ITV drafts in Channel 4’s Steven Forde to boost online offer

ITV has appointed Channel 4’s Steven Forde as the new director of marketing and experience for online and on-demand as it looks to drive up with engagement with ITV Player.

ITV

Forde will take up his post later this year and focus on driving the ITV Player brand to both audiences and advertisers with a remit which covers audience engagement and CRM as well as innovation and design.

Adam Crozier, ITV’s chief executive, noted in the brand’s 2014 earnings statement that maximising audience and revenue share from VOD business is a key opportunity for growth in 2015.

According to ITV’s earnings results for the full year of 2014, online video-on-demand viewing is up 26% with 8 million registered users and revenue for online, pay and interactive services has seen a 30% increase.

ITV has been looking to improve the distribution of the ITV Player, by making it available across more platforms including Windows Phone 8 and Amazon Kindle Fire. ITV Player has been added to YouView, Freeview Play and Freesat.

“My next exciting challenge at ITV Online presents an irresistible opportunity to help shape the next phase of development, building on the huge achievements the team have generated over the past few years,” says Forde.

Forde is to leave his role as Channel 4’s head of viewer relationship management, which he has held for over 3 years. He was a key architect of the broadcaster’s viewer relationship strategy, which won the Grand Prix at Marketing Week’s Data Strategy Awards last year.

Forde will replace Sonia Sudhakar the former director of digital and on-demand marketing after she left to join the Guardian in December 2014, although his remit is wider in that he also addresses customer experience.

The executive will report to Paul Kanareck, director of online and brands and Rufus Radcliffe, group marketing and research director.

Read a profile of Steven Forde here.

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