Three of Seven’s top brass are reported to be leaving the business amid a round of redundancies that has slashed up to 150 roles.
The Australian Financial Review, citing four anonymous sources, reports that long-serving chief revenue officer Burnette, chief marketing and audience officer Hopkins, and head of sport Martin are among those to depart as new boss Jeff Howard slashes costs across the business.
B&T has received confirmation of the moves.
Burnette has worked as Seven’s chief revenue officer for more than a decade and been as the broadcaster since 1990. He is widely respected as one of the industry’s leading media executives.
Burnette has been a key figure at Seven’s annual upfront events, and a pivotal figure in transforming Seven from a traditional linear TV broadcaster to a multimedia juggernaut. He was also event director of Seven’s Olympics and Paralympic coverage between 2016 and 2022.
Martin joined Seven four years after Burnette as a sales executive and worked his way up to MD of Seven’s Melbourne operations in 2008, as well as leading the sports division.
He has been widely credited as leading Seven’s sports rights bids for the AFL, horse racing and the Australian Open tennis before it moved to Nine.
Hopkins only joined Seven in March 2023, but had embarked on a digital marketing overhaul and planned to revitalise the Seven brand. This included recruiting Lucio Ribeiro – an Optus running mate – to lead innovation and digital marketing.
The redundancies arrive at a challenging juncture for Seven and broadcast TV in general.
Seven West Media reported a sharp 52 per cent drop in net profit after tax to $54.46 million in the half year to December 2023 due to a weak advertising market. Its revenues had also fallen by 5 per cent to $775.8 million, leading the group to find up to $25 million in cost savings in the first half of this year.
A recent decision by Meta to abandon news content deals is thought to have shaved a further $15 million from the top line.
Howard only took the helm from James Warburton months ago but is already making tough decisions during a tumultuous period for the media company.
