Sydney – The Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) announced that Colleen Fahey Rush, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer for Viacom Media Networks (VMN), will headline the 2013 ASTRA Women in TV Breakfast as part of this year’s ASTRA Conference on March 14.

Rush was instrumental in leading VMN’s landmark study, “The Next Normal: An Unprecedented Look at Millennials Worldwide”, which shares insights into the attitudes, values, aspirations and perspectives of youths, aged 9-30, from 24 countries across every continent.

Rush also leads VMN’s Strategic Insights and Research group, and provides guidance and support to research teams across the company’s portfolio of brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, Logo, SPIKE, and TV Land. Rush has presented VMN’s research and insights at The White House, on Capitol Hill and to multinational marketers such as Unilever and IBM. She is chairman for the Board of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and the executive committee for the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) where Rush uses research to underpin the importance of monetising content in digital environments.

The Breakfast will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Parkside Ballroom, Darling Harbour prior to the commencement of the conference. Rush will also present highlights of “The Next Normal’s” insights from Australia. She will also talk about how deeper understanding of consumer behaviour helps in creating compelling content across every screen. 

The day-long 2013 ASTRA Conference programme will share opinions from leaders across the industry, allow for discussion and debate through a combination of panel discussions and break-out sessions, as well as provide networking opportunities at the Women in TV Breakfast, lunch and the closing cocktail function. This year’s conference features keynote speaker Mark Hollinger, President and CEO, Discovery Networks International and Richard Freudenstein, CEO of Foxtel.