MUMBAI: As it seeks to to become a more digital and consumer facing operation, BBC Worldwide has expanded the role of its digital director Dan Heaf to consumer digital managing director.
Taking up this new role with immediate effect, Heaf will be responsible for driving a unified global digital strategy and consumer vision across BBC Worldwide’s digital portfolio. This includes the organisation’s branded consumer services such as topgear.com and goodfood.com, as well as owned and operated services like the international ifestyle and genre sections of BBC.com, where he will build on recent launches such as Travel and Future.
Heaf will be tasked with growing the international-facing site in new areas such as culture, music, style and food. He will also be in charge of the organisation’s consumer digital facing services, including the successful portfolio of brands on Facebook and international channels on YouTube.
Heaf will work collaboratively across BBC Worldwide, Global News and the BBC’s Future, Media and Technology division, ensuring effective co-ordination, shared knowledge and information. At the same time as consolidating and integrating the necessary skills and expertise of the digital organisation he is tasked with building closely aligned local markets, following BBC Worldwide’s commitment to have a greater presence across international markets.
BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith said, “Dan is a fantastically capable player, who brings tremendous experience, knowledge and commitment to the role. Since joining BBC Worldwide in 2010, he has demonstrated outstanding vision and leadership as EVP of Digital, helping to drive our digital revenues, which have exceeded our target of 10 per cent.”
While at BBC Worldwide, Heaf has overseen the organisation’s transformation into a digital business. BBC Worldwide apps have been downloaded over 20 million times; the organisation’s branded websites have achieved over 65 million monthly visitors; over 20 million fans access BBC Worldwide-branded Facebook pages while digital revenues have exceeded the business target of 10 per cent.
