BBC Studios has announced the appointment of Nat Poulter, former co-CEO of global social publisher Jungle Creations, as vice president of Digital – Commercial.
Based in London, Nat will be responsible for building a cross-platform digital consumer proposition across a portfolio of new and expanding brands with the aim of strengthening BBC Studios’ position as a partner for impactful and integrated global campaigns.
In this new role for the company, Nat will be focused on commercially growing BBC Studios’ roster of brands and IP including the established Top Gear, Doctor Who and BBC Earth as well as kids’ properties such as Bluey and Hey Duggee. BBC Studios currently manages more than 90 premium social channels, which combined reach over 4.7b views globally in 2022. Nat will report to Jasmine Dawson, senior vice president of Digital and will work closely with both the content and Sales teams led by Athena Witter (vice president of Digital Programming) and Gary Webber (group head of Advertising) respectively.
Commenting on the appointment, Jasmine said: “We’re delighted to welcome Nat to the BBC Studios Social team. He brings tremendous experience in growing digital-led businesses as well as strategically driving advertising opportunities and revenue streams. As we continue to expand our social and digital offerings, he will play a crucial role in building a diversified commercial model that will underpin our digital consumer proposition.”
Nat said: “There are few businesses that talk to audiences across so many different platforms as BBC Studios. With such a strong portfolio of globally recognised brands, the breadth and depth of the company’s content is unrivalled. I look forward to working with the teams and connecting the different content and data assets from across the business to deliver a really exciting offering to our biggest clients.”
Nat joins BBC Studios from Jungle Creations, a global social publisher where he was co-chief executive officer. Over the course of six years, Nat drove the growth of this business from an outfit of 30 people and £3m revenues to 175 people, £30m+ revenues and £6m EBITDA. During his tenure, Jungle Creations was named 14th in the Financial Times’ list of Europe’s fastest growing companies. Prior to this, Nat launched and led the programmatic monetisation strategy for DMG Media, the world’s largest global publishing house. Nat won the rising star accolade at the Media Week Awards for the role he played in building proprietary technology to increase advertising yields by more than 30%.
Nat’s hire is the latest in support of the growing digital sales outfit which recently announced that for the first time the group will proactively offer digital advertising opportunities with a particular focus on social video advertising and social-first branded entertainment to clients and advertisers. Since launching in 2018, BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, has commissioned over 800 pieces of high-quality original content to date across kids and family, factual, and comedy.
To find out more about BBC Studios Social, visit bbcstudiossocial.com
