Williams replaces publishing director Stuart Forrest, who has helped the brand to a threefold growth in revenues since he took the reins of the brand in 2008, says Haymarket.
Williams joins Haymarket on Monday 16 September from Northcliffe Media, now Local World, where as executive director of Northcliffe Digital he has delivered significant direct digital revenue growth.
He has a strong track record in digital classifieds and automotive, founding and leading autotrader.co.uk, Europe's biggest and most successful motoring website, from 1996 to 2000. He was also the driving force behind AutoTrader’s expansion into Europe, based in Holland, in 2000.
As the general manager of New Zealand's ACP TraderGroup, Williams delivered 300% profit growth from 2001 to 2005 through launch, acquisition and business evolution. From 2006 he was the digital director of ACP Media NZ Digital, now Bauer, with 18 digital magazine launches in a 12-month period.
Commenting on his appointment, Williams said: “I am really looking forward to working with the talented teams from PistonHeads and Haymarket to drive the product offering for the amazing community of PistonHeads and, through the classified platform, to deliver response for advertisers. PistonHeads has a tremendous opportunity to build on its recent successes in classified and social media.”
Haymarket Consumer Media’s managing director David Prasher said: “The PistonHeads brand team, led by Stuart Forrest, has done a terrific job since we acquired the website six years ago and Lee will add his deep classified experience at a crucial stage of its development. We now have more than five million people shopping for cars on PistonHeads every month and believe the time it right to accelerate its growth.”
After five years leading the brand, Stuart Forrest steps down as publishing director of PistonHeads.
“Stuart’s contribution to the growth and development of PistonHeads has been immense,” said group director Patrick Fuller. “Under his brand leadership, revenues have more than trebled and the audience is up fourfold. We have a sophisticated new classified platform and a vibrant and growing community of highly engaged users. We would like to thank him for his hard work and wish him every success as he explores new opportunities.”
PistonHeads was launched in 1998 and acquired by Haymarket in 2007. According to Haymarket, it offers its audience a unique mix of news and features, more than 100,000 cars for sale, and a lively forum generating more than 10,000 user-generated contributions every day. It has more than 100 million page impressions per month from over five million unique users, making it the UK’s second largest motoring website.
