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Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor to depart ABC

As ABC continues to restructure under a new Chair and incoming MD, its Chief Content Officer resigns after nearly two years in the role.

ABC Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor will be leaving the broadcaster after nearly two years in the role.

In a note to staff managing director David Anderson, who himself will be departing in March, said, “When we created the Chief Content Officer in March 2023, we brought all of our non-news content teams into one division, ABC Content. We made an important structural change to ensure the ABC could adapt to rapidly changing audience needs and market trends.

“One of Australia’s most successful and experienced producers and content leaders, Chris has been integral to that transition. Under his leadership, ABC Content has delivered significant results for the public during a challenging period for the entire media industry. This includes the ABC TV Network (all channels) achieving the number one ranked television broadcaster in 2023–24, with a reach of 36.4% or 6.6 million people across the five-city metro population.

“Last year we elevated ABC Audio to a separate division, just one way in which that structure has continued to evolve. Meanwhile our Screen and Digital content teams have continued to meet the changing needs of audiences.

“Chris has made the decision to re-focus his efforts on other roles and I know he will continue to be an advocate for the ABC in whatever direction his career takes him in next.”

His departure is the latest in a line of management and structural change. Under recently-appointed ABC Chair Kim Williams, former Nine CEO Hugh Marks begins in March.

Oliver-Taylor, who previously had management roles at Netflix, Matchbox Pictures and Fremantle, said in a note to staff, “The Chief Content Officer role at the ABC, created in late 2022, was originally designed to oversee Audio, Digital, and Screen content. Over the past year, the role and responsibilities have considerably shifted, with audio now reporting directly to the MD and some digital content moved elsewhere. These changes, along with a redefined creative vision set by the Board, have prompted me to reflect on the ABC’s future needs.

“After discussions with the Managing Director and reflecting on my ongoing conversations with the ABC Board and the Chair across many months, I believe this is a moment in time to allow the ABC to continue to reset its structure. With a new MD, a renewed Board and what I think is a very positive and hopeful future for the ABC, I have decided to make that difficult decision and move on from the ABC for new opportunities outside of the ABC.

“There is sadness in this decision but also pride and excitement with the slate that will roll out across 2025 and in future years. I am incredibly proud to have led the commissioning of programs in partnership with the independent production sector and the ABC internal teams, like The Assembly, Austin, The Piano, Guy Mont’s Spelling Bee, I Was Actually There, The Family Next Door, Do Not Watch This Show and Portrait Artist of the Year to name just a few. I can’t wait to see them deliver for audiences right across Australia.

“The ABC is a vital cultural institution that will continue to deliver world-class content. I will always be a strong supporter of the ABC and public broadcasting and am deeply grateful for my time here, as well as the dedication of my ABC colleagues and the production companies that contribute to its success.”

Oliver-Taylor will finish on 28 February, with Head of Screen Jennifer Collins to step into the role of Director Content from today until further notice.

6 Responses

  1. “the number one ranked television broadcaster in 2023–24”

    Ranked by whom?
    Certainly not ratings – that’s Channel 7.

    Phone surveys?
    Marketers interviewing exiting Q & A Audiences?
    Overall “possible” catchment?

    Is this like Channel 10 suggesting they are the most popular Australian commercial station, because that’s how TV Tonight readers voted?

  2. It’s probably a good thing that Chris Oliver-Taylor is stepping down as the ABC’s Chief Content Officer, as I believe he’s the one who suggested in 2023 that the national broadcaster should be looking towards more populist primetime content similar to the sort seen on Channel Ten.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not against the ABC having high rating (therefore, popular) shows but they really need to be of the sort which stand out on their own rather than be de-commercialised versions of things better suited to Seven, Nine or Ten.

    As for News & Current Affairs: Putting aside the fact it’s pretty much always been a key genre of the ABC’s, haven’t other networks (certainly in Australia, but probably also overseas) also shifted towards producing more news bulletins in recent years? Not difficult to imagine a near future where the main channels of at least the ABC, Seven and Nine have become essentially all N&CA aside from “windows” for primetime entertainment and Sport.

    1. It did come with a huge caveat though about shows being right for the national broadcaster (BBC plays Masterchef and DWTS for example… I’m reminded ABC once did Strictly Dancing). So it was never about doing MAFS, which he also reiterated. I think this year The Piano will be one of those that ticks the box he was referring to. If it is a hit for ABC, the Chair might have to acknowledge.

    2. … “a key genre”? when it became a corporation in 1984, the news department represented six per cent of the ABC, today it’s more like sixty per cent …

  3. … it’s interesting to see history virtually repeat itself forty years later … an ABC chairman appointed by an ALP PM overreaching the role and changing the structure … in 1984 it was claimed to be the result of the ABC changing from being a “Commission” to a “Corporation”, today the ABC has changed from what is set out in the Charter as being a comprehensive “Broadcasting” organisation (it’s what the “B” in “ABC” actually stands for) to merely, in the words of former MD Mark Scott, a “news organisation” with everything else relegated to the throwaway phrase “non-news content” … nearly forty years ago it ended with the managing director departing and the chairman taking that role for himself, look out Hugh Marks …

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