ITV Studios reorganises its international distribution and commercial business and reveals management team

Published: Tue 01 Oct 2019

ITV studios reorganises its international distribution and commercial business and reveals management team

ITV Studios today unveils the reorganisation of its international distribution and commercial business, which strengthens its position as a creator, producer and distributor of world-leading programmes.

The new structure will be operational from January 2020 and focuses on three centres of excellence which will work closely together and with ITV Studios' world-class international production business.

The three centres are the Creative Network, which will boost creativity across unscripted format labels in ITV Studios to increase the potential of developing global hit shows; Global Entertainment, which brings together international unscripted format sales and exploitation across the group under one roof and Global Distribution, which will focus on the international distribution of drama and the finished tape versions of all other ITV Studios programmes.

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director of ITV Studios said:

In line with ITV's More Than TV strategy, this reorganisation allows us to capitalise on the opportunity of a growing content marketplace, and to drive more value from our award-winning content. The centres of excellence strengthens ITV Studios potential to provide channel and platform partners with talked-about hit returning programmes as well as building brands and franchises, in an increasingly competitive global market.

The three centres are:

- The Creative Network will have a laser-like focus on boosting creativity across the 36 unscripted format labels in ITV Studios in the major format export countries to increase the potential of developing global hit shows.

It will do this by prioritising development according to those ideas with global appeal and encouraging more sharing of information across the group to maximise opportunities with buyers.

The Creative Network will be led by Mike Beale in London. Armoza Formats, the Israeli based format creator, will continue to be part of the Creative Network, developing and sourcing new global hits of the future.

- Global Entertainment. This brings together the speciality and expertise in international unscripted format sales and exploitation across the group under one roof. Global Entertainment will represent the catalogues of Talpa Media, Armoza Formats, Twofour and the existing ITV Studios unscripted format catalogue.

Talpa Global, part of Talpa Media, will be fully integrated into Global Entertainment and will lead on the sales and exploitation of unscripted formats as they roll out around the world. The team are known for their expertise in managing shows which attract large audiences with significant global commercial potential and monetize content, through a number of different ways, including brand licensing, merchandising, commercial integration and digital and social activity.

Global Entertainment will be the home of licensing for some of the most powerful unscripted formats in the world including the current number one entertainment brand, The Voice and its spin-off's The Voice Kids and The Voice Senior totalling 117 versions shown in 180 territories; the fast-growing global sensation, Love Island with 13 versions; Hell's Kitchen, Come Dine With Me, The Four, I'm A Celebrity .Get Me Out of Here, Four Weddings, I Love My Country and The Chase.

Global Entertainment will be led by Maarten Meijs and be based in the Netherlands. The Talpa Media name will cease to exist.

- Global Distribution. This business will focus on the international distribution of drama and the finished tape versions of all other ITV Studios shows.

Global Distribution will build on the expertise it has in high end drama financing and co-production deals, for example World on Fire, Noughts & Crosses and Romulus and more recently in factual distributor led commissioning models and bigger scale projects, including Magical Land of Oz and Wild Tokyo.

It will be led by Ruth Berry, with sales teams based around the world.

The production companies, Talpa Netherlands (Talpa Content, Talpa Productions and Fictie), Mas Media and Vorst Media will integrate into ITV Studios Netherlands. This will be led by Karin de Groot as CEO and Edwin van der Veen as COO.

The production companies, Talpa Middle East and Talpa Germany will integrate into ITV Studios. Talpa Middle East will be renamed ITV Studios Middle East and continue to be led by Ziad Kebbi. Talpa Germany continues to be led by Karsten Roeder.

David McGraynor as Chief Operating Officer, ITV Studios, takes on increased responsibility with oversight across all Studios commercial operations, including Global Entertainment and Global Distribution, with Ruth and Maarten reporting directly into him.

After nine years with ITV Studios, Maria Kyriacou, President International Studios, is moving on to join Viacom International Media Networks.

Sharjeel Suleman becomes Chief Finance Officer for ITV Studios.

LINK:	https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-studios-reorganises...
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