Nine Audio announces new commercial team

Nine’s audio division has reshaped its sales operation, with a number of new hires and a strategic model that new sales boss Brian Gallagher says will ignite “a new level of competitiveness emerging from our commercial teams across the country”.

Gallagher, former chair of Boomtown and chief sales officer at Southern Cross Austereo, started at Nine Audio on July 1, as the network’s commercial director of audio. He will lead the new sales team.

Bolster’s head of media Jonathan Mandel will join Nine Audio as national head of digital sales in late September. He previously worked as head of digital operations for SCA’s Listnr.

Brian Gallagher

Following the recent appointment of Amanda Unwin as Sydney sales director, longtime SCA executive Christine Lester will join Nine Audio as Melbourne sales director in mid-August.

Michael Graham will also join in mid-August as Brisbane sales director, coming across from Car Expert, where he held a commercial leadership role. Graham previously held senior leadership positions at SCA, ARN, and Nova’s Brisbane offices.

Noel Quick, currently group business director at Nine Perth, will transition to sales director of Nine Audio at the start of October.

Rick Lenarcic, currently national head of direct sales, will move into head of sales operations, where he will oversee the traffic, commerce, research, engineering, technology, and syndication teams across radio.

Chris Gregson will lead the Powered Audio team, where he will lead the formation of a creative services group for the market.

Amanda Unwin will lead the Sydney sales team

Gallagher said in a media release it was “an absolute privilege to have attracted executives of this caliber to lead the commercial teams at Nine Radio”.

He continued: “As the team progressively onboards over the next couple of months, we will see a new level of competitiveness emerging from our commercial teams across the country.

“With radio listening continuing to deliver great reach and digital audio audiences growing strongly, our integrated sales approach, led by the industry’s best, positions us to capture great growth in the year ahead.”

In January, Nine split into three consumer-focused divisions: streaming and broadcast; publishing; and marketplaces.

Nine Radio falls under the streaming and broadcasting arm, along with Stan, 9Now, and broadcast TV, led by former Foxtel executive Amanda Laing.

Nine’s director of audio sales Ashley Earnshaw announced in May he would be stepping down at the end of June, after making the “tough decision to leave a business that is primed for growth”. He started at Nova last week, as the network’s new group commercial director.

Nine Radio’s managing director Tom Malone said the new sales structure represents “a vote of confidence in the potential growth opportunities that radio presents for Nine”, adding that the renewed focus on audio will “help drive greater commercial returns from our unique audience offering and enable our teams to elevate our focus on direct sales”.

In January, CEO Matt Stanton explained Nine’s new operating model in a note to staff, writing: “We’re acutely aware of the silos that exist, resulting in a duplication of efforts and a platform-led mindset. This means for many parts of the business, the power of the Nine Group isn’t being leveraged and our cost base is being impacted.”

He further explained the new structure will have “the operation of the business at the forefront of our decision making”.

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