Rod Prosser has resigned from Paramount.
Prosser was the network’s chief sales officer and had spent more than 15 years with the firm. He’ll depart the business in April.
Prosser’s responsibilities will transition to Grant Madigan, who has been appointed to Vice President, Sales. Grant will assume accountability for the Australian sales team and report directly to Paramount International Markets Ad Sales boss, Lee Sears.
One industry insider told B&T that Prosser’s departure is very much a resignation, rather than anything more untoward and he’s leaving to try his hand at something new.
“It’s time for me to go and do something different,” Prosser told B&T.
“It’s got nothing to do with the business as such or the people. I’ve got a milestone birthday this year, so it seemed the right time for many reasons.”
Prosser wouldn’t reveal his next move but told B&T “there have been so many interesting opportunities and things out there that have come my way throughout the last 15 years, particularly so over the last couple of years. But I’ve been so dedicated to this place that I haven’t ever reviewed any of those. The new part is me sitting back, seeing what’s out there and then making a decision. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to replicate what I’m doing here. It’s a little unknown at this point.”
Prosser started at 10 in 2010 as its Brisbane and Sydney sales director before being promoted to a national role. From there, he became director of revenue and client partnerships, then general manager of South East Queensland and then executive general manager before landing in his ANZ chief sales officer role in 2020.
Paramount has been in the process of evolving its sales team and model. But Prosser told B&T all was unconnected to his resignation.
“I say this with my hand on the heart, this is a resignation which I’ve been talking to Lee Sears, my international boss based in London who’s coming out tomorrow, for all this and the announcement so we can go and see the key advertisers and Beverley McGarvey, for some time,” he said.
“We’ve been talking about it for months. There’s nothing else that relates to this that comes from the transformation. What we’ve done is merge our sales team and I wanted to see that through.”
Beverley McGarvey, President of Network 10, Head of Streaming and Regional Lead for Australia and New Zealand, said: “Rod has been an important leader within our advertising division and the wider management team and has guided the sales team with clarity and focus. We thank him for his contribution over many years and wish him every success.”
Lee Sears, President, International Markets Advertising Sales, Paramount Global, said: “I want to thank Rod for his leadership, integrity and friendship, he has been a tremendous leader of the team and the Paramount business in Australia. He has set the team up for continued growth and I sincerely wish him well in the future.”
Late last year, Prosser told B&T that the network was building a smarter and faster future with its foray into contextual ad placements and an improved Connect buying system.
He also placed fifth on B&T’s Best of the Best media owner commercial chiefs.
Much is up in the air at Paramount globally following its merger with Skydance in 2024 and its more recent acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.
The business recently made a number of redundancies in its Adelaide team, moving operations to Melbourne, including General Manager and Sales Director for Adelaide Cameron Mudge.
At the time, Prosser told staff it was as part of an “ongoing focus on driving earnings growth and transforming our business”.
“This was not an easy decision, but one that was necessary to best support our business strategy,” he wrote in a staff email.
“We understand this news is difficult, and we are committed to supporting those affected through this transition.
“We would like to thank those employees who will be leaving for their valuable contribution to Paramount over many years. We wish them all the best.”
Industry rumours have swirled that Paramount may outsource its sales function like it used to when it was handled by Multichannel Network (MCN). Nine has been rumoured as a potential partner.
