Bauer Media UK raids Argos and Viacom to strengthen digital division

Bauer Media UK has made four appointments for the newly created roles of chief technology officer and heads of social, analytics and search for Xcel Media, its digital arm.

Matthew Hobbs: the new chief technology officer at Xcel Media
Matthew Hobbs: the new chief technology officer at Xcel Media

Matthew Hobbs has taken the chief technology officer position, joining from Argos where he was the head of digital engineering since April last year.

Akhil Suchak, the head of social at Viacom International Media Networks UK, has been appointed the head of social.

He has been tasked with "identifying business opportunities and spearheading innovative, strategic expansion" in social.

Satpal Chagger has been named the head of analytics, and joins after seven years as a digital performance and web-analytics consultant for Funding Circle and London Capital Group. Chagger has been tasked with building analytics software services.

Christian Westcott joins as the head of search, having previously worked as the global head of SEO at Hibu, which was formerly the Yell Group.

At Bauer he will drive "natural search traffic across UK and US properties through platform development and content strategy".

The new starters will report to Sam Jones, the digital managing director at Bauer Media.

He said: "I’m thrilled at the world class talent joining our digital team, arriving at a time of huge growth in our digital audience, clients, products and investment, as well as a footprint that already measures 22 million monthly unique users and 23 million monthly listening hours.

"Working with and developing world class digital talent is a number one priority for us and I look forward to the team developing further this year."

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Market Reports.

Find out more

Enjoying ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s content?

 Get unlimited access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s premium content for your whole company with a corporate licence.

Upgrade access

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an alert now

Partner content