Nine today announced the resignation of long-serving chief sales officer Michael Stephenson.
His next move isn't known.
Stephenson whas held his current role for almost a decade and was a member of Nine’s Group Leadership Team, with accountability for the company's advertising revenue across its Total Television, Total Publishing and Total Audio assets.
“Since Michael joined as Director of Sales for ninemsn almost two decades ago, Nine has successfully responded to the changing industry dynamics and consistently performed strongly in the advertising market," said Nine acting CEO Matthew Stanton.
"During his tenure, Nine has developed the television trading platform 9Galaxy, launched self-serve advertising platform 9AdManager and rapidly grown our BVOD revenue share to 47 per cent in FY24."
Matt James has been appointed to the role on an interim basis.
James has been managing director of Nine Melbourne and was CEO of global media agency Zenith based in London.
He has also been group CEO of Publicis Media and CEO of Zenith Australia and New Zealand.
“We are fortunate that high-calibre media executive Matt James is stepping in to lead the sales team to ensure continuity for Nine’s key partners and sales team," said Stanton.
"With experience on both the media and agency sides, a strong background in digital, and extensive knowledge of Nine, Matt is well placed to ensure he hits the ground running with the sales team during 2025.”
A recruitment process for a new chief sales officer is expected to be finalised in the New Year.
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