Dirk Gerkens becomes CEO of Nova Broadcasting

Dirk Gerkens has been appointed CEO of United Media-owned Bulgarian broadcast outfit Nova Broadcasting Group.

Dirk Gerkens (Source: United Media)

Gerkens, who is currently a board member and director for programming, production and advertising sales at United Media succeeds Stefana Zdravkova at the head of Nova.

Prior to joining United Media, Gerkens was CEO of RTL Klub and TV2 in Hungary.

He has been involved in the integration of Nova Broadcasting Group since it was acquired by United Group in 2020. He previously combined his United Media leadership role with his role as Nova’s CEO from 2021-2022.

Zdravkova was appointed CEO of NOVA Broadcasting Group in 2022. Prior to this, she served as CEO of NetInfo from June 2019 to May 2022.

Aleksandra Subotić, CEO of United Media, said: “I am confident that Dirk will secure the successful continuation of our operations at NOVA Broadcasting Group as a seasoned media expert with valuable knowledge of Bulgarian market. We thank Stefana for her engagement.”

United Group, United Media’s parent company, completed the acquisition of Nova Broadcasting Group from Advance Media Group in 2021.

Nova operates around 10 TV channels, including national channel Nova TV, and the country’s largest online platform NetInfo, which reach on average 80% of the Bulgarian population every month. It also operates four radio stations.