ITV Studios restructures, de Mol exits

ITV Studios has unveiled a reorganisation of its international distribution and commercial business, with The Voice creator John de Mol and Maria Kyriacou both exiting.

Mike Beale

The new structure will be operational from January 2020 and is based on three departments: Creative Network, Global Entertainment and Global Distribution.

The Creative Network will be led by Mike Beale in London and aims to boost creativity across the 36 unscripted format production arms within ITV Studios by prioritising development of ideas with global appeal and sharing information across the group.

Armoza Formats, which ITV Studios acquired earlier this summer, will be part of this network.

Global Entertainment brings together the company’s expertise in format sales and exploitation under one roof and will represent the format catalogues of Talpa Media, Armoza, Twofour and ITV Studios.

Maarten Mejis

Talpa Global, part of Talpa Media, will be fully integrated into Global Entertainment and will lead on the sales and exploitation of unscripted formats as they roll out around the world.

The Talpa Media brand will cease to exist and de Mol will leave ITV Studios four years after it acquired his production business. He will now focus on his Dutch broadcast group Talpa Network.

Global Entertainment will be the home of licensing for shows including The Voice, Love Island, Hell’s Kitchen, Come Dine With Me, The Four, I’m A Celebrity….Get Me Out of Here, Four Weddings, I Love My Country and The Chase.

The group will be led by Talpa veteran Maarten Meijs and be based in the Netherlands.

Global Distribution will focus on the international sale of drama and the completed productions of all other ITV Studios shows. It will be led by Ruth Berry, with sales teams based around the world.

Production companies Talpa Netherlands (Talpa Content, Talpa Productions and Fictie), Mas Media and Vorst Media will all integrate into ITV Studios Netherlands. This will be led by Karin de Groot as CEO and Edwin van der Veen as COO.

Ruth Berry

The production companies Talpa Middle East and Talpa Germany will integrate into ITV Studios. Talpa Middle East will be renamed ITV Studios Middle East and continue to be led by Ziad Kebbi. Talpa Germany continues to be led by Karsten Roeder.

David McGraynor, chief operating officer of ITV Studios, takes on increased responsibility with oversight across all Studios commercial operations, including global entertainment and global distribution.

After nine years with ITV Studios, Kyriacou is moving on to join Viacom International Media Networks.

Julian Bellamy, MD of ITV Studios, said: “In line with ITV’s More Than TV strategy, this reorganisation allows us to capitalise on the opportunity of a growing content marketplace, and to drive more value from our award-winning content.”

Regarding de Mol’s departure, an ITVS spokesman said: “ITV Studios can confirm that John de Mol has chosen not to exercise his option to extend the earn-out period for a further three years as part of the Talpa Media acquisition and has decided to focus on the further development of his company Talpa Network as of 2020. He will continue to provide management services to Talpa Media until the end of April next year.

“ITV Studios has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with John de Mol, since the acquisition of Talpa Media in 2015. We wish John well and look forward to continuing our partnership with him via the first-look agreement between John and ITV Studios, in relation to future formats.”