iHeart Announces Market Reorg, Possible ‘Dislocation’
• iHeartMedia today announced a new organizational structure for its Markets Group “as it modernizes the company to take advantage of the significant investments it has made in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) and its unique scale and leadership position in the audio marketplace. The new structure will enable the company to maximize the performance of each of its markets — and the company overall — with its unique scale and multiple platforms; leadership in audio; and its expertise in consumers, monetization and data.”
iHeartMedia Markets Group: The company will now group its markets by common needs and characteristics into three distinctly different divisions. The newly restructured iHeartMedia Markets Group will continue to be led by Greg Ashlock, President of the iHeartMedia Markets Group:
The Region Division: Comprises the company’s largest markets, like New York and Los Angeles, led by Division Presidents Kevin LeGrett and Scott Hopeck.
The Metro Division: Houses markets in large areas that still encompass multiple communities, led by Division Presidents Tom McConnell, Tony Coles and Linda Byrd.
The Community Division: Includes markets that focus on the shared needs of one community and one trading area for most businesses and advertisers and will also group markets into areas which are geographically close and culturally similar, led by Division Presidents Shosh Abromovich, Nick Gnau and Dan Lankford.
The company is also creating a new Division that cuts across all Markets — the Multi-Market Partnerships (MMP) Division headed by Julie Donohue, who is elevated to President of MMP. The company’s Integrated Revenue Strategies group, led by President Hartley Adkins, will be merged into the iHeartMedia Markets Group and Adkins will become Chief Operating Officer of the Markets Group, working closely with Greg Ashlock.
Centers of Excellence: The company will also be using its new technology — and AI-enabled “Centers of Excellence” — which consolidate functional areas of expertise in specific locations to deliver the highest quality products and services – for every Market, enabling each to take advantage of the company’s scale and shared resources across programming, marketing, digital, podcasts, sales and sales support to provide a better experience for listeners and business partners and a more efficient process for all of its employees.
“Employee Dislocation” — And now, the inevitable downside of this consolidation — in a staff memo, Bob Pittman and Rich Bressler explained, “There will be some employee dislocation — some by geography and some by function — which is the unfortunate price we pay to modernize the company. We have had to make some tough decisions, and in the process some employees have been affected. Please know we were thoughtful in this process and have provided enhanced severance benefits as well as outplacement assistance for any impacted employees, and we want to thank them for the valuable contributions they have made.”
> If you or someone you work with has been adversely affected by this round of restructuring, please email your details to Kevin@RAMP247.com.
