The inaugural Mediaweek 100 list starts counting down today
The Mediaweek 100 will create some debate within the industry about people ranked too high, too low, people who shouldn’t be on it and others who missed out.
The media executives on this list control the purse strings for the content that Australians, and many people around the world, consume each year. They are largely not the people who make the shows or write the stories and scripts, yet they make the decisions about what we all get to consume.
The list includes a diverse group of executives from “old media” proprietors through to the challengers who continue to grow their businesses.
While this list is not as diverse as it should be, the face of Australian media is changing and we look forward to the list evolving over coming years.
The Mediaweek 100 will be a “live list” in that we shall update it when people change roles, companies merge or new disruptors arrive.
The countdown to #1 continues this week
Tuesday: 80-61
Wednesday: 60-41
Thursday: 40-21
Friday: 20-1
PLUS The eight people too big for the Mediaweek 100
See More:
Australian media’s most powerful people – 80-61
Australian media’s most powerful people – 60-41
Australian media’s most powerful people – 40-21
Australian media’s most powerful people – 20-1
Tyler Bern
Head of Content Australia & New Zealand, Amazon Prime Video
Tyler Bern has been at Amazon for over four years and in this role for two. He oversees Amazon’s content strategy for Prime Video in this region. While at Amazon Prime Video, Bern has seen a significant increase in the number of originals commissioned for the platform. Those include The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team, a series of 10 stand-up comedy specials by some of Australia’s best comedians, LOL: Last One Laughing AU with Rebel Wilson, the recently released Back to The Rafters, an untitled AFL docu-series project, and a glitzy, Sydney-based real estate show Luxe Listings Sydney. Prior to joining Amazon, Bern spent nearly four years with Dish Network looking after movies and sport.
John Newton
Chief Executive Officer, Gravity Media
Gravity Media was launched by CEO John Newton. He explained the origins of his 25-year journey to Mediaweek: “I founded a company in 1994 that was sold to Gearhouse, then a listed UK company. Gravity Media was later set up to buy some of the assets bought back off that listed company. That happened in 2000 and I led the management buyout. Since then I have been chief executive and the majority shareholder of the group.” Newton trained as an engineer and later worked in production. “I later moved from the technical side of production to the commercial side.” Although UK based, Gravity Media’s CEO lives in Sydney. Gravity Media operates four brands in Australia – Gearhouse Broadcast, HyperActive Broadcast, Input Media and Chief Entertainment – with Newton telling Mediaweek it may group those brands together as Gravity Media in the future to simply the offer to customers.
Mandi Wicks
Director of News and Current Affairs, SBS
SBS appointed Mandi Wicks as director of news and current affairs in 2020. She was previosuly SBS’s director of audio and language content and took on the role of running news after the departure of Jim Carroll. Wicks has a background in news, editorial and management roles, including a decade at SBS. She began her career as a journalist before moving into news management roles, working at the Macquarie Radio Network and Southern Cross Austereo. Prior to joining SBS, Wicks was General Manager of DMG Radio Australia (now Nova Entertainment) in Sydney, where she assisted in launching the Nova Network. SBS News is one of the drivers that help keep sbs.com.au in the top 100 overall Australian websites.
Greg Byrnes
Head of Content, Nine Radio
In 2019 Nine Radio MD Tom Malone brought back Greg Byrnes to radio. A former 2UE news and program director, Byrnes had been at Sky News Australia for the past decade. During his years in TV, Byrnes was channel manager and national editor. More recently he has been executive producer of the Sky News successful evening talk shows. “Greg has a long and impressive career in media, and in particular radio, starting at 2XL Cooma in 1990,” said Malone recently. “He joined 2UE in 1993 and spent 17 years there.” Between them, Malone and Byrnes are carefully managing the changes at flagship stations 3AW and 2GB. A future big decision is who will replace Ray Hadley at the end of his contract at 2GB.
Paul Jackson
Chief Programming and Marketing Officer, Nova Entertainment
Nova Entertainment’s Paul Jackson has now worked longer in radio in Australia than he has in the UK. Jackson worked for Virgin Radio and Global Radio in Britain and he has now been in Australia at Nova Entertainment since 2010. He arrived as Group Program Director, but added the role of Chief Marketing Officer to his title in 2019 when long-time Nova marketing chief Tony Thomas departed. The two of them nurtured the Nova and the new smoothfm brands. Nova Entertainment has chosen well with its key programming slots. The Perth and Brisbane Nova breakfast teams seem to have been leading their markets for decades, while Sydney and Melbourne breakfast shows seem set to continue, as will Ben and Liam in Adelaide.
Duncan Campbell
Chief Content Officer, ARN
Duncan Campbell has been programming radio in some of the most competitive markets in Australia and internationally for the past 25 years. After time spent working in radio in Australia in the 90s, Campbell headed to the UK where he worked for BP&R, GWR Group, GCap Media and then Bauer Media Radio for close to a decade. In August 2010, Campbell returned to Australia and accepted the position of national content director of ARN based in Sydney. His experience has developed programming and talent spotting skills across a number of music genres. Campbell led the team responsible for the successful rebrand of KIIS 1065 Sydney in 2014, taking the station straight to #1 FM, and Melbourne’s KIIS 101.1 in 2015, along with the refresh of the Pure Gold Network. Two of his more recent career highlights were securing Kyle and Jackie O for the new Sydney ARN brand and importing British breakfast host Christian O’Connell who seems to have been Melbourne’s #1 FM breakfast host most of the time since he relocated to Melbourne Gold FM. All of a sudden he has a big network of regional stations bulging with talent which he can draw on when needed.
Dave Cameron
Chief Content Officer, Southern Cross Austereo
Cameron has been with SCA for over 25 years and brings to the role experience and expertise in content strategy, programming and talent management. He has spent several years in content and music director roles and prior to his appointment to his current post held the position of general manager of the Melbourne office. As CCO, Cameron is responsible for overseeing programming for SCA’s key content across all of the radio stations including FM, DAB+ and extended digital and associated on-demand content. He is best known to a generation of Hamish and Andy listeners as Grumpy Dave. Cameron is a member of the SCA executive leadership team. It’s been a challenging year at some of the SCA metro stations, none more so perhaps than at Triple M Sydney where breakfast blew up toward the end of the year.
Eddie McGuire
Producer and Presenter/Commentator
Eddie McGuire has filled too many roles across the media to list them all here. But it’s his work as a program producer that ensures his place on this list. In front of the camera and a microphone he has had many successful decades at Network 10 and then Nine and Fox Footy. In radio too at Triple M where he started as a sports presenter on the D-Gen breakfast show. McGuire joined Australian Associated Press as a cricket writer until 1982 when he joined Network Ten as a sports reporter for Ten Eyewitness News. He later moved to Nine to host The Footy Show (which his company would later produce) and was later given the role of hosting the quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? McGuire left his on-camera duties in 2005 to take the CEO role at the Nine Network which meant relocating to Sydney. It didn’t go well as it was realised he was worth more to an employer on air than in the boardroom. In recent years he has steadily grown his production businesses (JAM TV) while keeping his radio job at Triple M until 2020 and maintaining a role at Nine (Millionaire Hot Seat and Footy Classified) plus commentating and hosting at Fox Footy.
Simon Bates
Director, Content Programming, TikTok
Simon Bates graduated from Manchester University and later worked at an ISP in London. Two years later he moved across to the London office of the Sportsworld group working on what would later be renamed World Surf League. He then spent two years at BSkyB before landing in Sydney working in marketing at Fairfax Media for over seven years with only a brief interruption for a role with the BBC. Bates then spent eight years with ViacomCBS working mainly on the MTV brand – the perfect stepping-stone to his current role as Director, Content Programming, TikTok.
Prema Perera
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Universal Media Co
Australia’s second-biggest magazine publisher lost the #1 ranking when German-owned Bauer Media sold out to the Australian controlled Are Media. The magazine business was rebranded from Universal Magazines to Universal Media over five years ago. The titles seem in safe hands under the guidance of Perera and long-time publisher Janice Williams and associate publisher Emma Perera. The decision to diversify revenue streams sees the company with over 30 magazine and digital brands plus activities including content creation, video and even a growing line of stationery products. The portfolio of brands includes WellBeing, Grand Designs, Home Design, Australian Country, Kitchens & Bathrooms Quarterly, EatWell, Homespun, Australian Road Rider, Dirt Action and Good Organic Gardening. Universal Media Co’s stationery division claims to be the largest publisher of licensed and branded calendars, diaries and planners sold through Australia’s biggest retailers including Woolworths, Coles, and Big W. Universal Media Co also owns WF Media (previously Westwick-Farrow Media), and its 13 media brands gives the overall group a strong B2B Media arm and play too.
Arek Widawski
Managing Director, nextmedia
The Managing Director of German-owned nextmedia has managed to stay off the radar since taking over the Sydney-based publisher. His two mentions in Mediaweek so far are for off-loading the brands Tracks and Art Almanac to new homes. Widawski has been on the German board of nextmedia owner Forum Media Group for over three years and he came to Australia 12 months ago. He has been with Forum Media for a decade, spending much of that time with the business in Poland, before having a wider remit across the global investments. Former owners Bruce Duncan and David Gardiner consult to nextmedia when needed.
Rachael Northey
Chief Executive Officer, Lovatts Media Group
Privately-owned publishing company Lovatts Media has been home to Australia’s most-loved puzzle magazines for the last four decades. With the business still thriving in a time when print was declining, the publisher continues to successfully add new titles. Northey has been with Lovatts for over a decade, and became the CEO six years ago, trusted with piloting the business founded by James and Christine Lovatt. Last year Northey shared with Mediaweek the company’s approach to publishing, how they use advertising, and how the company continues to grow. “We’ve changed quite a lot. More than 10 years ago when I joined the business, we were just publishing crossword and puzzle magazines and also did quite a lot of syndication of puzzle content to other publishers, like Bauer. Then about four years ago we decided we wanted to expand a little more into lifestyle publishing, and we’ve done that.” More recent successful Lovatts launches include print titles Breathe and Nourish.
Martin Kugeler
Acting-Chief Executive Officer, Stan
Australian SVOD platform Stan has promoted chief financial officer Martin Kugeler into the role of acting CEO, following the elevation of former CEO Mike Sneesby to CEO at parent company Nine Entertainment. Kugeler, who also serves as the Director of Strategy, Sport, Business Development and Product, will hold the role until a permanent replacement is found for Sneesby. Stan veteran Kugeler joined the streamer in 2014 and was previously a partner in Venture Consulting and served as Executive Director of Pacific Strategy Partners. When asked in August 2021 if Kugeler is in the running to be the next Chief Executive of Stan, former CEO and now Nine boss, Mike Sneesby said: “I was very clear when I came into this role at Nine that we wouldn’t be going out to immediately commence a search for the Chief Executive. Martin is doing a brilliant job over there with the rest of the team. And at this stage, I’m not going to speculate or talk about what happens long term. The business is in great shape and it’s in great hands.”
Scott Lorson
Chief Executive Officer, Fetch
Scott Lorson joined Fetch TV as its inaugural CEO in 2009, and has overseen the dramatic growth of Fetch TV from a start up with six employees, through its launch phase, to its current position as Australia’s second-largest and fast growing subscription TV platform. Under Lorson’s leadership, Fetch TV has designed and built a multi-screen platform, formed distribution partnerships with three of the top four Australian ISPs, secured content from leading local and international players, created a challenger brand, and introduced a consumer proposition that promises ‘All your entertainment in one place’. Lorson has 18 years’ experience in senior roles at Australian telco and media organisations. Prior to joining Fetch TV, he worked for PBL Media where he served as CEO of Ticketek and later ACP Magazines. He also served as managing director for Optus’s Consumer & Multi-Media (CMM) and Small and Medium Business (SMB) divisions.
Que Minh Luu
Head of Originals, Netflix Australia
Netflix is signalling a bigger commitment to commissioning Australian productions after hiring Que Minh Luu. She joined Netflix in mid-July 2020, and is based in Sydney. Que Minh Luu spent three and a half years as an executive producer at the ABC, working across drama, comedy and digital content. Her ABC projects included the six-part isolation-themed comedy Retrograde, Frayed, The Heights, Harrow, Content and Diary of an Uber Driver. Before the ABC, she worked in development at Matchbox Pictures where she co-created The Heights with Warren Clarke. Earlier in her career Que Minh worked as an editor and across radio, podcasting and digital platforms. She advocates for inclusive and diverse representation in the industry both on and off-screen and is a member of the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship board, named in honour of her late partner, the SPA Screen Forever Advisory board and Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Task Force.
Kylie Watson-Wheeler
Senior Vice President & Managing Director, The Walt Disney Company Australia and New Zealand and President, Western Bulldogs
Kylie Watson-Wheeler is responsible for The Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand across film, TV, digital, home entertainment distribution and streaming services. The portfolio of content and products includes Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, ESPN, ABC Studios (US), 20th Century Fox and National Geographic. Watson-Wheeler has 17 years of entertainment industry experience and has led multiple areas of business across The Walt Disney Company including content, marketing, sales, and theatrical distribution. She has also held responsibility for the publishing business across the region including India, South-East Asia and Korea. Before joining Disney, Watson-Wheeler was the director of advertising and brand management for Hallmark Cards Inc., based in Kansas City, USA. Prior to moving to the US, she spent four years as Hallmark Australia’s marketing manager. Watson-Wheeler also has held various marketing positions at Coca-Cola and Penguin Books.
Rebecca Kent
SVP Transformation, Discovery Inc
The Deakin University graduate first joined Discovery Communications in 2013 as Director, Global Business Operations. Rebecca Kent previously had roles at BBC Worldwide and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in Australia. At the end of 2017, Discovery Communications appointed Kent as General Manager, Australia and New Zealand growing the portfolio of eight channels in Australia and six channels in New Zealand. Discovery, Inc. announced in August 2020 that Kent would transition from her role as General Manager of Australia and New Zealand to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Transformation. Discovery has recently announced the launch of two new channels in New Zealand where it owns a FTA business. The region is also anticipating the launch of the Discovery+ service shortly.
Chris Taylor
Managing Director Television Distribution and Networks NBCUniversal Australia/New Zealand
It has been eight years since Chris Taylor took on his role as Managing Director, NBCUniversal International Networks and Television Distribution, Australia and New Zealand. Like many people on this list, the less he’s in the headlines, the better. (And don’t mistake him for the “other” Chris Taylors. One used to be with The Chaser, another, actually Chris Oliver-Taylor, runs Fremantle.) During Taylor’s time with NBCU the company has expanded its channel reach in Australia and New Zealand and moved from output deals with specific broadcasters to selling content to all major players in the markets. The NBCUniversal International channels offered to consumers in the two markets include Universal TV, Syfy, E!, 13th Street, Bravo (NZ) and Style. He’s also executive chairman of Bravo TV New Zealand. Taylor’s background includes stints at Nine Network Queensland, Telstra and Prime New Zealand. As streaming grows in importance to TV business models, the content Taylor sells in this region makes partnerships with the business more essential than ever.
Neil Ackland
Chief Executive Officer, Junkee Media
As part of the strategic review, Junkee owner oOh!media has determined that its core focus on out-of-home means that it will transition away from online digital publishing. oOh! is therefore appointing advisors to divest Junkee Media, its youth-orientated digital publishing business, which it expects to sell shortly. oOh! Chief Executive Cathy O’Connor explained that the company’s strategy was evolving to take advantage of numerous opportunities in outdoor, and the Junkee divestment was part of a series of initiatives to be announced over the coming months. The divestment sees Neil Ackland, Junkee’s Co-Founder and current CEO, relinquish his Junkee position and remain at oOh! in his ongoing Chief Content, Marketing & Creative Officer role as part of the executive leadership team.
Kevin Whyte
Managing Director, Token Artists
Kevin Whyte is the Founder and Managing Director of Token Group, a Melbourne and Sydney-based production and management company, which includes the screen production company, Guesswork. Token manages the biggest names in Australian comedy and is the largest producer of live comedy in Australia, selling more than 300,000 tickets a year across the country. The group also includes artist management company Creative Representation, managing actors, directors, writers, composers and broadcasters. Talent on the books includes Hannah Gadsby, Josh Thomas, Dave Hughes, Wil Anderson, Adam Hills, Judith Lucy, Anne Edmonds, Charlie Pickering and Anne Edmonds. Whyte is also Group Managing Director of Guesswork, a full-service production company with offices in Melbourne and Sydney, specialising in narrative comedy, authored documentary and studio entertainment shows. Guesswork’s slate of projects includes Hannah Gadsby: Nanette, Please Like Me, Frayed (co-produced with Merman), Rosehaven, Hard Quiz, The Weekly with Charlie Pickering, Get Krack!n, The Katering Show (Season 2), Whose Line is it Anyway? Australia, Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey, Judith Lucy is All Woman, Problems and The Edge of the Bush, as well as live stand-up comedy specials for Amazon Prime Video and Stan.