Sabarish Chirakkal expands role to lead Val Morgan programmatic strategy

Val Morgan has appointed Sabarish Chirakkal as Group Director – Programmatic, expanding his remit across the company’s outdoor, digital video, display and audio programmatic offerings.

The Sydney-based appointment, announced on 9 February 2026, is positioned as a move to bring a unified approach to Val Morgan’s programmatic strategy, trading and the scaling of “premium programmatic environments” across its portfolio.

Chirakkal joined VMO in July 2022 as Programmatic Director. Val Morgan said he has driven sustained growth since then, with the business now one of the largest programmatic outdoor screen networks in Australia and New Zealand.

What Chirakkal will oversee

Val Morgan said the expanded role will see Chirakkal driving programmatic solutions across the broader Val Morgan business, with a focus on giving advertisers more options to reach audiences across environments and platforms.

That includes building out products and commercial frameworks that support buying across the Val Morgan ecosystem.

Programmatic products and publisher extensions

Val Morgan credited Chirakkal with launching several programmatic products, including Social Journeys, which the company said enables brands to extend social media campaigns across VMO’s network of retail, office, health and wellness, and petro and convenience locations.

The company said Social Journeys also supports cross-platform partnerships with Val Morgan Digital publishers, extending social activity into relevant physical environments.

• Out-of-home placements across VMO locations including retail, office, health and wellness, and petro and convenience
• Cross-platform extensions with Val Morgan Digital titles including POPSUGAR, BuzzFeed, Tasty, LADbible and SPORTbible

“We began the transition to a group-wide programmatic leadership framework last year, and it’s been a real game changer,” said Chirakkal.

“The progress we’ve made across platforms, products and commercial frameworks means we’re making it easier for partners to work with us across the Val Morgan ecosystem, through outcome-led solutions that deliver on measurement, effectiveness and accountability.”

Executive comments

Paul Butler, Managing Director of VMO, said Chirakkal’s leadership has been central to accelerating programmatic growth and aligning strategy and execution across the business.

“Sabarish’s leadership has been instrumental in accelerating our programmatic growth, aligning strategy and execution across Val Morgan to scale premium solutions across VMO and Val Morgan Digital,” Butler said.

Amanda Bardas, Head of Val Morgan Digital, said Chirakkal’s experience has been important as the business continues to strengthen its publisher network.

“Sabarish’s knowledge and extensive experience in developing programmatic solutions has been pivotal, especially as we continue strengthen our network of leading publishing brands and give advertisers even more ways to reach youth audiences,” Bardas said.

Val Morgan was established in 1894 and operates across Australia and New Zealand, specialising in cinema, outdoor and digital publishing.

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