Australian kids band The Wiggles has hired Luke O’Neill as their first-ever CEO. O’Neill has been consulting with the group since mid-2023 and was largely responsible for expanding the distribution of their content on new streaming platforms.

Some recent deals along these lines from late last year include Future Today picking up multiple live-action series for its HappyKids AVOD, and Filmrise acquiring more than 80 hours of content for its AVOD and FAST channels.

Since O’Neill started working with The Wiggles last year, he says watch time on the group’s YouTube channel (3.2 million subscribers) has jumped by 200%.

The Wiggles’ leadership team previously only consisted of general manager Luke Field and a board of directors that included several current and former band members. This team was focused on operations and had no “clear strategy on how to capture the opportunities in the changing market,” says O’Neill. He joins this team, with a remit of taking over day-to-day business operations, his goal is to set The Wiggles up for long-term international growth in digital marketing and content distribution.

O’Neill is a bit of a kids industry outsider—his career to date has seen him consult with and work for companies such as Chinese telecom company Telstra, real estate company LJ Hooker and Australian B2B media and events company Cirrus Media.

But that outside perspective is exactly what The Wiggles wanted, he adds. “It was the board’s opinion that The Wiggles needed someone with different experience to refresh the business strategy and create new opportunities for growth.”