Seven West Media has appointed Katie Finney to the new role of national television sales director, effective immediately.
The group confirmed on Friday that the former national sales director, Georgie Nichols, has resigned and will remain at Seven until early August.
Reporting to group managing director, Seven Television, Angus Ross, Finney will be responsible for Seven’s national television sales team, and will work closely with Seven’s national digital sales director, Rachel Page, and with Vikki Friscic, who was appointed to the new role of head of sales strategy and enablement earlier this week.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Katie to her new role and look forward to working closely with her,” Ross said.
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“Katie has been with Seven for more than 20 years, most recently as Director of 7RED, and her passion for Seven and television is unmatched. No one has a deeper understanding of our business or is better placed to help take us forward.
“Katie will be working closely with Rachel to ensure we deliver cross-screen synergies and audience-led solutions across the screens of Seven. Both Katie and Rachel will work hand in glove with Vikki on creating and executing the best strategies for Seven and our clients.
“On behalf of everyone at Seven, I’d like to sincerely thank Georgie for her contribution over the past six years. She made the decision to explore new opportunities several weeks ago and will leave with our gratitude and very best wishes.”
Finney added: “It’s a privilege to take on this role as we transform Seven for the future. With the best content to engage audiences at scale and an incredible sales team that leverages these audiences with strategic opportunities, we are uniquely positioned to connect brands to consumers.
“I could not be more excited to work with our agency and client partners to drive long-term, future-facing business outcomes.”
Meanwhile, as reported by TV Tonight, Lucio Ribeiro, director marketing, digital and innovation, has also departed after a year in the role, which Seven also confirmed to Mumbrella.
This comes after a huge week for the media titan, which announced a “new operating model” under three divisions – television, digital and Western Australia – “designed to deliver on the strategy that includes optimising its television business and delivering on the digital future”.
As part of the changes, Seven said that “a number of redundancies and other cost actions are being taken” on the back of up to 150 jobs reportedly cut, which includes chief marketing officer Melissa Hopkins, chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette and Seven Melbourne’s head of sport and managing director Lewis Martin.
It’s since been reported that Seven is looking to axe $100 million in costs on the back of a tough advertising landscape and the end of its multi-million dollar news media deal with Meta.
Speaking exclusively to Mumbrella on Thursday morning, Hopkins said: “I am proud of my contribution over the past 15 months at Seven, the connections I have built, initiatives led and the external perspectives I have been able to provide as Seven firmly shapes itself as a digital first business.”
On a new episode of the Mumbrellacast, editor Neil Griffiths and publisher Adam Lang discussed the major announcement just hours after it was made, noting the string of controversies that has plagued the network lately, including the sacking of crime reporter and occasional newsreader, Robert Ovadia, just last week.
Listen to the full episode here.
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