The Independent has named Chris Anthony as president of its North America operations, where he will oversee the region’s full P&L, including both its content and commercial businesses. Anthony, who starts June 8, will report to CEO Christian Broughton, who leads the company globally.
Anthony arrives from Gallery Media Group, where he spent four years in a dual role as chief revenue officer of GMG and chief client officer of Tamara Group, the agency formed in April under the VaynerX umbrella. Prior to that, he held roles at Group Nine, PopSugar, and The Walt Disney Company, among others.
He succeeds Zach Leonard, who is transitioning into a role focused on the company’s philanthropy work.
The appeal of the role was rooted, in part, in The Independent’s underexploited commercial opportunity as a brand with strong existing trust and editorial credibility, according to Anthony.
“There’s a huge commercial opportunity that I think is untapped,” Anthony said. “Most of my career I’ve always been in places that really needed that startup energy. This is a startup within a large organization, but with a great foundation.”
Anthony plans to lean on his lifestyle media background, honed both at GMG and VaynerX, to develop new revenue streams around verticals like finance, travel, and tech, where he said The Independent is already seeing notable audience growth. Experiential and events are high on his agenda, with cultural tentpoles like SXSW, Art Basel, and Davos among the outposts he’s eyeing.
He also sees creator-led journalism as a priority, which could expand in two different capacities: investing in internal talent to build out their personal brands, and bringing in outside creators with existing followings in verticals like finance and travel.
“The Independent brings a 40-year legacy of trust, infrastructure, and operations,” Anthony said. “We can lend that to external creators that might come into the fold.”
Anthony is also focused on strengthening the brand’s social strategy, drawing on his experience at VaynerX to better align editorial formats with platform algorithms across YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels.
At GMG, Anthony was part of an innovative organization that consistently unveiled new commercial and editorial formats, including an events-for-content model, a fast-twitch content marketing concept, and a text-to-shop commerce play.
Although The Independent, a 40-year-old news brand, has perhaps less leeway for such experimentation, the organization does have a bold streak: In 2016, it became one of the first major news outlets to discontinue its print product entirely.
Under Anthony, no doubt, it hopes to amplify that trend-setting streak.