By Dan Barrett
Following the resignation of Ten chief digital officer Rebekah Horne, Liz Baldwin has been appointed to the new role of General Manager, Digital. She commences in the role on Friday 12 February.
Within the new role, Baldwin will be responsible for the company’s digital media business, which includes the streaming service tenplay. With Seven and Nine both investing significant resources this year into their online streaming services Plus7 and the soon-to-launch 9Now, competition will be fierce in the FTA television digital space.
Before commencing work with Ten in March 2015, Baldwin was Head of Content and Brand Integration at Nine Entertainment Co. Prior to that she has served as Director of Consumer and Digital Strategy at Shine Australia (now Endemol Shine Australia), Head of Digital at News Magazines and Consumer Marketing Manager, Australia and New Zealand, at Dell Computer.
TV Tonight have reported that Ten are expected to be increasing their investment into live simulcasting, commencing today. Ten are expected to commence streaming their entire 4:30-7:30pm block which includes Bold and the Beautiful, Ten Eyewitness News, Family Feud, and The Project. Ten are also expected to live simulcast I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
Rebekah Horne will take on a new role with the NRL as Chief Digital Officer.
“We expect our fans to increasingly engage with Rugby League content – including accessing live games, highlights, tipping, ticket purchases and much more – through our digital platforms,” said ARL Commission Chairman, John Grant.
“More than nine million fans now follow the NRL through the NRL Telstra digital network and social media so we are determined to be at the leading edge in providing digital content on our platforms anywhere and any time.”
TEN Media Release:
21 January 2016
Liz Baldwin Appointed General Manager, Digital.
Network Ten today announced the appointment of Liz Baldwin as General Manager, Digital, effective 12 February.
Ms Baldwin was previously Network Ten’s Digital Executive Producer. In her new role, she will be responsible for the company’s digital media business – including the industry-leading online catch-up and streaming service tenplay – and will report to Network Ten Chief Executive Officer, Paul Anderson, and Chief Programming Officer, Beverley McGarvey.
Ms Baldwin’s appointment follows the resignation of Network Ten Chief Digital Officer, Rebekah Horne.
Mr Anderson said: “Rebekah and her team have done a great job over the past three years, launching tenplay in September 2013 and building it into one of the leading online entertainment services in Australia.
“From a standing start less than three years ago, tenplay now covers more distribution platforms than any other online television service.
“There have been well over two million downloads of the free tenplay mobile device app across Android, iOS and Windows devices. The reach of tenplay also extends across smart televisions, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms, FreeviewPlus, Apple TV, Fetch TV and Telstra TV. Last year, tenplay generated an average of 25 million page views and 13.5 million video views a month,” he said.
“Rebekah is leaving Ten with our thanks for her great contribution and our best wishes for the future.
“We are delighted to welcome Liz to her role. She is one of the best and brightest digital media executives in Australia, with extensive experience in strategy, content and technology. Our digital media business has seen significant growth in recent years and Liz is the ideal person to maintain and build on that growth,” Mr Anderson said.
Before she joined Network Ten in March 2015, Ms Baldwin was Head of Content and Brand Integration at Nine Entertainment Co.
Her resume also includes the positions of Director of Consumer and Digital Strategy at Shine Australia (now Endemol Shine Australia), Head of Digital at News Magazines and Consumer Marketing Manager, Australia and New Zealand, at Dell Computer.
Ms Baldwin said: “I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to build on the great results our digital team have achieved in recent years.
“Network Ten has great momentum thanks to our strong content and our ability to deliver that content to our audience across all relevant platforms.
“We will continue our innovation in digital media and continue to deliver a market-leading experience for our audience and advertisers,” she said.