Paul Kanareck leaves ITV after strategy refresh

ITV’s managing director of online, Paul Kanareck, is to leave the company after seven years as part of the broadcaster’s strategy overhaul.

The UK’s largest commercial broadcaster announced its new three year strategy alongside its half-year financial results, outlining plans to invest £60m across the business over the course of three years.

The ITV Hub and direct-to-consumer are focal points in the new strategy and, as such, the company is pursuing a new organisational design which distributes Kanareck’s former key functions across the business.

Kanareck’s responsibilities included product development, marketing and technology functions across online. In 2015 he led the launch of the Hub, and has also led ITV into new consumer areas including live events and gaming.

Commenting on his departure, Kanareck said: “I’ve enjoyed every moment of my time at ITV and had the privilege to work with the biggest brands and the best creative and commercial talent in the industry.

“With the ITV Hub now one of the largest and most successful online platforms in the UK, it seems like the right time for ITV to adopt this new approach and for me to step aside”.

ITV’s CEO, Carolyn McCall, added: “Paul has made an extraordinary contribution to ITV. He has combined great strategic vision with strong execution. He leaves Online in a strong position with a great team.”

The ITV Hub now has 26m registered users and was reportedly bigger than BBC iPlayer in June this year.