ARN Promotes Donna Gordon to CMO as Audio Transformation Accelerates

ARN has promoted Donna Gordon from Head of Marketing to Chief Marketing Officer, adding her to the Executive Leadership Team reporting directly to CEO Michael Stephenson. The move comes as the Australian radio and entertainment company pushes through one of the most significant overhauls in its history.

Gordon brings over 20 years of marketing and communications experience to the role. She has spent more than 15 years at ARN, making this an internal promotion that signals both institutional trust and a deliberate choice to keep transformation momentum alive with someone who knows the business deeply.

The appointment completes a rapid executive rebuild under Stephenson, who took over as CEO in January 2026 after 16-year incumbent Ciaran Davis stepped down. Within months, Stephenson added a Chief Content Officer and a Director of Content Metro Radio. Gordon's elevation rounds out the new leadership structure.

A Company Mid-Transformation

ARN is not the radio company it was five years ago. It is repositioning itself as a full entertainment business spanning audio, video, social, and live events. Its iHeartRadio platform is now Australia's top podcast publisher, reaching 6.8 million people every month. Digital audio revenue grew 28% in the second half of 2024, and group revenues hit $365.6 million with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation up 30%.

The company's three-year plan targets US$40 million in cost savings while simultaneously scaling its digital and live entertainment operations. It is building a unified data platform using Microsoft and Azure tools, and partnerships with Westpac DataX and Experian have added 800 audience segments for advertiser targeting. The 2026 brand strategy doubles down on two flagship stations: KIIS for younger audiences and GOLD for music nostalgia, each with digital sub-brands extending across streaming and DAB+.

"As we continue our complete business transformation, having a clear, insight-led marketing strategy is critical," Stephenson said when announcing the appointment. "Donna brings deep experience, energy, and a strong commercial mindset."

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What the CMO Role Actually Means Here

In most companies, a CMO runs advertising and brand campaigns. At ARN right now, the role carries something heavier. Gordon is stepping into a position that must prove to advertisers that a multi-platform audio entertainment strategy generates real commercial returns.

The Australian digital audio market is forecast at US$1.25 billion in 2025, growing at over 6% annually through 2029. At the same time, 78% of ad agencies plan to buy digital audio programmatically, up from 72% the year before. That means ARN's marketing leader must speak fluently to brands and agencies about data, targeting, and measurement, not just creative campaigns.

ARN also joined rivals Nine Audio, Nova, and Southern Cross Austereo to launch CRA Audio ID in 2025, a shared measurement and targeting system across all four major Australian radio networks. For the first time, advertisers can plan campaigns across competing networks on a common data foundation. Gordon will need to help ARN stand out commercially within that shared infrastructure.

"The opportunity to lead our marketing strategy across audio, digital, social, and live experiences is one I am really looking forward to as we continue to grow and evolve our brands," Gordon said.

The Live Events Dimension

One part of the CMO brief that goes beyond traditional media marketing is ARN's iHeartLIVE platform. The company is staging 20 live events nationally in 2026, reaching more than 10,000 fans in person at each event, with millions more reached through radio simulcasts and on-demand video. Each event carries brand integrations, making live entertainment a direct revenue line, not just a marketing expense.

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This puts Gordon's role closer to what you would find at a consumer lifestyle brand than a traditional broadcaster. She is not just promoting programs or stations. She is building audience experiences across physical and digital venues and convincing brands to pay for access to those audiences.

For marketing and communications leaders across Asia Pacific watching ARN's transformation, the Gordon appointment is a useful marker. It shows what a media company in mid-pivot expects from its most senior marketer: commercial fluency, data literacy, and the ability to sell a new identity to both consumers and the advertisers who fund it.