrick Delany.

Max Eburne and David Watkins (NEW)

Co-Chief Executive Officers, JCDecaux

As Steve O’Connor prepares to step away as CEO of the Australian arm of the global outdoor giant after 20 years at the top, the company has appointed two chiefs to take the business forward. That duo is chief commercial officer Max Eburne and chief financial officer David Watkins who will now become co-CEOs.

Eburne has been with the company for close to two decades working in both the UK and Australia. Chartered accountant Watkins is currently in his 10th year with the business.

JCDecaux recently announced it was transforming media across Sydney, Adelaide and Perth airports with a relaunch of its advertising offering. The reinvented portfolio is promising brands unprecedented access to high-value travellers and greater strategic options through iconic, immersive and strategically connected touchpoints in what is labels one of the most emotionally charged environments available.

Nev Hasan

Chief Sales Officer, Foxtel Media

The Foxtel Group chief sales officer played a key role at the recent 2025 Upfront. Hasan detailed new partnerships with CommBank iQ plus tvbeat and Adgile. Of the former, he said: “Measurement is the key to proving media-planning effectiveness. By partnering with CommBank iQ we’re further equipped to help advertisers not just reach premium audiences, but understand how their investments lead to specific outcomes and provide them with the tools they need to optimise media planning.”

Hasan has been with the television business for over 15 years. His previous role was executive director of agency sales. Prior to his tenure with the Foxtel Group, Hasan held positions at SMG RED, Yahoo!7 and Ninemsn.

Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald (NEW)

Co-founders, Shameless Media

Zara McDonald

McDonald is a writer and podcaster based in Melbourne. In 2018, she launched Shameless, a pop culture podcast for smart people who love dumb stuff alongside friend and fellow writer, Michelle Andrews. That same year, she co-founded Shameless Media, now Australia’s biggest youth podcast network in Australia.

Michelle Andrews

Andrews is the other co-founder of Shameless Media, having started talking about the idea with McDonald on their bedroom floors in 2018. Now, she co-hosts Shameless and works on sporadic creative projects, like the odd non-fiction book or limited audio series. The business now boasts 1.4m social media followers and a newsletter database of over 100,000. The company portfolio has grown to include the original Shameless podcast with Zara and Michelle plus Eilish Gilligan and Annabelle Lee. The newer titles are Ruby Hall’s Inherited, Style-ish with Joanna Fleming, Anika Joshi-Smith and Maddison Sullivan-Thorpe, Everybody Has A Secret with Annabell, Ruby and Louis Hanson and The Shameless Book Club.

Duncan Campbell

Chief Content Officer, ARN

While negotiating a new contract for the broadcaster’s biggest stars Kyle and Jackie O was top of the agenda last year, launching their show in Melbourne took up much of this year. And probably 2025 too. ARN has stayed strong in Sydney, but also has some challenges elsewhere.

About the KIIS FM Melbourne launch, Campbell told Mediaweek: “The tall poppy syndrome is coming into play there. When we brought Christian O’Connell to Melbourne a lot of people asked, ‘Does ARN know what it is doing?’ Eighteen months later the show was a huge success. We were all very enthusiastic about Kyle and Jackie O, maybe too much to start with.” He admitted they had got the content mix wrong with the overtly racy content. “Kyle has now pulled back on that quite considerably. They have stopped the graphic sexual content. The show is about relationships, so it is not going to be a sanitised show. The audiences do hang around to hear what Kyle is going to say next. We don’t want to lose that. If we start to take out the DNA of the show it’s going to collapse completely. I’m still convinced it can be a successful breakfast show in Melbourne.” He did add, “It hasn’t been a perfect launch.”

Karen Halligan (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, OzTAM

After Doug Peiffer stepped down from 12 years in this role earlier in the year, Halligan was appointed to take over. She has more than 25 years’ experience in senior client, media owner and agency roles.

Halligan joined OzTAM from KPMG where she spent almost six years and was Partner – KPMG Customer, specialising in marketing, martech and media advisory. Halligan’s experience includes working client side at Coca-Cola as media manager and several years working with leading media agencies, including managing director of Zenith, and senior management roles with Mediacom, Slingshot Media, and Bohemia Group.

She was also national commercial and operations director at SCA. Halligan said: “I am incredibly excited to join the OzTAM team at this pivotal moment in time. The opportunity to join a team that is transforming to deliver a globally leading and evolving measurement solution, underpinned by new technology, was just too good to pass up.”

Gai Le Roy

Chief Executive Officer, IAB Australia

The IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report (IARR), prepared by PwC Australia and covering FY24, found strong growth in formats that are considered short-term performance drivers and mixed market growth across other formats and environments.

The Australian internet advertising market grew 9.7% year-on-year to reach $15.6bn in spend for the financial year ending 30 June 2024.

Le Roy, who oversees the 170+ members of IAB Australia, commented: “The results for financial year 2024 show that marketers continue to increase their investment in reaching audiences across a range of digital advertising environments. While video and audio formats continue to grow the overall market, there is still a strong skew towards driving short term sales results with strong investments in search and social. In the June quarter results we saw a solid growth uptick in the classified listings revenue category, which was up 21% versus the previous June quarter, led by automotive and real estate activity.”

IAB Australia just this week hosted an impressive line-up of speakers for its invitation only inaugural Leadership Summit.

Bridget Fair (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Free TV

Fair joined the commercial FTA TV lobby group in February 2018, having previously held a number of senior roles with Seven West Media responsible for corporate affairs, government relations and business strategy.

She has also worked with the ABC and SBS, and in private legal practice. Fair is currently a board director for Women in Media, and has served as the former chairman of Screenrights. She has also held positions as a non-executive director of iSelect and a director of OzTAM, Freeview and the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism & Ideas.

Lizzie Young (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Commercial Radio & Audio

Young was appointed CEO of audio industry body CRA to take over from Ford Ennals when he returned to the UK mid-year.

CRA chairman and ARN CEO Ciaran Davis confirmed the decision made by the CRA board. Young has 25 years’ experience across multiple global markets and has worked on all media platforms in roles spanning commercial, content, and operations.

Prior to her previous role at WeAre8, Young held the position of managing director – local markets, group marketing and commercial partnerships at Nine, spending 12 years in the role. She has also spent over a decade in the audio industry, including seven years at GWR Radio/GCap (now Global Radio) in the UK, in roles including commercial programming controller and head of agency sales.

Young was the third CEO for CRA in almost exactly two years, replacing Ennals who resigned in April 2024, having informed the board of his decision to step down immediately. Young stepped down from her previous role as APAC CEO and global growth officer at WeAre8 in March. After helping the business launch into the US market last year, she cited time zones as her reason for leaving, with her global role seeing her work across Australia, UK, and USA.

Eric Beecher

Chairman, Private Media

Last year saw Beecher taking on Fox Corp in the courts which saw the Private Media founder receiving more publicity than perhaps at any stage of his career. Fox Corp CEO and chairman Lachlan Murdoch sued Private Media’s Crikey in August 2022 for comments made in an article published in June that covered the role of Fox News in the January 6 insurrection in Washington DC. This year Beecher released a book that contained much detail about the David vs Goliath media battle. The Crikey owner and ex-News Corp and Fairfax editor, according to his publicity, lifted the lid on the abuse of power by media moguls – from William Randolph Hearst to Elon Musk – and on his own unique experience of working for (and being sued by) the Murdochs. The book asked: What’s gone wrong with our media? The answer: Its owners. From US-based entrepreneurs, to British press barons to colonial upstarts like Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch, Beecher claimed media proprietors have manipulated the news to accumulate wealth and influence as they meddled with democracy.

Seb Rennie

Chief Commercial Officer, SCA

Rennie has over 20 years’ experience in media, having worked in and with significant media agencies, media owners, advertisers and tech vendors in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Most recently before joining SCA, Rennie was GroupM’s chief investment officer for Australia. He joined SCA in early 2023 to lead commercial strategy for its LiSTNR digital audio division.

He became chief commercial officer in May 2023 with responsibility for driving commercial performance and value for clients across SCA’s suite of broadcast and digital media channels and brands.

SCA recently revealed Rennie is overseeing growing ad dollars. Total audio revenue for Q1 FY25 of $100.4 million was up 4.8% compared to Q1 FY24, driven by growth of 48.2% in digital and 1.1% in broadcast radio. Both metro radio and digital audio have delivered three consecutive quarters of share growth (including Q1 FY25). Total revenue for Q1 FY25 of $122.3 million was up 1.5% compared to Q1 FY24.

This comes of the back of continued ratings leadership across metro markets with listeners 25-54.

Jo Clasby (NEW)

Director of Sales, Total Publishing, Nine

Clasby’s career so far has been bookended by roles at Nine. She worked there for 14 years until 2012, rising to the role of group business manager. She then headed to Bauer Media and Foxtel Media before returning to Nine in 2020.

One of her roles at the recent Nine Upfront was to highlight the new Good Food app. “Nine aims to continually evolve the app, adding new features and deeper integration with commercial partners,” said Clasby. “These include exclusive sponsorship opportunities, giving brands the chance to connect with users in meaningful ways while being associated with the most premium food brand in the country.”

Fiona Dear (NEW)

Director of News and Current Affairs, Nine

Formerly executive producer of A Current Affair, Dear succeeded Darren Wick in the role in mid-2024. Dear began her career as a work experience hire at WIN Wollongong and since those days has worked across the WIN Network from Wagga Wagga as a reporter to Canberra for WIN as a reporter and chief of staff.

Moving to Nine, Dear led the team at ACA for five and a half years including the handover from long time host Tracy Grimshaw to Ally Langdon who today presents the most-watched current affairs program in Australia. Dear now oversees the roster of Channel 9 programs from the 6pm News bulletins, breaking news teams, Today, A Current Affair and 60 Minutes.

Julian Delany

Chief Technology Officer, Data and Digital, News Corp Australia

News Corp Australia’s CTO was a guest speaker in August at ABC’s media innovation conference Futurecast 2024. The one-day conference, run by the ABC Innovation Lab, also featured ABC chair Kim Williams.

Delany spoke on a panel about power, technology, and media which was unsurprisingly about AI. Delany and his team are navigating the best path in AI for News Corp in Australia. The publisher continues to lead the market when it comes to news online.

In addition to having Australia’s biggest commercial news site, news.com.au, News Corp Australia is well represented in the top 20 news websites with the digital homes for The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun. Delany has overseen the design and implementation of the sites, keeping the look fresh and offering solutions to monetise the offerings.

Describing the key parts of his role, Delany previously told Mediaweek: “I’ve got three areas of work to focus on – technology, digital product, and data.” While he is no longer working at the “coalface” of news.com.au or the big Food Corp brands (including Taste.com.au), Delany noted, “The team and I are still accountable for how the digital product looks and feels.

“But it also about the plumbing on these sites and the data they generate. A stream of data that is essential for the content and sales teams to perform at their best.”

80 Peter Whitehead

Chief Commercial Officer, ARN

Selling audio wasn’t without its challenges here this year. The best part of the job is booking in clients for the leading Sydney FM stations KIIS and WSFM driven by Kyle, Jackie, Jonesy and Amanda.

There’s also the halo effect of having the #1 stations in Adelaide and Perth. Gold in Melbourne too is attractive to commercial partners.

Whitehead and his team are also growing the digital dollars being attracted across the iHeart audio assets – streaming radio and the many growing podcasts.

Challenges this year have been monetising Kyle and Jackie O into Melbourne and managing any advertiser fallout triggered by that breakfast show.

79 Chris Jones (NEW)

Network Director of Sport, Seven

The new head of sport has been on the Seven Upfront tour spruiking the monster cricket summer ahead and then detailing the complete overhaul of the AFL coverage.

The exciting changes for commercial partners are Thursday games for most weeks of the year and the plethora of analysis shows running on most nights of the week.

Jones joined Seven in 2000 as a junior reporter. After stints at Nine Network and Thrive PR, he returned to Seven as a senior sport producer in 2009. He was appointed an executive producer in 2018. Over the past 20 years, he has worked on AFL, cricket, summer and winter Olympics, US Masters, Australian Open tennis, Australian Open golf and more.

In his new role, he reports to Seven’s chief content officer, Brook Hall. He also shared a house with Craig Hutchison in his early career!

78 Nick Shelton (NEW)

Publisher, Broadsheet

Shelton established the independent media brand Broadsheet in 2009. Aged 25, after returning from a stint in London, he found that no Australian media outlets were reporting on Australian city culture in the way people were experiencing and talking about it. With no direct media or entrepreneurial experience, Shelton started the business on the desk of a friend’s design studio.

Now 15 years later, Broadsheet is an authority on culture in Australia and one of the country’s largest independent media brands with 2.5 million readers each month. Shelton also runs Broadsheet Access, the brands membership offering, and Scout, an employment platform for creative, media, hospitality and retail industry jobs.

Shelton is a founding board member of the Digital Publisher’s Alliance, an organisation representing the interests of Australia’s indie media businesses. This includes consulting to the federal government on media reform and parliamentary joint-committee hearings on the impact of global social media platforms on Australian society.

77 Cailah Scobie (NEW)

Chief Content Officer, Stan

Prior to her current role, Scobie served as the head of content acquisition and general counsel at Stan Entertainment.

Before joining Stan, Scobie worked as a corporate counsel at the Nine Network and as a lawyer at Blake Dawson and Telstra. She has been building a Stan that has grown its reputation as the home of the biggest and best Australian Originals.

The platform is also punching above its weight in international co-productions and is pretty deft in negotiating quirky series that resonate with Australian audiences.

Local originals that have helped that reputation include Critical Incident, No Activity, Black Snow, I Am Woman, Scrublands, Thou Shalt Not Steal, Ten Pound Poms, Bump, The Tourist, Wolf Creek, and Prosper.

76 Steve Crawley

Managing Director, Fox Sports

Live sport continues to be a key driver for FTA and subscription television. Crawley has the responsibility for making the sport that the Foxtel Group acquires look good onscreen and the numbers indicate he does a pretty good job.

In 2024 the start of the football season saw the focus on the NRL in Las Vegas as the season started amid fanfare rarely seen for Australian sporting codes. Crawley was on location overseeing the live panel shows that led into the weekend’s matches. The AFL responded early in the year with its Gather Round and Fox Footy was omnipresent across Adelaide anywhere a ball was bounced.

Next year the action early will again be in Vegas and the city of churches. However, the Fox Sports focus will be on how Fox Footy starts the season with a bigger commentary team juggling the demands of nine live calls a week, a jump of 50% from the six a week they used to do. The channel has already telegraphed several key hires – former players Shaun Burgoyne and Tom Hawkins. Leigh Matthews is also a good get.

Some of the Fox Sports content will now also be seen on the Binge platform at no additional cost for subscribers.

75 Clive Dickens

Vice President – TV, Audio, Content and Product Development

The content play at Optus comes under Dicken’s remit and 2023 was huge thanks to the FIFA Women’s World Cup played in Australia.

This year the former radio and TV executive has the current seasons of the Men’s Premier League and Women’s Super League playing out. This month group play of UEFA Nations League 2024/25 will conclude with finals and initial play-offs to be held in 2025.

Optus hasn’t been immune from content costs though and earlier this year increased the price of Optus Sport for Optus customers to $9.99 monthly. All others have to pay $24.99 monthly. We mentioned the Optus SubHub offer last year, now run by Customer Solutions.

It still lacks a few key subscriptions and doesn’t seem to be offering any bundle deals at the time of writing. But there could be some announcements soon.

74 Justin Stevens (NEW)

Director of News, ABC

Stevens’ first job in the media was in 2005 as a researcher for the Nine Network on Sunday and for Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals. He then joined the ABC in 2006 and worked as a producer and a supervising producer on 7.30 until 2014, and was appointed director news in March 2022.

Stevens’ ABC journey also included working as a producer on the 2014-2015 three-part series The Killing Season with Sarah Ferguson, which won an AACTA Award for Best Documentary and a Logie Award for outstanding public affairs report. From 2015-2017, Stevens worked on Four Corners, producing programs including the Hillary Clinton interview special; a money laundering investigation; the “Leaders” election special; profiles of Clive Palmer and Bill Shorten; and a program on territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

He produced “The Siege”, the two-part special on Sydney’s Lindt Café siege which won the 2018 Logie Award for outstanding news coverage. In 2018 Stevens was appointed executive producer of national nightly current affairs flagship 7.30.

73 Dave Cameron

Chief Content Officer, SCA

When the Mediaweek 100 list is published every year the radio industry is working hard on its following year programming mix.

The job hasn’t been too hard for SCA this year with a number of stations that don’t need “fixing”. But when you have 10 metro stations there’s always some work to do on the breakfast or drive offerings.

At the Hit Network, Cameron had Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane in a good place. New for next year are breakfast shows in Adelaide and Sydney. At Triple M there are incumbents returning in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. There was a bit of heavy lifting to do in Sydney and Melbourne though. Drive was sorted at Hit, while Triple M has dropped local drive shows for networked AFL and NRL programs. Mick Molloy is returning home to the Melbourne market on Triple M at breakfast.

72 Anthony De Ceglie (NEW)

Director of News and Current Affairs and Editor-in-Chief, Seven West Media

Seven promoted De Ceglie to director of news and current affairs and editor-in-chief following the departure of Craig McPherson.

He became the first major appointment since new CEO Jeff Howard began in the role on 19 April. There’s been a few more since! Before relocating to Sydney, De Ceglie was editor-in-chief of Seven’s recently-launched digital newspaper The Nightly, plus The West Australian, The Sunday Times, PerthNow plus its suburban newspapers, and 19 regional newspapers.

Before SWM, he spent more than 11 years in various roles at News Corp Australia. In his new role, De Ceglie is responsible for 7NEWS, Sunrise, The Morning Show and 7NEWS Spotlight, and 7NEWS.com.au.

71 Mike Connaghan

Managing Director, Commercial Content, News Corp Australia

The copywriter-turned-agency executive moved to News Corp after 13 years leading STW/WPP as chief executive officer. The agency experience has proven invaluable. “We’ve easily got the biggest commercial content business in the country – more clients are seeing the power of having an organisation like News,” Connaghan explained to Mediaweek previously.

“We’ve got the storytelling background, we’ve got incredible data, and we’ve got incredible reach right across the metro and regional markets in Australia. We’ve got the facility to actually deliver for clients.”

Part of this commercialisation mix at News Corp is the several companies inside of the business that can service clients in-house. This includes the creative agency Roller, and the content marketing agencies Medium Rare, Storyation, Suddenly, News Native Network and NewsCast. Connaghan celebrated the appointment of arrival of Nick Muncaster as managing director of its full service video production agency, Visual Domain: Connaghan said: “I’ve known Nick for 20 years and have watched him evolve into an outstanding leader and a trusted advisor to his clients. He possesses an innate understanding of the current landscape while also anticipating future trends.

When News took full ownership of Visual Domain earlier this year, we were very clear about our ambitions to scale the business in size, clients and revenue. With Nick’s expertise we are ready for the next phase of growth.”

70 Sunita Gloster (NEW)

Chair, Diversity Council of Australia

Gloster serves not only as the chair of Diversity Council Australia, but she’s also a non-executive director for Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and the UN Global Compact Network Australia, the principal sustainability initiative for businesses in Australia.

Additionally, she is a senior advisor at Accenture and is a fellow on the CEO/Director Network for DFATs Centre for Australia -India Relations. There’s more – she’s also an active member of Chief Executive Women, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and an alumni of the AICD Chair’s Mentoring Program for women in ASX board roles.

Many know her of course beyond her advisory and board work as a keynote speaker, commentator, and guest panellist on ABC TV’s Gruen.

69 Andrew Lancaster

Chief Executive Officer, WIN Corp & Birketu

WIN’s affiliation with Nine is the key ingredient for this private media company. However, the regional TV business is not what it used to be.

Seven gobbled up Prime some time ago and SCA has been exploring every option to shift its regional TV assets off the books.

Helping secure that WIN revenue stream was the decision to merge the WIN and Nine sales operations to offer a one-stop shop for buyers wishing to gain access to metro and regional Australia with a single buy. It was an important move for Lancaster to make in order to match Seven’s acquisition of Prime Television.

Lancaster also sits on the board of Nine where there have been some crucial board room meetings, with more to come.

68 Henrik Isaksson (NEW)

Managing Director, Acast

The Acast country manager for Australia is from Sweden, where he started his career in the mid-noughties in digital sales. He previously told Mediaweek: “I started working at an ad sales network in Sweden. I got in touch with that organisation by buying a bed on the Swedish equivalent of Gumtree called Blocket. It turned out that the guy I bought the bed from was the head of sales for the ad sales company and he wanted to employ me.”

Isaksson later went to work with various publishers in Sweden before working for Spotify there and in Australia. He took on his current role at Acast in 2017. Isaksson recently shared some of the most recent Acast global financials: “Our net sales grew 12%, with 14% being organic growth. Our gross margin remained high at 40%. EBITDA of SEK16m, reflecting an EBITDA margin of 3% in the quarter (-6% in Q3 2023), and we remain on track for full-year EBITDA profitability. Our platform hosts more than 135,000 podcasts and 2,700 advertisers globally. Our listens landed at more than 1 billion for the quarter. We’ve now paid out more than $410 million to our creators since launching.”

67 Brent Williams

Director of Sport, Nine

In November 2019, Nine named Williams as director of sport, taking over from Tom Malone. Since then his portfolio has only expanded. “We have got 12 months a year worth of sport,” Williams told Mediaweek. “With NRL, NRLW, tennis, some golf, new WNBL and the Melbourne Cup there is a lot going on. It is a tricky balancing act, but I have a terrific production team behind me and terrific heads of each sport, and I am lucky enough to oversee the whole thing.”

Reflecting on the first year of the Melbourne Cup contract, he added: “This year’s Lexus Melbourne Cup brought viewers a truly unforgettable story with Knight’s Choice and Robbie Dolan’s extraordinary win. The incredible ratings highlight Australia’s love for the Melbourne Cup and Nine’s commitment to bringing the best live sports experience to fans across the country. We’re proud to have shared all the excitement and drama of Cup Day with our audience.”

66 Peter Blunden

Executive Editor, News Corp Australia

Blunden has stepped back a little from his day-to-day duties at News Corp, yet his role is still a critical one with oversight over strategy across the newspapers.

In June this year, Blunden was this year made a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to journalism, particularly through the print media, and to the community.

He began his career at News Corp in Sydney as a cadet journalist. He climbed through the ranks and roles along the way included founding editor of The Weekend Australian Magazine in 1988, editor of The Advertiser in Adelaide from 1990 to 1996. Later in Melbourne he edited the nation’s highest selling weekday newspaper, the Herald Sun, from 1996 to 2001, later moving to editor-in-chief for five more years. He was then Victorian MD editorial for News Corp, chairman of the editorial board, News Corp Australia and he’s been in his current role since May 2020.

65 Georgie Nichols (NEW)

Chief Revenue Officer, Mamamia

Nichols brings over 25 years of experience to the media group across media, marketing and agency teams, including general manager at Carat and media director at Telstra. Her most recent role was as national sales director at Seven West Media. She joined Mamamia in mid-October, leading the sales team and setting the strategic commercial direction for revenue and partnership growth.

Nichols said of her new role: “Working for a media brand whose purpose you are passionate about with an incredible leadership team focused on sustainable growth is my definition of the dream. Mamamia’s core purpose is to make the world a better place for women and girls and with one of the strongest leadership teams in the country…my dream is about to become a reality! Mia, Jason and the entire Mamamia team have done an incredible job building Australia’s largest independent women’s media brand over the last 16 years.”

64 Mikaela Lancaster (NEW)

Managing Director, Spotify AUNZ

Lancaster is a self-described “big podcast fan” since taking over as head of Spotify Australia, she told The SMH shortly after joining. She said she was on a mission to extend the subscription service beyond music to audio more broadly. Seems to have been successful, not just here, but a strategy that’s worked well for Spotify.

“I have an ambitious but realistic goal for us to also be the leader in podcasts because we do have the audience here,” she said at the time. Lancaster started her career at Universal Music and then worked at Ninemsn, The Daily Mail, Apple Music and before her current role was at freemium video streaming service iFlix in Malaysia. Spotify doesn’t break out Australian subscriber numbers, but globally they continue to grow.

The company reported mid-year that MAUs (monthly active users) grew 14% Y/Y to 626 million, reflecting Y/Y and Q/Q growth across all regions. Premium Subscribers, the ones that pay, grew 12% Y/Y to 246 million, reflecting Y/Y and Q/Q growth across all regions. That means there’s a lot of people on the ad tier which is reporting ad revenue increased by 13% YoY – reflecting double-digit Y/Y growth across all regions, spanning music and podcasts.

63 Josh Faulks (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA)

Faulks took over the role from interim CEO Julie Flynn two years ago following an international search process. He came to AANA with a wealth of experience at the highest levels of government and the corporate sector.

He joined AANA from KPMG where he was the national lead of the Reputation Advisory business and has worked for over a decade in senior roles for federal cabinet ministers. Faulks has also been a senior executive at the ABC, an ASX listed corporation and an industry body.

Speaking at the opening of the annual AANA RESET event this year, Mediaweek reported Faulks said: “We celebrate 10 years of bringing our amazing community together. To be inspired and to be challenged by the some of the biggest thinkers with the biggest ideas.”

Setting the tone for the conference, Faulks asked the audience to reflect on what the AANA CEO described as a “turbulent” year for many businesses and attendees in the room. “Geopolitical issues, sticky inflation, higher-for-longer interest rates and the rising cost of living is really having a bit impact on consumer confidence. The outlook is flat for the foreseeable future. At same time for many the cost of doing business continues to climb, squeezing margins and increasing pressure to cut costs.”

62 Sophie Madden (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Media Federation of Australia (MFA)

Speaking after their recent awards event, Madden said: “Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the MFA Awards is an important milestone and a valuable reminder of our impact as an industry of Changers. The finalists and winners of the MFA Awards represent the very best of change-making media thinking and effectiveness, and set the bar high for the standard of work being produced by Australian media agencies.”

Speaking to Mediaweek at the adjacent MFA EX event, Madden noted: “The content on stage reflected that purpose in its thought leadership and in creating a rallying cry to all of us – from arriving at your own Net Zero Roadmap to understanding the brilliant media thinking behind One House, from learning about the important work of the Unstereotype Alliance to understanding media’s role in the upcoming referendum on the Voice to Parliament.”

Madden explained that the sessions on stage demonstrated the industry’s opportunity to influence change for clients, society, the economy, agencies and their careers.

61 Kim Portrate

CEO, ThinkTV Australia

ThinkTV shared earlier this year that the Total TV advertising market, which includes metropolitan free-to-air, regional free-to-air and Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) and excludes SBS, recorded combined revenue of $3.3 billion for the year to June 2024, down 8.1 per cent compared to the same period ending June 2023.

It’s been a tough year in the ad market, but there’s still a bit being spent on FTA commercial TV. There is no better advocate for the medium than Kim Portrate. Writing for Mediaweek earlier in 2024, she said: “There’s never a dull moment in this industry. If there is and we do get a little peace, it causes headlines too. But right now, there’s no end to the onslaught of change in the media landscape. In times of uncertainty, advertisers seek out stability. And that’s where Total TV helps. Recent OzTAM data shows TV audiences have stabilised, offering a haven from certainty in an otherwise volatile environment.

Data shows that TV continues to engage over 19 million Australians weekly, surpassing the active user base of popular social media platforms. Television has always been more than just a platform for content; it reflects and shapes our community, making it an integral part of Australian culture. For advertisers looking to connect with audiences in meaningful and impactful ways, TV remains an invaluable partner in the ever-changing world of media.” Her messaging is always clear and to the point. Other contributions for us this year were headlined: “TV is for everyone, and every advertiser”, and “Does investing in OOH at the expense of TV make campaigns less effective?” [Spoiler…yes!]

Vanessa Lyons

CEO, ThinkNewsBrands

ThinkNewsBrands promotes how and why professionally-produced premium news content is the best partner for advertisers looking to grow their brands and businesses.

The TNB stakeholders are News Corp Australia, Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media. In her role, Lyons oversees the release of the readership data collected by Roy Morgan.

She also commissions a significant amount of research and compiles case studies to marketers which help explain the power of the member assets.

In the month of August this year Lyons was out promoting the power of news at the CMO Summit discussing the ideal future media mix with the CMOs of Origin, Spotify and L’Oreal. She was also on hand for a significant milestone in environmental sustainability at News Corp Australia’s Chullora Print facility. Later that month Lyons addressed 80 senior marketers gathered to launch the Marketing Perspectives Series, presented by the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) and ThinkNewsBrands at ANZ Docklands.

After a report earlier this year that some brands avoid placement near news stories, Lyons told Mediaweek: “The thinking around ‘brand suitability’ which has seen some brands and their agencies avoiding news has gotten completely out of hand and isn’t based on facts. This misconception is leading brands to miss out on an extremely effective media environment where consumers are actively seeking information rather than just vacantly scrolling.”

Sam Buchanan

Chief Executive Officer, Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA)

The IMAA was established in February 2020 as national industry body that represents Australia’s independent media agencies. In less than five years the size and scope of its work has blossomed.

The numbers tells the story: The org lists over 160 agencies as members, lists 45 media publishers and broadcasters as partners and is linked with all the media trade organisations. There are a suite of benefits available to members plus regular training, events and awards. Buchanan has been leading from the front since launch and promotes the benefits of working with independent media agencies, building awareness and respect for the sector. There’s a couple of bigger agencies not on board, but most of the indie sector is covered.

He recently noted indie agencies have “won more than 100 major clients, often beating out incumbents and multinationals”.

Guy Burbidge

Managing Director, Val Morgan Cinema

Barbie and Oppenheimer were the movie hits that drove cinema advertising for much of 2023.

This year one of the big guns was Deadpool & Wolverine. The movie opened with a record-breaking $17.6m at the Australian box office across Thursday–Sunday setting a new record for the franchise.

The records kept tumbling, with Deadpool & Wolverine delivering the highest-grossing opening weekend for an MA15+ film of all time, the 10th highest-grossing opening weekend of all time in Australia and the fourth-highest MCU opening weekend of all time behind Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Avengers: Infinity War.

“As one of 2024’s most anticipated releases, we knew Deadpool & Wolverine would deliver massive results across Australia,” said Burbidge. “The film’s cultural impact is undeniable, rivalling the phenomenon that was Barbie and this record-breaking opening weekend has once again proved cinema’s power in capturing and connecting with hard-to-reach youth audiences – which is what we’d come to expect on titles like this.”

Sally Eagle (NEW)

Director of Content, Are Media

Eagle is responsible for leading the content team for Australia’s leading omnichannel content company for women.

Leading the omnichannel content team across the homes, lifestyle, entertainment and luxury content verticals encompassing print, digital, social and content commerce.

Sally joined Are Media in 2010 and has held various senior leadership position across the business including finance, marketing and publishing.

Earlier in 2024, Eagle spoke to Mediaweek about growth in print circulation and readership in addition to digital initiatives. Eagle should be able to spot a trend in publishing.

She started at the company when it was still trading as ACP Magazines. She then survived the Bauer Media Group ownership and is now key to the revival of the sector under private equity owner Mercury Capital.

Before the director of content role, Eagle was customer director looking after subscriptions, marketing, and the retail channel which included working with newsagents and supermarkets. Prior to joining Are Media, she held positions at Price Waterhouse Coopers and Giorgio Armani.

John McNerney

Managing Director AUSEA, Yahoo

McNerney led the Yahoo team is they unveiled new partnerships and advertising tools at the centre of its DSP innovation roadmap at its 2025 Newfronts event in Sydney in September.

The announcements included access to exclusive new data and tools, a new partnership with Afterpay to create a market-first finance-led commerce media network, as well as a suite of AI-powered enhancements to supercharge its advertising technology tools.

Going into Q4, Yahoo DSP’s clients will also have access to Fetch TV and Are Media, with more publishing partnerships to be announced soon. McNerney said: “As the digital ecosystem gets ever more complex, Yahoo DSP is committed to simplifying it while continually innovating for the future.

“Our solutions and new partnerships are focused on fostering meaningful connections between advertisers and customers in a sustainable way, across the open web.”

Sharyn Smith (NEW)

CEO and Founder, Social Soup

Social Soup is Australia’s largest, award-winning, influencer marketing company. It has pioneered the influencer marketplace for over 12 years and conducted 500+ influencer campaigns across a vast number of categories from beauty, FMCG, banking, alcohol, technology, fashion and pharmaceuticals to many not-for-profit organisations.

Smith is an experienced lecturer, public speaker and and authority on influence, social strategy, and entrepreneurship.

Social Soup is a BRW Fast Starter and winner of the Telstra Business Awards People’s Choice. Smith recently spoke to Mediaweek about content creators and the use of ChatGPT: “AI is rapidly becoming a vital resource for creators, empowering them to streamline their processes and engage more effectively with their audiences.

“What we’re seeing – and what’s most encouraging – is that creators are using AI responsibly, not to produce fake content but to improve their workflow through research, brainstorming and editing tools.”

Dominic Arena (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Fetch TV

Arena arrived at the TV business mid-year after the departure of Scott Lorson. Arena was formerly an executive director at Telstra Group, now the major Fetch shareholder, responsible for strategy, commercial, and growth, and group chief strategy and marketing officer of the publicly-listed telecom and infrastructure company Axiata Group.

He has also worked as the managing director and partner of strategy consulting firms in Singapore, and a director at KPMG Advisory in Australia, focused on telecom, media, and technology strategy. Arena said of the new role: “I am excited to lead Fetch into its next phase of investment and growth.

“The business is in an excellent position thanks to Scott’s leadership, and I look forward to Fetch bringing new and localised entertainment and lifestyle options to our customers, making it easier and more affordable to discover, enjoy and engage with the content they love.

“We’ll remain focused on delivering great home-grown products, exceptional experiences and continuing to work with all of our valued partners and customers.”

Hwei Loke (NEW)

Head of Prime Video Australia and New Zealand

Loke only recently stepped into the role of, reporting into Magda Grace who oversees the Canada, Australia and New Zealand operations as region director.

Loke has spent her 15-year career leading cross-functional marketing and creative teams to drive growth across some of the biggest global and local brands including The Walt Disney Company, SBS and Paramount (previously ViacomCBS).

Loke joined the Prime’s  Australian team in 2020. Her promotion came as Hushidar Kharas took on a new role as head of Global Prime Video Brand and Social Strategy based in the US.

Loke joined Prime Video in August 2020 and her new role encompasses customer growth and engagement, local marketing and portfolio management, live sports, and internal partnerships and sees her leading all Australian Amazon Originals releases, international Amazon Originals releases in regions, Amazon Exclusives, third party licensed content.

Prior to her role at Prime, Loke spent five years leading consumer marketing for Disney Media Networks in Southeast Asia managing all brand, creative, social media and communications for Disney Channels, Fox Sports, Fox Movies and National Geographic.

Tanya Denning Orman

Director of Indigenous Content, SBS

Orman, a proud Birri and Guugu Yimidhirr woman from Central and North Queensland, has led National Indigenous Television since it joined SBS in 2012 and was appointed to her current position in 2020.

Getting viewers to engage with the great content on offer remains one of the broadcaster’s challenges.

Denning Orman has done a great overseeing the curation of content, and marketers are being urged to support SBS Indigenous content via Beyond 3%.

Denning Orman explained a welcome move to make the content easier to find at the 2025 Upfront – a dedicated hub on SBS On Demand for every Australian to explore the best First Nations storytelling from here and around the world: “We know that audiences love connecting with our First Nations programming. In a declining linear TV market we’ve seen incredible growth for NITV, along with growing engagement with First Nations content across the SBS network.

“Over the last year we’ve also seen more Australians seeking out our stories, looking for opportunities to step up and create change. We’re excited to launch NITV Muy Ngulayg and continue to drive that growth as more Australians come to SBS On Demand for entertaining and powerful stories of culture, Country and community.”

Alison Hurbert-Burns

Commissioner and Executive Director, Entertainment Content, Foxtel Group

After four years as executive director building the Binge brand, Hurbert-Burns became the executive responsible for Foxtel Group and Binge’s content including commissioner of scripted and unscripted production, content strategy, studio and content relationships and content acquisition.

In that role she was executive producer of series and film including Colin From Accounts, The Twelve, How To Make Gravy, Mix Tape, Love Me, and Strife. Speaking at the recent Foxtel Upfront, Hurbert-Burns commented: “2025 is shaping up to be a bumper year of television and we’re proud to bring a diverse and high-quality content line up to our customers.

“From compelling local originals to the most anticipated international series, we offer an incredible range of drama, comedy, lifestyle, reality and movies across our platforms.”

Brook Hall

Chief Content Officer, Seven

Hall was appointed Chief Content Officer in June 2024 and is responsible for the commissioning and acquisition of all entertainment and sport content across Seven West Media’s suite of broadcast and digital channels: Channel 7, 7two, 7mate, 7flix, 7Bravo and 7plus.

Before taking on his current role, Hall had been Seven’s Director of Content Scheduling since 2019.

He joined Seven in 2010 and has held several senior programming roles in his time with the company. Before joining Seven, Hall was a Programming Executive at Foxtel, and before that, Client Service Manager at Audience Development Australia.

Martin Kugeler

Chief Executive Officer, Stan

In a crowded streaming market, Stan manages to standout for a number of key differences under Kugeler’s leadership.

Those are a low entry point – even if it’s crept higher to $12 and it doesn’t even give you HD viewing, let alone 4K. The platform has robust slate of both quality Australian originals and international JVs or outright acquisitions.

Finally, a tempting sports offering for many which includes Grand Slam tennis, international rugby and football, athletic, motorsport and more. At Nine’s Upfront recently, there was talk of showcasing some of the Stan content with a window on the FTA channel.

The arrival of new Yellowstone episodes should keep many subscribers active, albeit only a handful of episodes, for now.

With Stan’s first CEO Mike Sneesby no longer running the parent company, what might that mean for Kugeler and the streaming business?

Que Minh Luu

Director of Content, Netflix ANZ

It might be hard replicating the 2024 success that the platform has had with the content Que Minh Luu has been commissioning.

The year started with the arrival of Boy Swallows Universe which gobbled up audiences and industry awards. It is finishing with more big audiences – this time for the drama Territory.

In between there was a second season of Heartbreak High. In the pipeline for 2025 and beyond is a third season of Heartbreak High and a new Greg McLean project he is producing – a $73m action movie War Machine. Both projects are currently in production.

Also coming from Theo and Nathan Saidden are well-known Superwog characters in a new standalone series Son of a Donkey.

Gereurd Roberts

Group Managing Director, Seven Digital

Roberts was appointed Group Managing Director, Seven Digital, in June 2024 after the mid-year management shakeup.

He is responsible for leading and growing Seven’s digital and streaming business and driving its future strategy. In his role, Roberts oversees all facets of Seven Digital, managing teams across Digital Marketing, Audience Intelligence and Data, Product Technology and Solutions, Content Strategy and Scheduling, Platform Partnerships, and Digital Sales and Operations.

Prior to his current role, Roberts had been Chief Digital Officer of Seven West Media since December 2019. Under his guidance 7plus, Seven’s streaming platform, has achieved record growth and hosted both Australia’s biggest streaming event of all time with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the biggest single streaming program of all time with the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-final in 2023.

He was previously the Chief Executive Officer of Pacific, the digital and publishing arm of SWM, and led the sale of the business to Bauer Media Australia in May 2020.

Antony Catalano

Executive Chairman at Australian Community Media & View Media Group

Overseeing the running of Australia’s biggest regional media group is just one of the things keeping Catalano busy.

More recently he’s been making headlines for pitching to control SCA, his real estate holdings in Byron Bay and an ASIC raid looking for documentation at Catalano’s “trophy home”.

Earlier this year he denied reports he was actively looking to sell he parts of his media group – The Newcastle Herald, Illawarra Mercury and The Canberra Times. After the SCA merger proposal was rebuffed earlier this year, Catalano told Mediaweek: “I’m disappointed but not surprised. There are few multi-media companies in Australia so it’s not surprising that boards are reluctant to venture into verticals that they are unfamiliar with.

“Consolidation has to occur in Australian media so we’ll continue to weigh up our options.”

Melinda Petrunoff

Managing Director, Pinterest Australia and New Zealand

Earlier in 2024, Pinterest reported its highest quarter of user growth and revenue growth, surpassing half a billion users.

Petrunoff told Mediaweek it was “an incredibly exciting moment for the business.” She put the growth down to the improvements that the platform had made in relation to actionability and engagement.

“We’ve seen revenue growth hit a high for the two years since 2021, up 23% year on year,” she said.  “We have always been a platform for people to come and seek inspiration, but we’ve now made it so much more actionable. That’s never been more evident, particularly in Australia – clicks and saves on shopping ads have increased 130% year on year.”

Petrunoff joined Pinterest in December 2021 after close to two decades at Facebook and Fairfax Media.

Lisa Davies

Chief Executive Officer, Australian Associated Press

Earlier this year Australian Associated Press (AAP) and Google announced a partnership to accelerate critical fact-checking work to tackle mis and disinformation across Australia and New Zealand.

The new program, announced on International Fact-Checking Day, increases AAP’s capacity to provide fact-checks, ensuring accurate and reliable information is provided to over 380 publications across both countries for the benefit of all online users.

Davies said the information environment has never been more challenging for journalists, newsrooms and audiences alike. “This partnership with Google will see AAP FactCheck’s capacity expand significantly, reducing the harmful mis and disinformation Australians are encountering every day” she said. A more recent significant move was migrating AAP to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), a critical milestone in modernising AAP’s infrastructure.

“So much of this work is behind the curtain, unseen by our customers and journalists, but it all supports the factual, trusted, objective journalism that is core to AAP,” said Davies. Then just this month, Davies revealed AAP and The Balnaves Foundation partnered to support specialised arts journalism at the nation’s only independent newswire service.

A $450,000 grant will support the arts desk, led by dedicated arts reporter Liz Hobday, for three years.

Mark Reinke (NEW)

Managing Director & Publisher – State, Communities and Sport

News Corp Australia strengthened its commitment to the nation’s states mid-year with a new state and communities mastheads division.

Led by Reinke, the newly formed group connects with the more than 10 million Australians who engage with their regional news brands across digital and print.

Reinke said: “We know our audiences want specific content that’s relevant to them and we know clients increasingly want to execute state-by-state in a targeted manner. Combining this new leadership structure with some of Australia’s best editors working on some of the nation’s most trusted mastheads means we are uniquely placed to meet the needs of our audience and our clients in specific markets or as part of a network.”

Reinke joined News Corp as managing director, consumer in 2019 after 14 years with Sun Corp.

Scott Purcell and Frank Arthur

Founders, Man of Many

The two partners continue to build what has become a significant and very classy destination for its male audience.

Man of Many continues to push hard into the agency world, sharing news about what it can offer marketers.

The publishers secured one of the coveted 14 slots at the recent Digital Publisher’s Alliance Independents Day and then followed up more recently with its first dedicated Man of Many Upfront event. Mediaweek reported its Upfront was themed Momentum.

The live-streamed event brought together industry partners to unveil an ambitious agenda for 2025, showcasing innovative offerings aimed at enhancing engagement and driving value for brands and media agencies eager to connect with discerning Australian audiences.

Frank Arthur said, “Momentum is about moving forward with purpose. This Upfront was our opportunity to commit to helping partners succeed in 2025.”

Scott Purcell emphasised the focus on creating impactful content and solutions that resonate with their audience’s interests. A major highlight from the Upfront was details about a website relaunch promising a transformative user experience with enhanced UX/UI features, improved content discovery, and richer advertising options tailored for targeted campaigns.

The website now boasts a monthly audience of 2.5m across its own channels plus Apple News and Google News.

Rebecca Costello (NEW)

Managing Director, Guardian Australia

UK-based Guardian Media Group (GMG) appointed Costello to this role late in 2023 and she entered the building in January this year.

She reports to global GMG chief executive Anna Bateson, with a brief to oversee the strategic direction and overall growth of the Guardian Australia business, working in partnership with editor Lenore Taylor.

Costello spent the previous 17 years as CEO of Schwartz Media, publishers of The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, and a number of Australia’s leading podcasts, including daily news podcast 7am. Costello has led the commercial development of Schwartz’s portfolio of long-form, independent journalism, overseeing advertising and reader revenues across digital, print and audio.

Earlier in her career, she held senior commercial roles in a number of other established and start-up Australian media businesses.

Hilary Perchard (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Foxtel Retail & Hubbl

Perchard has end-to-end responsibility for all Foxtel customer interactions, including residential and commercial sales, customer service, loyalty and product management. He also oversees wider infrastructure and operational functions. Perchard also oversees Foxtel Group’s group strategy and research functions to drive the company’s agenda of change and future growth. He also leads Foxtel Group’s streaming and aggregation product, Hubbl.

Expect to see some aggressive Hubbl marketing linked to discounts and bundles. He arrived at Foxtel four years ago from the role of chief revenue officer at Activision Blizzard. He also worked in the US at Fox Networks Group in the United States where he was president, strategy, revenue and marketing, digital and direct-to-consumer. Prior to Fox Networks, he was a long-standing executive at Sky UK where he variously led the customer marketing, customer retention, loyalty, product management, and product marketing team and most recently led the establishment of Sky’s US Start-Up Investment Office investing in companies such as Pluto.tv and Roku.

Katie Finney (NEW)

National Television Sales Director, Seven West Media

The new television sales boss is a 23-year veteran of the business, having started as a sales assistant in Melbourne. In her new leadership role, Finney will be responsible for Seven’s national television sales team. She will work closely with Seven’s national digital sales director, Rachel Page, and with Vikki Friscic, who was appointed to the new role of head of sales strategy and enablement earlier this year.

The announcement of Finney’s promotion coincided with the decision of Georgie Nichols to step away from the business. Finney said of her appointment: “It’s a privilege to take on this role as we transform Seven for the future. With the best content to engage audiences at scale and an incredible sales team that leverages these audiences with strategic opportunities, we are uniquely positioned to connect brands to consumers. I could not be more excited to work with our agency and client partners to drive long-term, future-facing business outcomes.”

Mason Rook (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Pedestrian

Rook was appointed to lead Nine-owned Pedestrian following his resignation as commercial director of sales and operations for Australia and New Zealand at Guardian Australia. He started his new position on July 29 from a background in the publishing industry and driving youth engagement.

He previously held senior commercial positions at ARN, The Daily Mail, and Nine, where he was sales director. Rook arrived at Pedestrian after the departure of previous CEO, Matt Rowley. There was also a significant overhaul of the business this year with the exit of brands Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Vice, Refinery29, and Kotaku.

At Pedestrian, Rook has been tasked with spearheading strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing content quality and alignment, diversifying the publisher’s commercial base and leveraging Pedestrian’s suite of assets to better connect leading brands with Australian youth.

Rod Prosser

Chief Sales Officer at Paramount ANZ

Although Network 10 via its linear channels and BVOD offer might sometimes not be first consideration for FTA buyers, Prosser and his team work hard to monetise the highlights. The content that secures the best audiences include the 7.30pm franchises and then the later evening offerings like Have You Been Paying Attention?, The Cheap Seats and Gogglebox Australia.

There should be many curious viewers and media buyers who can see the attraction of the Big Brother format returning to its original home – for six nights a week.

One of the key messages Prosser and his team are taking to market is how the new Paramount Connect product will make it easier to advertise in key content regardless of when and where people consume it. Prosser explained to Mediaweek: “The reality is, we have to make it easy for advertisers and agencies and clients to trade our content and our audiences. So simply put, we’ve had the benefit of being part of, as you know, a significant global business.”

Lachlan Heywood (NEW)

Executive Editor, Daily Mail Australia

Heywood has more than 20 years of experience in newspapers and digital publishing. He is a former editor of Queensland’s The Courier-Mail and The Townsville Bulletin as well as a former deputy editor of The Sunday Mail. As a reporter, Heywood spent several years at regional dailies and also worked as a political reporter for News Corp in the Canberra press gallery.

During his tenure at The Courier-Mail, he grew digital subscribers and total audience. He is a former a member of the Queensland Premier’s Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence. he joined Daily Mail Australia in late 2017.

At the start of November, Heywood oversaw the launch of a subscription service called Mail+. For $10 a month, subscribers can access a range of in-depth premium content. This will include world-exclusive showbiz, real-life stories and royal scoops, sex and relationships advice and essential information from health experts, as well as property and money-saving tips. The offer also promises extra sport content, special investigations, true crime coverage and more. The launch special offer is $2 monthly for the first 12 months before the price reverts to $10 monthly.

Liana Dubois

Chief Marketing Officer, Nine Entertainment Co

Speaking at the recent Nine 2025 Upfront, Dubois spoke about the business delivering clients “better business results”. She also reminded advertisers and agencies that the company now had 22m registered 9Now viewers and its combined assets reach 95% of the population. Other messages included audience updates for growth across the publishing portfolio, radio and video consumption. Dubois also wanted to correct what she called a misconception about TV audiences. “Nine’s TV audiences are not in decline. They are resilient and they are growing. Nine’s Total TV audience is up 9% year-on-year. Broadcast viewing is up 6%. 9Now viewing is driving growth a whopping 40%,” she added.

As to the reasons for the growth – Dubois had a number of answers. The content. The house of brands. And the consumer experience. She has also become a successful podcaster, hosting the Nine series Talking Media.

Michael Healy and Hamish Turner

Director of Television, and Director 9Now & Programming at Nine Entertainment Co

We mentioned last year the duo running television at Australia’s biggest media company would be able to fill a few hours with Olympics and Paralympics. They successfully navigated those few weeks reaching some big audiences. We also mentioned their biggest role of the dice might be Todd Woodbridge slipping into the crucial 5pm slot hosting Tipping Point. The programming move worked a treat with the audience lifting it above The Chase in the ratings – clearly in metro markets, and narrowly often in the national numbers.

Not many new commissions for 2025 because of the quality of Nine’s existing lineup (would you move MAFS or The Block which bookend the year?) and the tight budgets broadcasters have to lavish on content.

Kim Williams (NEW)

Chairman, Australian Broadcasting Commission

This breaks our rule of having company chairpersons on this list. But Williams is very hands-on at the ABC and current MD David Anderson is departing soon. It would be hard to find a more experienced media player in Australia. Williams has been the chief executive at News Corp Australia, Foxtel, Fox Studios Australia, the Australian Film Commission, Southern Star Entertainment and Music Viva Australia.

He led Foxtel for a decade up until November 2011, along the way receiving the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian subscription television association ASTRA. He’s also a trustee of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company (which he has chaired since 2018) and was a commissioner of the Australian Football League. Williams is the 20th chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, joining in March 2024 for a five-year term.

James Taylor

Managing Director, SBS

The part Government funded broadcasted has started its 50th year of operation, a milestone which culminates mid-2025. Highlights this year under Taylor’s leadership include SBS being named the most trusted news brand in Australia by the University of Canberra and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s annual global Digital News Report 2024.

The brand is also celebrating SBS On Demand success with the highest internal customer service rating in its history, with its engaged audience also pushing the SBS On Demand app to the top of both the Apple iOS and Google Android app store ratings. SBS was named by The Australian Financial Review as one of 2023’s most innovative companies, the only media outfit to make the list. In addition to the SBS primary TV channel, it also broadcasts NITV, SBS Viceland, SBS Radio, SBS Food, SBS World Movies, SBS WorldWatch and a streaming platform held in high regard by many – SBS On Demand.

Pippa Leary

Managing Director & Publisher, Free News & Lifestyle, News Corp Australia

Leary joined News Corp Australia two years ago in a role to accelerate the company’s ambition to be the nation’s leading marketing services provider for Australian businesses. A recent business reorganisation came with a change of title. In September 2024, News Corp Australia unveiled the free news & lifestyle business unit and its publishing team to spearhead the next stage of growth.

The free news & lifestyle division encompasses news.com.au, as well as lifestyle sites such as Escape, Taste.com.au and Body+Soul among others. Leary said: “Our new team brings together the leading experts in the Australian publishing, video and e-commerce space and reflects our strategic focus to drive both user engagement at scale and strong client outcomes across our suite of properties.”

Leary reports directly to News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller as part of the senior leadership team. For the past 25 years she worked in roles across many of Australia’s largest media companies: Microsoft, ninemsn, Fairfax and Nine and was previously chief executive at ASX-listed Swift Media.

Natalie Harvey

Chief Executive Officer, Mamamia

Just four months after joining Mamamia as chief revenue officer in January 2024, Natalie Harvey was named as chief executive of the Mia Freeman-founded women’s publishing and podcast empire. The former Seven national sales director took over from Mamamia co-founder and CEO Jason Lavigne, who became executive chair.

“Mamamia has been an industry-leading pioneer in digital media since it began and is unquestionably the leading women’s media brand in Australia,” Harvey said. “After an incredibly successful 16 years, we are ready to accelerate quickly into the future. No one understands women like Mamamia and we have the greatest opportunity of any publisher in Australia to scale up. We have huge reach and unrivalled influence. I am humbled and grateful to be leading the amazing Mamamia team into this next era, and continue to live our purpose of making the world a better place for women and girls.”

Michael Brooks

GM Australia & New Zealand and Managing Director, Warner Bros. International Production Australia

Looking after much of what the fourth largest media company in the world has in this territory is a big role. The wide remit includes local production, content licensing, theatrical distribution and home entertainment. For the theatrical distribution, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) partners with NBC Universal who manage the day-to-day business.

Another partnership is key to the home entertainment division where WBD uses Village Roadshow. Brooks has been with Warner Bros. Discovery since 2016. In his recently expanded role, he will oversee all non-theatrical businesses locally, comprising networks and streaming, content licensing and home entertainment, consumer products and games, as well as WBITVP Australia.

Brooks will report into Singapore-based James Gibbons, president, APAC and Europe-based Ronald Goes, president, WBITVP. The company will become an even bigger player in Australia with the impending launch of streaming platform max in the first half of 2025. The company said it will be partnering with Foxtel in this market. But will that be an exclusive partnership, and by the time max launches, could Warner Bros Discovery be a shareholder in a new-look Foxtel Group?

Mark Buckman (NEW)

Chairman OzTAM, Director Sky New Zealand

Buckman has 35 years’ experience in marketing, advertising and business transformation, after spending time with Accenture Interactive, Foxtel, Telstra, Commonwealth Bank and a range of not-for-profit organisations.

He likes to keep busy, his CV lists over 20 roles in the past decade alone. Of one of his current roles, Buckman said: “OzTAM is internationally recognised for its world-leading audience measurement capabilities, delivering a complex, highly technical service deserving of industry currency status. I’m looking forward to working with OzTAM’s leadership team and my board colleagues as OzTAM navigates a period of dynamic industry change.” It has been quite a period of change.

The Foxtel Group lit a fuse on a bomb that will blow-up their relationship in December 2024. There’s no slowing down at OzTAM though with the new VOZ Streaming product launching on 25 November 2024.

John O’Neill

Chief Executive Officer, QMS Australia

The out of home business is a big event player. If there’s a crowd milling somewhere you will probably find QMS involved! This year they were embedded into the Olympic Games with a QMS network that launched in mid-April and ran until the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 8 September. QMS was the official and exclusive Outdoor Media Partner of both the Australian Olympic and Paralympic Teams.

It was also all over the second year of SXSW Sydney. O’Neill was in Sydney at the latter for the release of a new report into attention, in partnership with Dr Karen Nelson-Field of Amplified Intelligence. O’Neill also led the team for a QMS SXSW dinner inside the Opera House where guests heard from lawyer and author Jennifer Robinson.

In an op-ed published in Mediaweek earlier this year, O’Neill reached out to marketers ahead of the Paris Games: “Are you ready to play when it comes to the Olympics and Paralympics? They are still the biggest events in the world and represent a strong opportunity for brands to find authentic ways to associate with the athletes, sporting communities and the fans who adore them.”

Nick Smith (NEW)

Managing Director, Medium Rare Content Agency

A broad range of publishing experience has set up Smith well for his current role. Mediaweek first crossed paths with him at ACP working on marketing for The Australian Women’s Weekly and other titles. He then moved to Federal Publishing which was acquired by News Corp during his time. A 13-year tour of duty at News Corp Australia followed across a range of titles including time on the board of Medium Rare which was then a JV with the founding partners.

He spent time in the UK as group CEO of digital publishing network Buro.Global before returning as group content director at Medium Rare before ascending to the top job. A recent initiative was the launch of CommBank’s own media network, CommBank Connect. In an Australian first for the banking sector, CommBank is opening up its physical branches and digital channels to partners and advertisers. Medium Rare Content Agency is the sales and content partner for the network.

Mark Frain

Chief Executive Officer, Foxtel Media

Frain has been leading Foxtel Media in its pursuit of an improved measurement service for advertisers using the Foxtel Group assets. It took another step closer when he updated the market at the recent Foxtel Group 2025 Upfront event.

After originally revealing a partnership with Kantar Media in 2023, Frain told the Upfront audience: “We’re excited to announce that brands and agencies partners will be able to trade on the transparent, auditable combined linear and streaming measurement solution by the end of 2024.” There was also news too about the Video Futures Collective: “Our media industry thinktank welcomed Amazon as a member, and is kicking off new research projects with Beatgrid and Amplified Intelligence to even better drive our craft in premium advertising. VFC is now seven video streaming titans strong, with Amazon Advertising, joining Disney Advertising, Samsung Ads, SBS on Demand, Foxtel Media, Vevo and YouTube.”

Frain also recently shared with Mediaweek: “FY24 was our best year on record in terms of advertising, just under $50 million worth of growth year-on-year. That came in what was, let’s be honest, a very challenging market.”

Julian Ogrin

Chief Executive Officer, Kayo, Binge, Flash and advertising

When the Foxtel Group split its streaming business in two, Ogrin was appointed heads one of the streaming brands – Kayo Sports, with a brief to also look after Foxtel Media alongside Mark Frain. Earlier this year there was another reshuffle of the businesses and Ogrin is now CEO of the three streaming brands.

The business has big hopes for keeping and growing its existing customers with a range of bundles. The first to market was Kayo with the Netflix ad tier with a modest saving of $8 a month. Ogrin noted earlier this month: “We’re bringing Australia’s most loved local sports streamer together with the world’s biggest entertainment platform to create a compelling deal in sports and entertainment. This new bundle has never been done before in Australia and we’re proud to be changing the game for our customers by pushing the boundaries to bring these two powerhouses together.”

A recent move to offer limited live sporting events to Binge customers at no extra cost could help move the needle on subscriptions.

Damian Keogh

President & CEO of The Hoyts Group

Keogh was appointed to his current role in January 2014, with responsibility for Hoyts Entertainment and the Val Morgan Group. Part of the Chinese-owned Wanda Group, Hoyts owns and operates 55 cinemas throughout Australia and New Zealand, with 483 screens.

The brand is well known to movie patrons and recently celebrated its 115th anniversary in Australia. Previously Keogh was CEO at Val Morgan from 2011 to 2014 and prior to that worked in media and marketing roles with Multi Channel Network and the Seven Network. He was chairman of the Cronulla Sharks NRL team from 2013 – 2017, including the club’s first premiership in 2016.

A former professional sportsman, Keogh had a distinguished basketball career in the NBL and represented Australia on over 200 occasions in basketball including three Olympic Games.

Angus Ross

Group Managing Director, Seven Television

Ross was appointed to his current role in June 2024 and is responsible for all content and commercial aspects of the Seven television. That means all his previous oversight of content from commissioning to scheduling. He’s now also across commercial activity after the sudden departure of Kurt Burnette earlier in 2024.

Before then he was Chief Content Officer, Entertainment Programming, responsible for the commissioning and acquisition of all content across Seven West Media’s suite of broadcast and digital channels: Channel 7, 7two, 7mate, 7flix, 7Bravo and 7plus.

Previous roles at Seven also include Director of Network Programming, Head of Program Scheduling and Acquisitions, Sydney Program Manager, Daytime Programmer and Head of Research. Prior to joining Seven, Ross worked for two years as a consultant for television research group Audience Development Australia.

Steve Sos (NEW)

Managing Director, APAC, Vevo

Last year Vevo presented its first Australian upfront as part of the debut SXSW Sydney festival. It recently held its second. The presentations provided an overview of the network’s growing CTV business and value proposition to advertisers.

“Vevo is a destination for every brand, with a portfolio of premium content that attracts viewership at a national level,” said Sos. “In Australia, Vevo reaches nearly half the population every single month. With music videos for every fan, Vevo is the most diverse network with content for Australians of all cultures and backgrounds.”

Sos transitioned into his role at Vevo from six years at Shazam where he ended up as MD Asia Pacific. Before that he worked in sales for Fairfax and spent 12 years with the Foxtel sales arm, then branded Multi Channel Network (MCN).

Maryna Fewster (NEW)

Chief Executive Officer, Seven West Media WA

After emigrating to New Zealand in 1997, Fewster was appointed at iHug, a New Zealand internet service provider. In 2003, iHug was acquired by iiNet, the Australian based Telco. As part of the iiNet leadership group and as Chief Operating Officer of iiNet, Fewster oversaw organic growth while ensuring the acquisitions undertaken by iiNet were effectively integrated.

After leaving iiNet in 2015, Fewster took a consulting role reporting to the board of Seven West Media on the operational performance of the WA business. She was subsequently appointed COO of SWM WA and then as CEO of SWM WA in 2018. Fewster is also a trustee of the Channel 7 Telethon Trust, and non-executive director of Celebrate WA and Crown Perth.

Paul Whittaker

Chief Executive Officer, Sky News Australia

Primetime heavy lifting continues to rest on the shoulders of Credlin, The Bolt Report and Paul Murray Live from 6pm onwards. A successful addition to the mix this year was dropping Sharri Markson into the 8pm timeslot. She recently had a week of live shows from Israel.

Much of the rest of the team were mobilised to the United States for 10 days of coverage of the US Election. Some of the conservative primetime commentators were justifiably doing a lap of honour for correctly identifying the popularity of Donald Trump, something missed by many pundits who though it unlikely he’d be returned to power with such a dominant performance.

Mediaweek recently reported how election night coverage led to record audiences for the Sky News channel. Whittaker turned inquisitor this year for a documentary special on News Corp that included an interview he conducted with Rupert Murdoch.

Jane Huxley

Chief Executive Officer, Are Media

Speaking at the 2025 Ignite upfront, Huxley, said: “Are Media’s strategy is predicated by two core beliefs. First, that in today’s media landscape, trusted content brands matter more than ever, and secondly that quality content legitimised transactions. Our strength in these key areas is what makes Are Media unique and positioned to lead in 2025. Are Media reaches nine in 10 women each year. Our social platforms have 21 million connection points and 4.5 million Unique Website users each month.”

Two key announcements were the Now To Love website will be transformed into a more focused digital extension of Woman’s Day. The new womansday.com.au will leverage the magazine’s audience by offering content ranging from real-life stories to coverage of trending topics. Next year will also see the launch of a dedicated TV Week website.

From exclusive entertainment insights and celebrity news to the latest streaming updates and travel reviews, it is promising to provide a blend of pop culture and lifestyle content. TV Week online is currently incorporated inside Now To Love. There was no mention if TV listings will form part of its new online home.

Tory Maguire

Managing Director – Publishing, Nine Entertainment Co

In 2024 Maguire was appointed to her current role, assuming management responsibility for Nine’s publishing assets including metro mastheads and The Australian Financial Review. Prior to this, Maguire was the Executive Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday – a role she held from July 2021.

An experienced editor and journalist, she led the transformation of the newsrooms of the mastheads and saw significant growth in all areas of her remit. Maguire previously held senior editorial roles at News Corp and The Huffington Post as well as National Editor at Nine’s metro mastheads.

John Kelly

Chief Executive Officer, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA)

It’s been a tough year at times for the four big audio groups. Having ARN hovering was also a distraction for some of the SCA team. While it performs well in metro FM in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, it is looking for a turnaround in Sydney at 2Day and Triple M. It also wants to lift Triple M Melbourne. That plan sees Mick Molloy return to breakfast at the station where SCA will be aiming to find a show that can offer advertisers the sort of reach that Fifi Box has been securing for Fox for close to a decade. Investors in the sector may rerate the business if it can finally announce a deal to offload its regional TV assets. It’s been a long, complicated negotiation.

Ciaran Davis

Chief Executive Officer, ARN

People new to the Australian market could be excused for thinking ARN was only the home of Kyle and Jackie O. It has been the only thing written about in the past 12 months. The focus of course was all on how their launch into the Melbourne market would go. Spoiler: Not every well…so far.

Given the contracts the radio duo have negotiated, Plan B for ARN with their KIIS breakfast expansion plans is making Plan A work. That wasn’t the only stumble for the business in the past year. The ambitious plan to acquire the Triple M network came to nothing which ended up disaffecting staff involved (ARN would have sold off Gold and WSFM if the plan progressed), chewed up dollars and distracted executives from the main game.

Key assets that have quietly continued to perform in the background include Jonesy and Amanda, Christian O’Connell and the groups expanded regional network.

Michael Stephenson

Commercial Director, Nine Entertainment Co

Getting to spend much of the Australian winter in Paris with clients was probably the highlight of the business year. It’s been back to reality though recently with Stephenson pitching to clients at the Nine 2025 Upfront. One key message was asking media buyers to reconsider their mix and to question their spend on social platforms.

“Total Television audiences are growing and we want to provide marketers with themes, insights and data to own the growth agenda in the boardroom, proving a direct line between advertising investment and better business results,” said Stephenson. “When we prove this, I’m confident brands will optimise their investment towards Total Television at the expense of less effective performance channels.”

Lou Barrett

Managing Director Sales, News Corp Australia

Barrett continues to head sales at Australia’s largest publisher. Key to her success in what has at times been a challenged sector as revenues move from print to digital, has been networking and education. Networking means she has a contact book the envy of many. Education means keeping abreast of the latest developments in and around the sector. She recently attended the Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference in California. On that same trip she visited the new opening of a Harvey Norman store in Birmingham, England.

Harvey Norman is the biggest advertiser in News Corp Australia print products. At the annual D-Coded event this year, Barrett told Mediaweek the message this year to News Corp Australia commercial partners is all about the way News identifies, targets and measures. “We have a very deep understanding of who our audience is and what they want. We are attempting, and doing it successfully, to create ways to connect those audiences with clients’ messages in a way that delivers them return on investment. Our attribution data lets them accurately measure that return on investment for their ad spend.”

Patrick Delany

Chief Executive Officer, Foxtel Group

The future of the Foxtel Group business is up in the air with parent News Corp talking to prospective purchases after putting the business up for sale earlier this year. Would current management stay after any sale is another of the unknowns. Subscriber numbers for the Kayo Sports and Binge brands both crept higher in the most recent report with 3.182m streaming subscribers, up 4% year-on-year. There has been no sharing of information about the extent of the Hubbl audience adoption.

Sport continues to be a key ingredient for subscriber growth. Binge viewers will soon be offered some sports at no extra charge while AFL coverage will be overhauled from 2025 with Fox Footy commentary for all AFL matches every year except the AFL Grand Final.

Peter Charlton

Chief Executive Officer, Nova Entertainment

The audio business is having a strong year. While ad media spend has been under pressure, CRA reported earlier in 2024 that total metro ad revenue (broadcast plus digital) in Q2 2024 was up 2.6% to $200.7 million, compared to the same time last year. Q2 2024 metro revenue broadcast only was $178.2 million, up 0.1% on Q2 2023, while digital audio revenue increased by 27.1%.

Charlton has been leading Nova Entertainment which is well placed to monetise its position in the ratings hierarchy. After GfK Survey 6, 2024, Charlton commented: “To be able to say that Nova Entertainment has achieved the highest total audience of any metro network in every survey of 2024 is not something we take for granted. With Smooth FM achieving the #1 FM station in Melbourne and Nova maintaining the most breakfast listeners of any metro network are further proof points that we’re doing the right things.”

Key to the right things recently was snapping up dumped KIIS 101.1 breakfast hosts Jase and Lauren who were adopted quickly by the Melbourne audience at their new home. One challenge for 2025 will be bedding in a new lineup at Brisbane breakfast with the recently announced exit of Susie O’Neill.

Jeff Howard (NEW)

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Seven West Media

Howard had been Chief Financial Officer of Seven West Media since January 2020. Prior to joining SWM, Howard served as CFO of HT&E Limited (now ARN Media) from 2012, delivering financial leadership while executing on strategy and driving shareholder value. Howard has extensive experience in business transformation and growth in the media sector, including through mergers and acquisitions. He is a Chartered Accountant with more than nine years’ experience in banking at ABN AMRO and RBS and prior that worked with KPMG for 10 years. He completed his Executive MBA with the Australian Graduate School of Management in 2005 and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Speaking at the 2025 Upfront event, Howard said: “At Seven, we are passionately focused on creating and delivering valuable connections. We’re proudly a content business. Every day, our content connects with an audience that is growing. We understand that audience through our data platforms, delivering deep insights for our partners. Millions of Australians connect with one of our publishing, broadcast and digital platforms every day, every week, every month.

“To make that happen, every year we create, collate and curate thousands of hours of local content. Our streaming audience continues to grow at a rapid rate. 7plus is set to soar from late November with cricket and again in March with AFL, both available on a free streamer for the first time.”

Matt Stanton (NEW)

Acting CEO, Nine Entertainment

The highest new entry on our list this year was elevated to the leadership of Australia’s largest media company after the recent sudden departure of Mike Sneesby who was appointed to replace Hugh Marks as Nine CEO in 2021. In a short period of time Stanton has become a favoured candidate to be appointed as the next Nine Entertainment leader. In just a few short weeks he has overseen the release of the Intersection Report into workplace culture at Nine, fronted the 2025 Nine Upfront and the 2024 Annual General Meeting. Stanton comes from a CFO background which excites some observers, and disappoints others who feel a content or maybe sales background is a better grounding in the media business. Former CFOs are currently also in charge at Seven and SCA. He has experience across a number of sectors. Stanton’s media time includes six years at Bauer Media. He came to Nine from stints running a wine company and organic dairy products.

Chris Taylor

Managing Director, Distribution Networks and DTC ANZ and IMD USA at NBCUniversal

The winners in the media wars are increasingly those who guarantee a strong content pipeline. This is where a relationship with NBCU is critical. The house of media brands filters through to consumers in many ways in this territory. Some of those brands familiar to consumers include Bravo, CNBC, Dreamworks, E!, Hayu, MSNBC, NBC, Rotten Tomatoes, and Universal Pictures.

Key media partners in Australia include Seven, Foxtel Group and Fetch among others. Taylor worked in television sales early in his career and then took management positions at Nine and Prime. He later moved to Telstra where one of three roles included running Telstra Media. Positions at Quickflix and Skyfi followed.

Beverley McGarvey

President Network 10, Head of Streaming & Regional Lead, Paramount ANZ

Earlier this year, McGarvey was appointed president of Network 10, head of streaming and regional lead for Australia and New Zealand. The news followed announcement that Paramount Australia EVP & chief operating and commercial officer, Jarrod Villani, had left the company. Steering the Paramount ship in this region and keeping it afloat has been a significant achievement.

The headwinds facing McGarvey included a change of ownership at the parent company and the depressed ad market. The three major plays in Australia are watching live linear broadcast feeds for 10 and its multichannels, watching 10 Play (now to be rebranded simply 10) and by subscribing to Paramount+. The platform continues to be the fastest-growing streamer in this market. Telsyte reported year-on-year growth of 18% earlier this year with a June 30, 2024 subscriber number of 1.8m, ranking it #5 in Australia.

Kylie Watson-Wheeler

Senior Vice President & Managing Director, The Walt Disney Company Australia & New Zealand

The boss of the Disney company in Australia is more likely to appear in the sports pages than the finance pages for her role as president of the AFL’s Western Bulldogs. She blended both her worlds recently with a retro ad campaign using sports stars (including some AFL stars) to promote the Disney+ service in Australia.

The platform currently ranks #3 in Australia with 3.1m subscribers as at June 30, 2024. It sits behind Netflix on 6.2m and Prime Video on 4.8m. Her entertainment and sports worlds collided too with the sponsorship of Marvel Stadium in Melbourne at an estimated cost if $5m annually. Activity in Australia also includes Disney Studios in Sydney and the ESPN business.

2023 Australian revenues were reported at around $800m, up $100m YOY. Watson-Wheeler has been leading the ANZ business for eight and a half years as part of her 21 years with the company.

Cathy O’Connor

Chief Executive Officer, oOh!media

Speaking at the recent oOh! Outfront 25 event, O’Connor revealed client wins and said: “Behind every great brand is oOh! – Australia’s #1 out of home company. oOh! is the leading force in Australian out of home across all key metrics and we are on a mission to help brands grow by making it easier to access our unrivalled scale. But being #1 goes beyond the metrics, it’s about the confidence advertisers and agencies have in us to get the results they want to achieve. It reflects our commitment to providing the best possible service and outcomes each and every time.”

Recent oOh! wins included Waverley Council, Northern Beaches expansion and Eastlink. In its recent half year results, the company noted revenue edged backward 2%, however profit improved.

Since Mike Sneesby departed Nine, O’Connor’s name has been mentioned as a potential on the head-hunters list of Nine CEO candidates. O’Connor joined oOh!media at the start of 2021 with 35 years of sales experience working for Australian media organisations, including 12 years as CEO of Nova Entertainment.

Brett Armstrong

General Manager of Global Business Solutions, TikTok Australia

It’s been a turbulent year for the growing social media platform. Challenges included fears the TikTok app posed a security threat and later in the year it shed some of its Australian employees. Of the former, Armstrong commented earlier this year: “There is zero evidence suggesting that TikTok is in any way a national security risk, and we welcome the Prime Minister’s recent comments that his Government has no plans to ban us.” Of the latter, a TikTok ANZ spokesperson told Mediaweek: “Just like all companies, we assess our business on an ongoing basis and make necessary adjustments as part of our strategy for continued growth. Australia is an important market for TikTok and currently employs hundreds of people in offices in Sydney and Melbourne.”

Earlier this year TikTok revealed its impact in Australia: 13,000 jobs and $1.1 billion in GDP contributed to Australian Economy in 2023. Armstrong commented: “TikTok has become a platform that is loved by millions of Australians and used by more than 350,000 businesses, of all shapes and sizes, to reach new customers and markets.” There is no official data on its Australian subscriber base, buts it is estimated at around 10m.

Will Easton

Managing Director & Vice President, Meta Australia & New Zealand

Easton recently noted “Australia and New Zealand continue to be important markets for Meta, and we remain dedicated to helping our partners grow, connecting our users with what they love, and evolving our safety measures to keep young people safe.” The company is well positioned to prosper from interest surrounding AI, with Easton pointing out AI-driven feed and video recommendations have led to an 8% increase in time spent on Facebook and a 6% increase on Instagram this year.

He also had a timely reminder that their X (Twitter) alternative continues to attract customers. “The Threads community is expanding, with nearly 275 million monthly active users and 1 million new sign-ups daily.” As to the proposed ban on children under 16 using social media, Eason explained: “We share the intent and goals of the government in ensuring safe and age-appropriate online experiences for teens. However, what’s missing is a deeper focus on what parents want for their children and the practicalities of how such a ban would be implemented.”

Melanie Silva

Managing Director and Vice President, Google Australia & New Zealand

Google recently supercharged the way it responds to search requests. Google has commenced the roll-out of their AI overviews in Google Search for Australians. This uses Google AI to answer a question, rather than simply giving you a list of potential pages to visit for the answer.

Silva and her team shared at Brandcast that the company’s YouTube video platform reaches 97% of Australians. Earlier in November she oversaw the Google Agency Excellence Awards where winners included EssenceMediacom, Ryvalmedia, PHD, OMD and Spark Foundry.

Writing recently for Business Insider magazine, Silva shared two key insights. One was about a key principle at Google — “Don’t get overly fixated on the solution, instead focus on the problem and truly understand it. That’s how you’ll solve it, that’s how you’ll identify risk, and make the most of opportunity.” The other was about time management: “A few years ago, I realised I was beholden to my diary and not finding the time to think through the challenges and opportunities. So, once every six weeks, I clear the diary for a thinking day.” She has also recently been spruiking the new Google NotebookLM product which sounds like it’s worth a look.

Michael Miller

Executive Chairman, News Corp Australia

The ad market continues to be challenging for the News Corp Australia bottom line. The contribution to group earnings from Australia could change soon if speculation about an impending sale of the Foxtel Group proves to be correct.

Miller has done a good job steering the group ship. The growth of digital subscriptions continues. The company reported in November 2024 that news media digital subscribers at News Corp Australia as of September 30, 2024 were 1,127,000 (979,000 for news mastheads), compared to 1,049,000 (937,000 for news mastheads) in the prior year. The tough ad market saw lower print ad revenue, but no figure was released. Miller first joined News in 1992 and has held various roles at News Corp Australia ever since, except for just over two years running APN News & Media from May 2013.