In her new role, Marina Mello will combine her experience in TV with her gaming expertise to bring new games and interactive experiences to BBC audiences around the world.
Reporting to managing director of Consumer Products and Licensing, Stephen Davies, Marina Mello, as the global director for Gaming & Interactive, will be responsible for developing and delivering the global gaming and interactive strategy and spearheading commercial activities in this space for key BBC Studios brands, including Bluey, BBC Earth and Doctor Who.
With experience across both television and gaming, Marina was most recently chief commercial officer at Bossa Games, a BAFTA winning independent game developer and publisher, known for games such as Surgeon Simulator and I Am Fish. Prior to her decade long stint at Bossa, she managed a range of commercial and strategic projects for Shine Group, working on brands such as Masterchef, The Biggest Loser and Spooks, amongst others.
The BBC Studios Brands and Licensing team, under president Nicki Sheard, extends audience enjoyment of favourite programmes and brands through innovative partnerships and licensing of ideas and characters.
The division has seen huge success in the gaming sector, including the recent launch of Bluey’s first-ever video game on console which featured in BAFTA’s Best Games of 2023, and the mobile game Bluey: Let’s Play!, which has been downloaded by over 33m players to date, reaching No.1 in the App Store charts in the UK. Overall, over one million hours were enjoyed by families playing Bluey video games in 2023 alone.
The division has also managed several global partnerships, including Doctor Who on Fortnite Creative and BBC Earth’s Frozen Planet II on Minecraft. Frozen Planet II Minecraft World was downloaded by millions of users across over 116 countries. Planet Earth III and the Shark onesie remain the most popular downloads of all time on Minecraft Bedrock.
Stephen Davies, managing director of Consumer Products Licensing, BBC Studios, said: “Marina brings with her a rare blend of both television and gaming experience, which makes her the perfect candidate for this role as we look to expand BBC Studios’ presence in the exciting and rapidly developing gaming ecosystem.”
Marina added: “I’m delighted to be joining the teams at BBC Studios and to combine my love and experience in TV with my gaming expertise. BBC Studios offers a wealth of brilliant, world-renowned IPs and brings together dedicated fans. I look forward to bringing new games and interactive experiences to our audiences around the world.”
