Digital local news network Gazette has appointed former B&T sales exec Frank Masterson as commercial director, the company’s first senior commercial hire.
Masterson joins from international streaming guide JustWatch, where he was head of sales for Australia and New Zealand. He was the company’s first local hire and launched its commercial offering in the region.
Before that he was head of partnerships at Nine’s Pedestrian Group, and spent close to four years at Pinterest as a partner manager, launching the business into Australia and New Zealand.
Masterson started at Gazette in late August with a brief to build the commercial function from the ground up: national partnerships for advertisers who want scaled reach into regional and suburban communities, and local advertising in each masthead’s own patch.
Gazette’s founder and chief executive Anna Saulwick said: “I’m thrilled Frank has joined the team. We were looking for something specific: a strategic leader, a builder, and someone who understands what agencies and businesses need when they plan and buy.” She continued: “First
we built a great product: mastheads with original reporting that reflects and serves communities around the country. Then we built highly engaged audiences that love and support their local newsroom. Now we’re building the business that sustains this work, and there is no one I would rather have leading that than Frank.”
Masterson said: “Advertisers tell me they want local relevance at scale, and Gazette can offer that in a single buy. Building a commercial business on an audience this engaged is a rare opportunity, and I am beyond excited to be doing it here.”
Since launching in late 2024, Gazette has built mastheads that people share and come back to.
It now reaches 3.6 million Australians a month across platforms and has 75,000 newsletter subscribers across six mastheads: The North Shore Lorikeet, The Mid North Coaster, The Gippsland Monitor, The West Vic Brolga, The Eastern Melburnian, and The National Account.
