Uber has appointed long-term Twitter boss Angus Keene as its new head of advertising for Australia and New Zealand.
Based in Sydney, Keene will report to APAC advertising leader Michael Levine and will take the reins of Uber’s growing ANZ ad sales team, which numbers more than 50.
Keene told B&T that he decided to join Uber for a few reasons.
“Firstly, it’s the momentum that is coming from the Uber advertising team, both globally and here in ANZ. It’s a really exciting time to join the broader business and the advertising business. The ANZ team delivered 40 per cent growth in 2025. The strategic verticals team delivered 80 per cent growth,” he said.
“So it’s not often that you get the opportunity to step into such a well-known brand that’s at a point where there’s hyper growth and significant opportunity going into the next phase of the business.
“The second one is the team. I’ve worked closely with sales teams and broader businesses for nearly 20 years in the media and digital space, and I’m probably biased, but it does feel like this team is the strongest sales team in the ANZ market, they’ve delivered exceptional growth, and they’re winning awards across the market.
“The last piece that attracted me is just the advertising offering, it’s unique in market. That combination of real world data, movement and purchase, and combining that with the uncluttered environment on the platform is an incredibly powerful advertising solution to take to marketers and agencies.”
The Uber Advertising sales team is split into three parts. There is a team that handles advertisers endemic to the platform; a team that focuses on non-endemic advertisers such as banks, automotive and travel clients; and an agency partnerships team that works closely with media agency partners.
“Australia and New Zealand are foundational markets for Uber Advertising in APAC and globally, and we need a leader with a proven track record of scaling platform innovations and driving global brand partnerships to take the business forward,” Levine said.
“Angus is highly respected in the media landscape, his deep platform experience, industry leadership, and passion for mentoring talent make him the ideal leader to build on our momentum. I’m excited to have him join our APAC leadership team.”
Keene’s immediate focus
Keene was a founding member of the Twitter ANZ team and helped take the ANZ operations from start-up phase to maturity and the evolution to X.
“I certainly learnt a lot from that experience, and stepping into this role, we’re at a phase of growth. I’ve been through those periods, and I understand how to lead digital sales teams, create high performance cultures,” Keene said.
“The big focus from the team is to move from standard ad solutions and those spots and dots, and move it into an offering for our partners that’s really a multi-touch brand experience across both mobility and delivery. The team talk a lot about this idea of moving retail and commerce media from digital to real life experiences, and I think that’s a really exciting offering for our partners.”
These innovations including Uber Advertising Fan Experience packages, which bring simpler programmatic buying and expanded audience and measurement integrations through Circana around the sporting and cultural moments that matter most to Australians.
Launching before the end of 2026, Circana will give CPG, alcohol and retail advertisers an independent view of how Uber campaigns affect in-store sales.
Uber Advertising is continuing to expand its Creative Studio, which brings together Uber’s audience insights, media, mobility, delivery and in-app capabilities to develop bespoke brand experiences.
Under the proposition “Bring us the brief, not the format”, the Creative Studio encourages agencies to begin with a customer or business challenge rather than a predetermined advertising unit.
