Industry happenings at NZME, Tremor Video, BNZ and Magnify.
Browsing: Jane Hastings
NZME’s new chief executive Michael Boggs has been dismissed as a number cruncher and bean counter. But as Damien Venuto discovers during their chat, there’s more to Boggs than spreadsheets, debits and credits.
Following this morning’s news of the resignation of Jane Hastings from her position as the chief executive of NZME, we revisit Ben Fahy’s interview with her at the end of last year. (Look out for ‘long pause’ that hinted at this news).
Jane Hastings has resigned from her role as chief executive officer of NZME and current chief financial officer Michael Boggs has been named as her replacement.
We asked some stalwarts a simple question. Here’s what Jane Hastings, chief executive of NZME, had to say.
After a few years running The Radio Network, Jane Hastings took over as chief executive at APN in May and she’s shaken things up since her arrival, hiring a new exec team, embracing cross-selling and cross-promotion across its channels and launching a new brand for the multimedia beast called NZME. Here’s her take on what’s been a whirlwind few months.
With the prospect of an IPO on the horizon that would potentially see 60 percent of APN New Zealand’s media assets carved out, a number of new senior humans have joined the organisation to “drive collaboration benefits across the group and fulfill a bold new vision to fully engage Kiwis anywhere, anytime with the content they love”.
APN’s first half figures for 2014 for the six months ended 30 June show that the company’s overall revenue across its Kiwi and Australian offerings climbed three percent, rising from AU$394.6 million last year to A$405.9 million this year. Statutory net profit after tax followed the revenue trend rising 77 percent from A$12.8 million from the previous year to A$22.6 this year. But it wasn’t all good news, with several of the Kiwi categories suffering year-on-year dips. PLUS: we look at Fairfax’s figures and the News Corp debacle.
On Sunday, 17 August, APN launched ShopViva, a fashion e-commerce collaboration between GrabOne, the third biggest e-commerce platform in New Zealand, and Viva, the New Zealand Herald’s flagship lifestyle magazine. The new venture is based on the premise that readers should be able to purchase the items that are displayed editorially in the popular inserted magazine, which is circulated every Wednesday.
Following the receivership of MediaWeb, NZ Management Magazine was bought by the NZIM and given to Adrenalin to publish alongside its existing title NZ Business. MediaWeb used to own the Deloitte Top 200 Awards, which celebrate New Zealand’s most outstanding large businesses and their people, and the event was seen as a “cash cow and jewel in the crown” of the company. But it’s thought the IP was transferred to Deloitte when MediaWeb couldn’t pay the bills, so, without anyone to run this year’s awards, it recently put that business on the block and APN New Zealand has won it. PLUS: Toni Myers’ LinkedIn profile gets a slap from a former MediaWeb employee.
APN is centralising management of its radio, publishing and digital business interests in New Zealand with the appointment of Jane Hastings in a redefined chief executive officer role. Previously, the Kiwi arm of APN had dual chief executive roles, with Martin Simons being in charge of the publishing and digital side and Hastings holding the reins at TRN. Updated with comments from Hastings.
At an ad-hoc conference held this morning at Ponsonby Central, TRN announced several significant changes to its offering. The key announcements, delivered via TRN’s chief executive Jane Hastings, chief content officer Dean Buchanan and commercial director Laura Maxwell-Hansen, were presented as part of the overarching ‘Change is Now’ campaign, which will serve to promote all the updates over coming months. In addition to rebranding Classic Hits, TRN has also invested in a multimedia studio and shuffled its staff.
.99 mans the fort with some senior staffers, Murray Deaker switches off, and changes at The Radio Network, Hunter and Pead PR.
Clemenger businesses on the move in Welly, Bauer looks inside and finds a new advertising director, The Radio Network lures a big radio fish back home, Fairfax hands Lions Festivals baton to Val Morgan, Mark Reekie heads for the islands and Spotify announces new ANZ head of sales.
Whybin\TBWA has been the The Radio Network’s (TRN) agency partner for a number of years, but Saatchi & Saatchi was chosen ahead of it to rebrand Radio Hauraki last year. And while Whybin\TBWA\ worked on a campaign for its flagship brand Newstalk ZB recently and is still thought to be the agency of record, some big changes in TRN’s management team and a commitment to increase its in-house capability through agency Carbon and reduce agency fees means there might not be quite as much work ahead.
Video hasn’t killed the radio star and, seemingly, neither will digital. In fact, not only has Kiwi radio maintained its share of all advertising, it now has more commercial listeners than at any time in the previous decade. But that doesn’t mean radio’s resting on its analogue laurels, as evidenced by the announcement from the Australian Radio Network (ARN) and subsidiary The Radio Network (TRN), a joint venture between APN News & Media and Clear Channel International, that popular all-in-one digital radio network iHeartRadio is coming down under.