ABC to appoint Chief Content Officer as it overhauls internal structure

ABC will restructure its content divisions after 5 years of its current model, with the appointment of a Chief Content Officer.

ABC will recruit for the role in coming weeks, but it is yet to clarify if staff numbers will be reduced under the new model.

Managing Director David Anderson outlined changes yesterday in a note to employees.

Dear Colleagues,

I have important news to announce today about proposed changes that will benefit the ABC well into the future.

Before I do, I want to acknowledge the impact of the prolonged period of disruption we have all experienced over the last few years. The challenges you have had to face both personally and professionally have been significant and, in many instances, unprecedented. I am in awe of the effort and performance of you all across this period. Maintaining the ABC’s performance and standards has been a great achievement.

As a result of that effort, the ABC’s audience performance was strong throughout that period, with great engagement across all areas. We have continued to inform and entertain Australians and we have been there when they needed us the most. We remain the most trusted media organisation in the country, with unrivalled coverage, specialist services, investigative journalism, deep local connections, high-quality entertainment, and storytelling that reflects the culture of the nation.

To maintain that value for the Australian public we need to keep assessing how we operate, and where possible adapt and implement change, even during difficult periods.

Today I want to outline proposed changes to our content teams which are designed to improve our commissioning and distribution processes and better equip us to successfully manage the constantly evolving media landscape.

These changes will be the most significant since the ABC’s 2017 content reorganisation into a genre-based structure. In the five years since then the media environment has continued to evolve at an incredible pace – and like all media organisations the ABC must be able to respond within that environment in order to maintain our unique role for Australians.

Importantly, the proposed changes are not intended to be an exercise in role reduction. However, we always strive for efficiency in order to invest as much as possible into content, particularly to meet the rising costs of the organisation.

The content challenge

The ABC is not immune to the seismic audience and technology shifts affecting all media. Globally, broadcast audiences are in a long-term decline as audiences of all ages migrate to digital consumption. We are clearly seeing this shift in ABC audiences as well.

The reality is that our broadcast reach is unlikely to return to the levels of the pre-digital era. To remain relevant, we must grow our digital reach and engagement in an incredibly competitive market.

The proposed changes I’m announcing today have one clear outcome: to ensure we have the best possible decision-making structure and processes for the future.

Chief Content Officer

The current content structure of E&S and R&L has worked well since 2017. Everyone in those content teams has contributed to our current success.

However, in conversations with those teams and after a process of evaluating the current commissioning model, it is clear to me and the Leadership Team that we must realign some of these content areas, streamline our decision making and remove duplication.

Under this proposal we will create one major content division by merging components of R&L and E&S, led by the newly created role of a Chief Content Officer (CCO), who will sit on the Leadership Team. The successful candidate will need an understanding of all content platforms – screen, audio and digital – and will have a creative approach to support the work of all of our content teams.

In a crowded market with many competing offers, the role of the ABC in the production and dissemination of distinctively Australian stories has never been more important to our national identity. In making this change our objective is to reduce the complexity of the current commissioning model and accelerate decision-making. It is critical that we enhance the ability of the ABC to adapt to rapidly changing audience needs and market trends and ensure that we maximise the impact of the ABC’s investment in compelling Australian stories.

We intend to begin recruitment for the CCO role in the coming weeks.

Changes to ABC Regional & Local and ABC News

When the ABC created R&L, the challenge was to build and maintain the ABC’s deep commitment to servicing audiences outside the major capital cities and in regional Australia. Our regional services are as old as the ABC at 90 years, and we intend to continue that commitment to all Australians.

Indeed, the recent deals made with Google and Facebook following the passage of the news media bargaining code have enabled the ABC to further invest in regional journalism. We have hired an extra 60 journalists, bringing the number of content makers in regional Australia to approximately 600. We now operate from 58 locations outside the state and territory capitals. We continue to have the largest team of specialist rural reporters in the world.

We are proposing that all Regional bureaux join with the News division to ensure that audiences get even more value from this ongoing investment.

The Regional bureaux of the ABC have evolved over the years and provide vital services to the nation. It’s important that we continue to provide regional journalism and bridge any divide between regional and suburban Australia, particularly with the continued withdrawal of commercial journalism. I see this change in structure as enhancing and empowering the already high-quality journalism produced by the ABC in the regions.

Capital city Local Radio and the national radio networks of RN, ABC Classic, triple j and the DAB+ services will reside under the CCO and continue to focus on a range of broadcast and digital output.

Local Radio will continue to be a critical service for the ABC and the public. Coverage of local, state and national issues, significant conversations for communities everywhere and the broadcast of crucial information during emergency events remain at the heart of what the ABC does.

These changes do not diminish the value of radio, in fact they reflect our commitment to the delivery of audio services to all Australians. All of our radio journalists, presenters, producers and technology support should feel confident about the importance of these services to the ABC and its audiences.

Distribution and digital products

While broadcast remains central to the ABC we need to accelerate our investment in the digital products and services audiences are increasingly demanding.

Also, while content decisions are paramount, distribution is similarly critical to our future success. We need to ensure all of our great content is accessible to all Australians. Distribution and digital investment are inextricably linked and I will have more to say about our plans for both in coming months.

In the coming weeks we will be talking to all those affected by these proposed changes and hearing your thoughts and feedback. Working groups will contribute to the final design and processes.

Ultimately, we wish to implement a structure where the ABC does an even better job for all Australians and is better positioned to succeed and which provides content makers with more opportunity to do their best work and thrive. I know that change is often challenging, especially given the last few years. But I am asking you to embrace this opportunity to adapt and evolve to make sure we remain trusted, valued and vital as an institution and service for generations to come.

In coming months, we will be consulting with the leadership teams of R&L and E&S as well as hearing feedback from all employees about the new team structure and how it will work most effectively. This feedback will be key to how we finalise the design of our new structure. I expect that the new Content division will be operational in April 2023.

Today’s announcement is just the first step in the creation of a new structure and further updates will be provided over the next few months. We will work with all of our teams to ensure all of you are part of this important development for the ABC.