Vinyl Group hires ex-Seven sales boss Kurt Burnette to run its ad business

Vinyl Group has added two senior executives to its leadership bench, naming Kurt Burnette interim chief commercial officer and Lucie Caswell chief business strategy officer. The appointments were announced on Monday morning and first reported by B&T.

Burnette is one of the most experienced commercial operators in Australian media. He spent 24 years at Seven, where as chief revenue officer he led a national sales team of more than 450 people responsible for over $1.2 billion in annual advertising revenue, and served as event director for Seven's Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games coverage. Most recently he has consulted for AI production house Cre8tive AI.

His remit at Vinyl Group covers a consolidated commercial strategy across advertising, branded content, partnerships and platform revenue. That includes a unified go-to-market for Vinyl Media, stronger agency and direct advertiser engagement, a rebuilt pricing architecture for digital advertising and branded content, and the commercial integration of recently acquired assets including Pedestrian Group.

Caswell steps into a newly created strategy role after senior positions at UK digital entertainment association ERA, Songtradr (including Bandcamp and 7digital), the Music Publishers Association and the Featured Artists Coalition. She will lead global publisher and partner relationships and support group-level business development and M&A. The pair join an executive structure refreshed in April, when Jono Oake arrived as chief operating officer from TikTok, Michael Globan was promoted to chief financial officer and Jorge Nigaglioni became chief integration officer under CEO Josh Simons.

Why it matters for Australian media and advertising: Vinyl Group now controls a large slice of the local publishing landscape. Alongside Pedestrian Group and The Brag Media titles, AdNews reports the group recently picked up audiences and brands through the Val Morgan Digital transaction, including LADbible Group, BuzzFeed, Fandom and Vox Media, plus a franchise agreement with Time Out Australia. Hiring a television-era sales heavyweight of Burnette's scale signals the group intends to sell that portfolio to agencies and advertisers as one connected proposition rather than a loose collection of mastheads. For media buyers, a single commercial front door to those youth, music and trade audiences would be a genuine new option in a market where digital publisher consolidation keeps narrowing choices.

The test will be execution. Roll-ups have historically found it easier to buy audiences than to integrate sales teams, tech and pricing across them, and Burnette's interim status suggests the structure is still being settled.

First reported by B&T; independently confirmed by AdNews. Sources: bandt.com.au, adnews.com.au, investors.vinyl.group