Youth-centric publisher, Pedestrian Group, has appointed new leadership to its Sydney and Melbourne sales teams, promoting Spyros Asteriou to Head of Partnerships, NSW, and Tess Lastra to Head of Partnerships, VIC.

Asteriou has been with Pedestrian Group for over six years, previously serving as the Head of Agency Partnerships, NSW. He has a track record of leading high-performing teams and creating effective brand campaigns. Lastra, on the other hand, brings extensive experience in the Victorian media landscape to her new role, having held sales and leadership positions at News Corp, Australian Radio Network, JCDecaux, and Wrapp'r.

Chief Commercial Officer at Pedestrian Group, Rachel Tikey, said: "As Pedestrian Group's universe continues its evolution, I am delighted to appoint Spyros and Tess to these pivotal leadership roles. There are no two better leaders to mobilise our market-specific sales teams with Pedestrian Group’s vast offering. Both Spy and Tess epitomise excellence in our industry, have layered media sales experience, and extensive networks that trust and respect them. I know they will take the Pedestrian Group brands into their next era of commercial greatness."

The appointments come as the publisher's new digital television channel Pedestrian Television continues to grow, with viewership increasing from 2 million minutes per month at launch to a projected 16 million this April.

Pedestrian Group, wholly owned by Nine Entertainment, reaches a unique audience of more than 3.9 million Aussies per month and has clocked 645M views across all sites and socials in 2023. The group is home to several popular brands including PEDERSTRIAN.TV, The Chainsaw, VICE Australia, Refinery29 Australia, Lifehacker Australia, Gizmodo Australia, Kotaku Australia, and PEDERSTRIAN TELEVISION, as well as the Open Air Cinemas.