Major media company merges news division and local stations to combat streaming video challenge
Another major media company is merging its news division and its local stations in hopes of wringing new profits from two businesses that are being hurt by the rise of streaming video.
Disney Names Debra O’Connell as the Head of the New Division
Disney will place the veteran executive Debra O’Connell atop a new division that encompasses ABC News and its local station operations, with ABC News President Kim Godwin and Stations President Chad Matthews reporting to her. The structure is similar to one Paramount Global put in place last year when it folded CBS News, local CBS stations and syndication under a single executive, Wendy McMahon.
Key Leadership Arrangements
O’Connell will report to Dana Walden, co-chairman, Disney Entertainment. Godwin, meanwhile, has renewed her contract to stay in her current role, even though she will have a new layer of management between her and top Disney executives. Walden stated, “Debra is an excellent executive who has succeeded in a wide range of leadership roles around our company and knows very well the extraordinary power of ABC News and its world-class journalists. This new role gives her oversight across all our linear operations, where she will be able to optimize our iconic brands and shepherd them into the future. I look forward to having her lead these incredibly talented teams as we build on our success.”
ABC News in the Digital Age
O’Connell takes charge of ABC News in a perplexing time, one in which more consumers get their headlines and news breaks from digital and streaming media. ABC News has enjoyed a substantial reign atop the nation’s evening-news and morning news time slots, but those shows, “World News Tonight” and “Good Morning America,” have ceded ground recently among viewers between 25 and 54 — the demographic most coveted by advertisers in news programming. Season to date as of February 11, both “World News Tonight” and “GMA” have seen viewers in that particular audience slip by more than 20%, according to Nielsen figures.
O’Connell’s Extensive Experience in the Disney Portfolio
She has worked in many areas of the Disney portfolio, including ad sales and senior roles at the New York station WABC. She will add to duties that already include running the company’s local TV holdings and monitoring profit and loss across all Disney’s linear entertainment networks, purview that includes the ABC Owned Television Stations and P&L responsibilities across the company’s multiplatform linear entertainment networks, including ABC and Disney Channel. She is on the board of directors for A&E Networks and National Geographic Partners, two Disney joint ventures.
O’Connell’s Vision for the Future
“I consider it a privilege to advocate for the best networks, the best news organization and the best stations in the world, and thank Dana for her leadership and trust,” said O’Connell. “I’m excited to work with Kim, Chad, and these exceptional teams on strategies to super serve our viewers for years to come.”
More to come.
