Sport Media Group promotes director to chief exec in newspaper overhaul

Sport Media Group (SMG) has promoted executive director Andrew Fickling to the new role of chief executive. The move is part of the group’s wider plans to overhaul its Sunday and Daily Sport newspapers.

The news comes as the group releases a trading update predicting that profit will be in line with market expectations for the six months to the end of January.

It also claims that it has stopped the decline in circulation among its Sport newspapers and expects copy sales to increase in the second half of the year.

The optimistic forecast is attributed to changes in its ad sales strategy, launched last month, which include bringing in Wardour as its new sales agency. The company has been charged with driving more mainstream advertising in its newspapers.

It is also revamping the editorial of the newspapers to including more sports analysis. It is understood that the group is planning to position the newspapers as competitors to the men’s weeklies, such as Nuts.

The company has also announced Daily Sport will be audited by the ABC as of January 2008.

SMG was formed by a reverse takeover of Sport Newspapers by Interactive World in September last year. Fickling was managing director of Interactive before becoming executive director of the new company.