Five Launches Commercial Team to Maximise Revenues
Channel Five has launched a dedicated commercial development team to maximise secondary revenue streams outside of traditional spot advertising.
The newly created team will form part of Five’s existing airtimes sales division and will be responsible for growing revenue from sponsorship and promotions, interactive, joint ventures, telephony, licensing and merchandising.
Five’s former head of sponsorship, Jon Lewis, has been appointed to the newly created role of head of commercial development. He will report directly to the channel’s executive director of sales Mark White and sales director Kelly Williams.
The broadcaster has also appointed Emma Derrick, former head of commercial development at Endemol, to be commercial development controller. Derrick brings ten years of television experience to the role, having working across programmes including Big Brother, Ready Steady Cook and Changing Rooms.
The new role will see Derrick work with Five’s commercial revenue manager Adam Strange, sponsorship manager Rachael Wheeler and interactive controller Damon Letzer, who will continue to run interactive advertising and red button revenues.
Commenting on the creation of the new team, Lewis said: “The time is absolutely right for Five to take this initiative. With the channel now very much part of the television mainstream and broadcast technology developing so quickly, opportunities to utilise our brand strength have become increasingly prevalent”.
He added: “One of Five’s key attributes has always been our ability and desire to act quickly. This structure will allow that to occur within all areas of secondary revenue.”
The first deal struck by the new team was announced this week, in the form of a joint venture between Five and the mobile telephony company, Flytext. The two companies have combined to launch Five Tunes, a subscription ringtone business which will be supported on-air.
Five has been in focus recently after its largest single shareholder, Gerhard Zeiler, chief executive of RTL, admitted that the channel needs to forge closer links with commercial rivals such as Channel 4 or BSkyB if it is to survive in the increasingly competitive digital environment (see Five To Link With Rivals For Survival In Digital Age).
The broadcaster has made no secret of its intention to merge with Channel 4 and the two have held tentative discussions about the logistics of such a deal. However, they would need the all-clear from both the Government and Ofcom if a merger were to take place (see Government Could Back Merger Of Commercial Channels).
Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv
Recent Television Stories from NewsLine IPA Demands Separate Sales House For ITV-Owned GMTV Channel 4 Boosts Programme Budget By £20 Million ITV Drops Peak-Time Shows To Avoid Viewing Slump
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive