SBS today announced the appointment of John Sintras as its chief audience and content Officer.

A media executive with a career spanning three decades, Sintras joins Australia’s multicultural and Indigenous broadcaster to drive forward SBS’s audience-centric content strategy.

Sintras brings extensive industry insight and global leadership experience to SBS from his diverse roles across Australia and the US. John was most recently based in New York, where he was global president, business development and product innovation at IPG Mediabrands, responsible for driving growth across all business units, through innovative products and global best practice.

Prior to this, he was CEO and Chairman at Starcom Mediavest Australia, in addition to overseeing the network’s Global Strategy and Product offering, delivering creative solutions for a range of high-profile global and local brands.

SBS managing director, Michael Ebeid AM, said: “John is a seasoned and respected Australian media leader with a strong track record of inspiring teams to make a purposeful difference – I’m delighted to welcome him to SBS’s Executive Team.

“As SBS increases its commitment to connect Australians with distinctive content and services on a range of devices and platforms, John’s passion in leveraging transformation and technology to deliver business growth, together with his in-depth knowledge of data optimisation and insights, will be invaluable for SBS’s future as a multiplatform digital broadcaster.” 

Sintras said: “I’m excited to be joining the great team at SBS. As the son of Greek immigrant parents, I’m especially connected to SBS’s Charter to inspire all Australians to explore, appreciate and celebrate our diverse world.

“Australia continues to be a shining beacon of successful multiculturalism to the world. I’m looking forward to ensuring we continue to create and share meaningful and entertaining content that represents our many communities and cultures, whilst ensuring audiences can engage with SBS using personally relevant and innovative technology and platforms.” 

As SBS continues to put audiences at the heart of its business, John’s role as SBS Chief Audience and Content Officer, will have end-to-end oversight of SBS’s Audience and Content strategy – specifically its brands, marketing approach, audience engagement and analytics – focused on delivering maximum impact of SBS’s Charter, across TV, radio and online. 

Sintras has been a passionate contributor to the media industry and community issues, having sat on numerous industry and not-for-profit boards over his career. In 2012,Sintras was the inaugural inductee into the Australian Media Federation Hall of Fame and was also named ‘Marketer of the Year’ by The Australian Marketing Institute. Sintras is also one of the founding directors of the Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation of the United States, in addition to being a long-serving Board member of Australia’s Cerebral Palsy Alliance.