Channel 5 strengthens commercial team
Channel 5’s new sales director Nick Bampton has bolstered his commercial team and created a new marketing division at the broadcaster.
The appointments see a restructure of the channel’s trading team and the creation of a marketing partnerships division. Channel 5 hopes the changes will facilitate “enhanced advertiser and agency relationships”.
The broadcaster is taking on four senior members of staff, including two from Bampton’s former employer Viacom Brand Solutions.
Channel 5 is now under the ownership of Richard Desmond, owner of Northern & Shell Media, who acquired the channel for £103.5m in July last year.
This week it was announced an OK! magazine spinoff TV show will launch on Channel 5 and it is expected Desmond will align more Northern & Shell brands, such as The Daily Express, with the channel.
Bampton has hired Ross Belcher, former investment director at VBS, as trading director; Agostino Di Falco, former director of insight and planning at VBS, as marketing partnerships director; Andy Atkinson as head of trading and Sufia von Bismark as head of operations.
As a result of the restructure, three of the existing Channel 5 sales team will leave “by mutual agreement”.
Bampton says: “The commercial team now have in place the right people, the right tools and focus to achieve much more to enhance our relationships with media agencies and advertisers.”
Bampton joined Channel 5 in November, replacing Kelly Williams who is now director of TV sales at ITV.
Earlier this month ITV also restructured its commercial team in an effort to become more “client obsessed” and as part of its strategy to develop premium content and deliver it across multiple platforms.
Channel 5’s current programme line-up includes Neighbours, CSI and Law & Order.
