Former WPP AUNZ chief executive Mike Connaghan has joined News Corp Australia as managing director for commercial content.
Connaghan has been working at his own business MC Consulting since he exited the local arm of WPP in 2018. He had been with the holding group for 25 years.
In the newly-created role, Connaghan will focus on increasing the value of content for News Corp’s clients.
“News Corp Australia has always been the quintessential media partner for brands looking to connect with consumers,” Connaghan says.
“I’m looking forward to working with a distribution platform that’s second to none, that can deploy personalised content at scale or build distinct, highly targeted audiences.
“This ability to help clients connect with their consumer and deploy personalised, relevant, premium creative content and to help them build their own audience using our assets and first party data is an amazing opportunity.”
News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller has described Connaghan’s role as the “missing piece of the strategic puzzle” for the publisher which has recently undergone a major restructure resulting in hundreds of job losses.
“We’re expanding and diversifying the way we connect with our commercial partners and our audiences with an increasing focus on digital,” Miller says.
“There is no doubt that News is Australia's most diverse creative content company but we all agree we need to do more to maximise the value of that content for both our audiences and our commercial partners.”
News Corp Australia has been investing in commercial content for years through its interests in agencies Storyation, Medium Rare and Suddenly.
Connaghan will oversee Suddenly, audio and native content production. He will also join Medium Rare’s board which also includes Storyation.
The commercial content market is estimated to be worth $2 billion in Australia, with revenue growing at 15% annually.
“Mike will be involved in driving the success of this part of our operations even harder,” Miller says.
“He really shares our vision for what we can achieve, that we can be far greater than the sum of our parts. It’s a real coup to have someone of Mike’s talent and experience join us.”
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