Seven West Media and Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) have announced Clive Dickens will depart the radio network to assume the position of chief digital officer at Seven West Media next year.
Dickens is currently Southern Cross Austereo’s director of digital and innovation.
In an announcement from SCA CEO Rhys Holleran said: “We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere thanks to Clive for his remarkable impact on the SCA business broadly, and for his leadership of SCA’s digital success since he joined the company in early 2013.”
Seven West Media also shared the news in a statement and noted that Dickens will join Seven West Media in early 2015 and report to the chief executive officer of Seven West Media, Tim Worner.
In the statement, Worner said: “Clive is well-known to the market as a champion of new and emerging digital platforms, and as an identifier of new opportunities for growth. He joins us at an exciting time. Seven West Media has some of the most successful brands and franchises in the country. We are focused on the delivery of our market-leading content anywhere, anytime to the biggest audiences possible. Our drive into new forms of delivery represents an important cornerstone in our strategy and Clive will lead that push with passion.”
Dickens has amassed digital and broadcasting experience across three decades in Australia, North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. Prior to joining Southern Cross Austereo, he was a co-founder and non-executive director of Radioplayer, a joint venture between the BBC and UK commercial broadcasters, and Co-Founder and COO at Absolute Radio. He has also been an adviser to the founders of Shazam and numerous other digital start-ups as well as being a non-executive director at Digital Radio Broadcasting and an HbbTV Steering Committee member at Freeview Australia.
Dickens said: “I am thrilled to be joining Seven West Media and really look forward to working with some of the world’s most compelling brands and channels. Seven creates more premium content than any other Australian media company and I can’t
The move is another blow the radio network which posted a $296m dollar loss in August. The network has also struggled with it’s once flagship Sydney breakfast offering after the departure of Kyle and Jackie O to KISS1065.
Holleran said: “The search for SCA’s new director of digital and innovation is already underway and we will make an announcement about a successor in the coming months.”
