Avid Collective has announced a new structure for its senior executive team, with founder Luke Spano and commercial director Ezechiel Ritchie moving into new roles to fuel further growth plans.
Spano, who is currently Avid’s managing director, will move into the newly created CEO role, while Ritchie has been promoted to the newly created role of general manager.
Under the new structure, Spano will shift the majority of his focus to the business’ overarching strategic direction, exploring international expansion and new business ventures to grow its branded and native content offering. Ritchie will lead day-to-day business operations across all functions, along with managing all larger commercial partnership discussions with brands and agencies. He will continue to report to Spano.
The restructure comes amid significant, sustained growth for the business. The company recorded 90% year-on-year growth, powered by the execution of hundreds of native content campaigns in 2023 alone, with similar growth levels expected for 2024.
Since launching in 2017, Avid Collective has grown to become Australia’s home of native content, with its publisher network now reaching most of the Australian population across more than 140 publishers.
Ritchie joined the team in November last year, following senior leadership stints at Jellysmack, Taboola and Google.
“This new structure allows both Ezechiel and I to divide and conquer in achieving Avid’s short and mid-term growth goals, while also giving increased focus to the long-term growth opportunities for Avid,” said Spano.
“This evolved operational structure gives us the best chance of expanding, and Ezechiel’s promotion will help us step into the next phase of our growth. We’ll do that through larger commercial partnerships and a more sophisticated internal structure – both of which Ezechiel is best placed to lead, given his extensive experience leading high-growth businesses. The impact he’s already had in his first six months at Avid has been extremely valuable, and I’m excited to see how he continues to elevate from a more central place within our business”.
“Avid has recorded incredible growth over the past year and we’re now in an exciting position to be able to focus on bigger opportunities. We have a real chance to be a global business, on the back of our best-in-market native content solution but achieving that requires deeper focus. These structural changes are designed to support our aggressive growth plans and get the most out of our talent”.
“It’s a very exciting time to be at Avid, as we continue with our mission to make advertising an interesting and engaging part of our lives, enhancing our experience, rather than interrupting it. The impact of our innovation over the past two years is reflected in our company’s remarkable growth and I’m thrilled to be able to support the team to continue this growth trajectory over the years to come,” said Ritchie.
The new structure comes on the back of Avid’s 2023 launch of its Platform 2.0 offering, making it easier for brands to better reach and engage Australian audiences through native content campaigns. It also follows the appointments of Niki Jones as Head of Operations & Enablement, Rob Ewing as Head of Agency Partnerships and former Commercial Director Tom Gunter’s move into the Product & Solutions Director role to focus on leading Avid commercial product developments.
The new roles are effective immediately.
