Yahoo7 has expanded its sales team with the appointments of Paul Bates to the role of national sales director and Natalie Grabbe as head of sales, Victoria.

Grabbe will report directly to Bates, while Bates will report to Paul Sigaloff, commercial director at Yahoo7.

As national sales director, Bates will be responsible for managing all Yahoo7 sales teams across Australia, driving commercial initiatives for all Yahoo7’s digital platforms. He will also be tasked with building significant relationships with clients and media agencies to facilitate sales and relationships for Yahoo7.

Bates joins Yahoo7 with more than 18 years experience in cross-platform media sales and sales management in Australia and the UK. He has previously worked at a number of leading publishing platforms, with sales roles at Fairfax Media, Fox Interactive Media and Pacific Magazines.

As head of sales, Victoria, Grabbe will be tasked with co-ordinating and managing Yahoo7 sales across the state, leading advertisers in the development of multi-media advertising agreements that leverage the power of the Seven West Media Network.

Grabbe joins Yahoo7 with more than 10 years sales experience. Most recently, she worked as agency group director at Fairfax Media, where she managed the sales of cross-platform solutions for advertising agencies and clients. She has also held senior roles at Private Media, The Guardian USA & UK and The Age.

Paul Sigaloff, commercial director for Yahoo7, said, “Paul and Natalie’s appointments come at an exciting time for the commercial business as we bring our refined Yahoo7 Advertising offering to clients. Their extensive experience will strengthen our position in market as we provide unrivalled integrated access to content, native, audience, premium and video advertising.”