Google alum Matt Brittin heavily tipped to succeed Tim Davie as BBC chief
Former Google executive Matt Brittin is expected to be named as the new director-general (DG) of UK public service broadcaster the BBC as early as next week.
Matt Brittin
Photo: Matt Brittin
Brittin served as president of EMEA business and operations at tech giant Google until he stood down last year. He has reportedly impressed the BBC board during a final round of interviews undertaken this month.
The potential appointment will be discussed at a regular BBC board meeting today and an official announcement could be made within a matter of days.
If appointed, Brittin will step into the shoes of incumbent Tim Davie, who resigned last November in the wake of the Panorama documentary scandal which led to Donald Trump filing a US$10bn defamation lawsuit against the BBC.
Davie is due to leave the corporation at the start of April, with Rhodri Talfan Davies taking on the role on an interim basis.
Brittin has emerged as the leading contender from a shortlist that included ex-Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon, ex-BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore, All3Media boss Jane Turton and Apple’s creative director of worldwide video Jay Hunt.
When the Banijay and All3Media mega-merger was confirmed this month, with Marco Bassetti set to lead the combined media powerhouse, many industry observers believed it cleared the way for Turton to step into the BBC’s top job.
However, it appears the corporation has instead chosen an exec with no direct programming or production credits on his CV and considerably less TV experience than the other names on the shortlist.
Brittin studied at the University of Cambridge and London Business School before working for a chartered surveyors’ firm and serving as director of strategy and digital at newspaper group Trinity Mirror.
He was also a member of the British rowing team and has won medals in eights and fours at the World Rowing Championships and represented Great Britain at the Olympics.
He joined Google in 2007, serving initially as MD of UK operations, then VP for northern and central Europe before being named head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In 2017, Brittin told a Royal Television Society (RTS) event in London that he didn’t believe that Google-owned platform YouTube should be regulated like broadcasters. He also called on the UK’s commercial TV industry to “show up, wise up and speed up” after describing it as “incredibly inward looking” and warning “more disruption” would be on the way for TV overall – a prediction that proved to be wholly accurate.
In 2014, Brittin questioned whether an increase in on-demand viewing would mean linear TV channels will become obsolete in the future. “There’s a section of the audience for whom scheduling is still important, but it’s not my kids and it’s not me,” he said.
Brittin has, however, expressed admiration for the UK TV sector, describing it as an industry he has been “trying to get into for a very long time,” when picking up an RTS fellowship last December.
His likely appointment as BBC DG suggests another step in the so-called “tech takeover” of UK institutions. It is believed that Brittin’s experience of working at a global tech giant will be of great value to the corporation as it seeks to remain relevant in a content landscape increasingly dominated by streamers, YouTube and social media.
The new DG will be confronted by a daunting in-tray on his first day in the job, with the BBC facing significant strategic, regulatory and reputational challenges – not least funding model reform as the end of the Royal Charter looms at the end of 2027.
