‘Weak, tired and a string of failures’: Seven CEO James Warburton gives scathing assessment of his network’s recent performance
Seven’s newly installed CEO James Warburton has taken to the stage in front of media buyers and marketers to admit the network has been “weak, inward focused, tired and stagnant” with “a string of poor programs and failures”.
Warburton said in recent times the company had lost its way, and had allowed its competitors to chalk up easy wins.
Warburton issues a rallying cry to the market
“We’ve let others take a share of what we’ve been so good at in the past. We haven’t thrown a punch over the last quarter, and to be frank, it’s been disappointing. But it’s important to be totally transparent, and to ensure that everyone in this room knows what our plans to address it are,” he said on stage last night at Seven’s Upfronts event in Sydney.
How to get everyone’s attention. Well done.
To be expected when you hire one white male suit to replace another. Snoreeeee
… so Predictable, would you like to give us the name of the, presumably, black female suit that you reckon will do better?
+1 ex-ABC
They should also be a non binary pansexual!
No. I think you have to strike the suit as well to please Predictable.
I assume it means that the better person for the job would be a nonwhite female in jeans and a T-shirt.
Identify politics grievance – now that’s a real snore.
More accurately, they hired a highly experienced media executive to replace a dud.
@ predictable – could you take your racist sexist shite some place else
That’s ok Seven. Just keep pandering to right-wing freakshows and you’ll continue to grow your regional base.
Good One James. Come out all guns blazing with a withering assessment of the “weak and tired” programming delivered by the the previous management, and then offer up this load of tosh as your alternative.
https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/seven-in-2020-big-brother-mega-mini-golf-gary-mehigan-and-matt-preston-and-a-rebrand-for-7flix-603665
We shall see….
“Our competitors have had it easy. We’ve not been ourselves. We haven’t had a clear strategy nor focus. But from here on in, we will be fierce.”
This sounds more like a football coach talking. Fierce? hardly a quality needed for good programming, never mind, I am sure it sounds good to the team, whoever they may be.
My opinion? Stop chasing the lowest common denominator, start programming in earnest, and break the monotony of so-called reality television. Get some style and taste.
It’s actually fairly similar to when he joined APN and announced “We will awaken this sleepy giant”
Its refreshingly honest of any executive to share when the business hasnt been performing.
….ummmm… James makes it sound like the network didn’t have a clue on how to run a #1 rating channel…. what changed between last and this year?
Nine’s programming is cementing itself as familiar and reliable with viewers.
Seven is finding out, now that all of the Nine staff who migrated to Seven 10+ years ago, just how hard it is to run a network, now that those staff and talent have left.
What about Noddy?
@Charles Xavier
Who the hell is Noddy and why do you keep asking about him on every bloody article??!!!
Is Tim still there ?
Warburton continuing the tradition at Seven of acting like the tough guy because it creates the illusion (and it is only an illusion – and a poor one at that) that he cares and he has solutions.
Seven management and operations is riddled with angry people who try and create the illusion that they are invested by being aggressive towards the people they work with.
To be fair, it’s part of the culture of that company, and that’s not going to disappear anytime soon – especially with another megalomaniac at the helm!