Verizon Media has announced the promotion of Simon Wheeler to senior director of content following significant growth of Verizon Media’s Australian media brands.
Under his new regional remit Wheeler will lead editorial strategy in English-language regions including Australia, India and South-East Asia. Editorial teams in India and across South East Asia will now report into Wheeler under the new structure.
Over the past four years Wheeler has led the editorial strategy in Australia, managing teams to deliver quality content, diversify audiences and achieve substantial growth. Last year, Australian monthly active users across Verizon Media’s editorial brands Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Lifestyle, Yahoo News and Yahoo Sport grew by 8% and logged in users increased by 7%.
Commenting on his promotion, Simon Wheeler said: “This is a really exciting time for Verizon Media as we band together with international teams to deliver quality content for our audiences across the wider APAC region.
“2020 presented difficult and unexpected challenges for all but we overcame and adapted to interact with our audiences in new ways. I’m excited to be taking on this new role and working closer with our regional counterparts.”
Marie-Hélène Savard, vice president, head of international consumer at Verizon Media, added: “We’re thrilled to announce Simon’s promotion to this new role. Having proven success in diversifying and growing audiences over the past few years in Australia, we’re excited to see his expertise in play across the wider region. This new structure will better align our editorial strategy across wider APAC and enable our editorial teams to continue to deliver fantastic content and results for our audiences.”
In November 2020 Verizon Media and BuzzFeed announced a new strategic partnership across content and advertising, the acquisition of HuffPost by BuzzFeed, and an investment that will make Verizon Media a minority shareholder in BuzzFeed.
Both HuffPost and BuzzFeed continue to operate in Australia, but on a much-reduced scale after their initial launches.