Why SCA Is Banking on a Turnaround Specialist to Fix Media

Three Leaders in Four Months

The company SCA is managing today looks nothing like the one it was at the start of the year. In early January 2026, Southern Cross Austereo completed its merger with Seven West Media. The combined business now runs the Seven Network, Triple M, the Hit Network, the West Australian newspaper, and the LiSTNR audio platform.

The original plan was for Jeff Howard, who had been running Seven West Media, to lead the merged group. That lasted about six weeks. Howard was removed on 24 February 2026, the day before the group's first post-merger financial results were due to be released. The SCA board said the departure was about "accelerating the delivery of its strategy." Industry observers pointed to weak financial results.

After Howard's exit, chairman Heith Mackay-Cruise stepped up to serve as Executive Chairman of the whole business. John Kelly (who had run SCA before the merger and led its shift toward audio) came back as interim CEO for TV and radio. Now Lund arrives as the permanent appointment.

Who Is Rohan Lund?

Lund is not a stranger to media. Before his current appointment, he had held senior roles at Foxtel, Seven West Media, and Yahoo7. But his most recent position was nine years running the NRMA, the Australian roadside assistance and services group.

At NRMA, he grew membership from 2.4 million to 3.5 million and tripled the organization's overall revenue by pushing it into electric vehicles, tourism, and digital services. The SCA board is betting that same playbook (taking a traditional organization and rebuilding it for a digital future) can work in media.

What makes the timing notable: Lund only joined the SCA board as a non-executive director on 1 March 2026. His promotion to CEO was announced just about eight weeks later, on 24 April 2026. That rapid internal succession points to a board that wanted to move fast rather than run a slow external search.

The Numbers Behind the Urgency

The financial results explain the rush. The merged group's first half-year report showed a business pulling in two very different directions.

Television revenue fell 2.1% to A$712 million, with TV profit down 27%. The audio side told a different story. LiSTNR, SCA's digital audio platform, turned its first meaningful profit of A$2.8 million. Metro radio audience share climbed to 29.8%. The overall group still posted revenue of A$1.023 billion, but profit fell 14.4% to A$106.9 million.

Lund takes charge of a business where the growth engine (audio and digital) is working, and the legacy revenue base (free-to-air television) is under structural pressure. Australian commercial broadcasters have watched their share of total advertising dollars fall from 43% in 2006 to 17% in 2022. That number is still heading south.

What This Means for Advertisers

For media buyers and marketing executives, SCA's leadership reset matters for one practical reason: who controls the conversation about where your ad dollars go.

Lund has signaled his intent to "accelerate digital and operational transformation." In practice, that means SCA will push harder on LiSTNR's AI-powered advertising tools and its pitch to be a single entry point for television, radio, and digital audio buys. The company is also required to offload 17 regional radio licences as part of merger compliance, which will reshape its footprint in regional markets.

As Lund said in his first public statement: "I am excited to work with the Board and leadership team to accelerate our digital and operational transformation and continue to strengthen our culture and performance."

The next six months will reveal whether that transformation talk turns into commercial results. Lund's salary starts at A$1.3 million, with potential to earn three times that if the business performs. The pressure is already real.