The changes see the creation of three separate Business Units, two based in London and the other in Bristol, each with their own management team to allow the development of distinct strategies to maximise the growth potential in each of their markets.
The first London based Unit is comprised of Immediate’s high growth digitally enabled multi-platform brands and business models; including Immediate’s Food, Parenting and History portfolios, as well as RadioTimes.com and BBC Gardeners’ World. These brands have had rapid audience growth and increased user engagement in the last 12 months, with the development of new editorial and revenue opportunities helping to attract 74m visitors globally a month, up 40% year-on-year, says Immediate Media.
The Business Unit will be led by new hire Sean Cornwell as CEO. An experienced digital leader, Sean’s previous roles include CEO of Direct Ferries, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer of Travelex and COO of Shutl, as well as other senior general management and marketing roles at eHarmony and Google.
Sean Cornwell says: “I am thrilled to be joining a business with the heritage and ambition of Immediate. Their quality trusted brands and increasing digital audience give us a strong platform to grow the business further as the evolution of the media landscape continues apace. I look forward to working with the teams who have driven the success to date on the next phase of our journey.”
Tom Bureau, Immediate’s CEO, says: “Sean has a proven track record as a successful digital leader, accelerating growth and exploiting new revenue opportunities across a number of businesses. We have an ambitious growth plan for our multi-platform offer, building on the success we’ve seen in last few years, and I’m delighted to welcome Sean to Immediate to help us achieve our aims.”
The other London-based Business Unit is made up of Immediate’s established, scaled-audience print brands and live events business; including Radio Times magazine, Immediate’s Youth and Children’s portfolio, and its live events business, which produces shows such as the BBC Good Food Show, London Art Fair, Cycle Show, Move It and Festival of Quilts. Immediate’s Subscriptions, Production and Licencing teams will also sit in this Business Unit. In 2020, Immediate grew its print subscription volumes by 17% and now has over 1.1 million active subscribers to its special interest brands. The Business Unit will be led by Immediate CFO/COO Dan Constanda, as CEO on an interim basis.
The third Business Unit incorporates Immediate’s Bristol Specialist portfolios, including Craft, Cycling, Specialist, Homes and Science, alongside its Branded Content team, and will be led by current Group Managing Director Andy Marshall as CEO. By housing its portfolio of specialist brands together, this business will capitalise on growth opportunities in subscriptions development in print and digital, building a larger digital footprint and developing new revenue streams through its already strong and deeply engaged customer relationships, says the company.
The Business Units will be overseen by a new Group Executive Team, who will be responsible for Immediate’s overall strategic direction, business results and M&A activity. As part of these changes current Group CEO Tom Bureau will become Executive Chairman of the Immediate Media Co in the new structure.
Speaking about the new Group structure, Tom Bureau says: “We’ve built an exciting and successful business over the past 9 years, with market leading media brands across print, digital, and events. Immediate has navigated the Covid pandemic successfully, with our special interest brands reaching more people than ever through rapid digital growth and a hugely resilient print portfolio. We believe the new Group structure, with new business units charged with developing strategies and expertise for their individual markets, will enable us to build on this growth and capitalise on our huge potential.”
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
