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 will place the veteran executive Debra OConnell 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.
As president of news group and networks for Disney Entertainment, OConnell will report to Dana Walden, co-chairman of 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.
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“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,” said Walden, in a statement. “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.”
OConnell 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.
During Godwin’s tenure, ABC News has been in a state of flux, with several veteran executives ousted via layoffs, and a new senior team put into place. ABC News has launched new production deals with popular anchors Robin Robert and George Stephanopoulos that aim to create new content for streaming venues like Hulu and Disney+. It has also worked to rebuild a talent bench that has been narrowed by departures of anchors such as Cecilia Vega and the afternoon-news duo of Amy Robach and TJ Holmes. Even so, anchors including Gio Benitez have gained new prominent roles.
ABC’s stations, meanwhile, are some of the industry’s best-performing, a dynamics that has helped boost daytime programming including “GMA3,” “The Tamron Hall Show” and “The View.” All of those programs have come under the aegis of ABC News in recent years, making it one of the few broadcast news divisions to manage such a robust daytime 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, including ABC and Disney Channel. She is on the board of directors for A&E Networks and National Geographic Partners, two Disney joint ventures.
“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 OConnell. “I’m excited to work with Kim, Chad and these exceptional teams on strategies to super serve our viewers for years to come,” OConnell said.
