SCA lays off CX staffers as LiSTNR project comes to fruition
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) last month made all roles in its bespoke product and development team LabX redundant, Mumbrella understands, following the completion of the first chapter of development for its LiSTNR platform.
The year ended on a low note for the four staff that formed SCA’s LabX team, who were unexpectedly made redundant ahead of Christmas, according to sources from within the business.
Mumbrella understands that a number of marketing team members were also let go amidst the changes.
Matt Saraceni, who led LabX, took to LinkedIn yesterday to share the news of his redundancy, and reflect upon his contribution to the LiSTNR product.
“I wanted to let you know that 2022 ended unexpectedly for me when I was made redundant from my current position,” wrote Saraceni.
“After a summer break of reflection, as many bounce back into work today, I’m choosing the path of optimism and have plenty of things I’m immensely proud of during my time launching LiSTNR.”
In a comment shared with Mumbrella, Saracei added: “I thank SCA for a wonderful three years replat-forming radio into digital. I wish them all the best for the future of LiSTNR and their next phase of growth. For me after 15 years in audio and 12 in digital product, I’m excited about treating what’s next as an open book and what the future holds.”
Mumbrella understands that the cuts were made to reflect changing priorities within the business, with the layoffs primarily affecting staff who were involved in the development and launch of SCA’s digital audio product LiSTNR. However, a source has suggested that the resourcing decision may also relate to broader macroeconomic changes.
In a statement sent to Mumbrella, an SCA spokesperson said:
“SCA takes great pride in continuing to evolve and refresh our workforce with more experienced and digital native people to assist in our accelerating digital posture. We have a strong and vibrant product roadmap for LiSTNR for the next 12 to 18 months following the successful launch and scaling of this important asset.”
LiSTNR was first launched by SCA in February 2021 with a free app that would live-stream SCA’s Hit and Triple M radio shows, new live music streaming channels and house a suite of original podcasts.
The app has since become a central tenet of the SCA offering, and one that the media company has indicated it will continue to invest in heavily.
More recently LiSTNR has benefitted from a number of partnerships that have bolstered the network’s content offering, including with the BBC and later Network Ten.
In July last year, SCA CEO Grant Blackley reinforced the centrality of LiSTNR to the business, going so far as to suggest hints that a rebrand could be on the horizon in the future. The past six months have seen SCA’s top executives continue to tip toe around the hint, with CMO Nikki Clarkson telling Mumbrella in November that the success of LiSTNR had been business-wide.
“Part of our digital transformation was really to capitalise on the explosion of audio in and of itself,” Clarkson said. “We could see the growing appetite for and the growing consumer consumption of digital audio – and that did accelerate through COVID and has continued at pace over the past 12 months.”
In the following month, when asked about whether a rebrand could be expected in SCA’s future, chief content officer Dave Cameron told Mumbrella:
“All I can say in that regard is we will continuously say that LiSTNR is at the very centre of this company.
“So take out of that what you will.”
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