ITV hunts for a new CMO as Rufus Radcliffe assumes on-demand role

ITV is in need of a CMO as Rufus Radcliffe takes on a new job heading up the broadcaster’s newly formed on-demand business unit.

The change comes as part of a wider restructure at ITV that will see it create a media and entertainment division with two business units – broadcast and on-demand. The broadcast business will focus on its main TV channels, including ITV and ITV2, and ensuring its “USP of mass simultaneous reach”.

The on-demand unit, meanwhile, will be the focus for digital product development and growth. The aim is to create content that can appeal to those viewing on-demand through brands including ITV Hub, ITV Hub+ and BritBox.

The aim of the restructure is to align ITV’s investment and resources around the two main ways of viewing, while improving efficiency and reducing costs. The changes are expected to be fully complete by March 2021.

With Radcliffe heading up on-demand, ITV will be recruiting for a new CMO who will report into the managing director of the media and entertainment division, Kevin Lygo.

Radcliffe joined ITV in 2011, originally as group marketing and research director before becoming group CMO and director of direct-to-consumer last year. He previously worked at Channel 4 for more than a decade having begun his career agency-side at JWT and McCann Erickson.

He has been focused on delivering ITV’s ‘More Than TV’ strategy, including its ‘Britain Get Talking’ campaign which recently won a number of awards, including the Grand Prix at the Marketing Week Masters. Radcliffe was also named ‘Marketer of the Year’, sponsored by Salesforce, at the Masters awards last month, while ITV was also named ‘Marketing Team of the Year’.

Rufus Radcliffe on putting ITV at the heart of British culture

ITV CEO, Carolyn McCall, says: “Our new media and entertainment division will enable ITV to continue to deliver mass, live audiences while investing in the future to create the sort of content and viewing experience that younger, and other harder to reach viewers want.

“ITV will continue to broadcast shows which entertain millions of viewers. Most are watched live and that fact, together with the scale of these audiences, will continue to offer unrivalled opportunities for brands to reach consumers. Linear channels will be around and be profitable for many years, but we also need an on-demand business which will increasingly be the focus of our new investments in content and technology and which will be our growth engine for attracting younger and more targeted audiences to ITV.”