BBC Worldwide Taps Brands Chief for 'Doctor Who,' Other Top Shows

LONDON -- BBC Worldwide, the public broadcaster's commercial division, has created a fresh position, chief brands officer, bringing Amanda Hill to fill the post.

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Hill's appointment, made Monday (Dec. 24), is part of BBC Worldwide's restructure from divisional to geographic lines of management.

The BBC said Hill's hire will play a key role in "building and developing BBC Worldwide's global brands," such as Top Gear, natural history division BBC Earth and Doctor Who.

Hill joins the senior executive team and is tasked with developing an overall strategy for BBC Worldwide's global brands across all businesses and formats.

The role includes developing, segmenting and managing the current brand portfolio of 14 BBC global brands - including Dancing with the Stars, BBC Knowledge, the broadcaster's pre-school channel CBeebies and the internet and digital TV service iPlayer - while also developing and building fresh BBC brands to protect and develop future brand revenue growth.

Hill is currently BBC Earth managing director which she has helped establish as a global, consumer-facing natural history brand with a dedicated YouTube channel, a commercial productions unit and a production slate that includes two BBC Earth films currently in-production - Walking with Dinosaurs 3Dand Enchanted Kingdom 3D- for which she is also executive [producer.

Hill said: "With the rise of truly global digital channels now is an incredible time to bring the BBC to the world and the world to the BBC."

BBC Worldwide interim CEO Paul Dempsey said Hill will take up the post "early in the new year and will play a key role in bringing us closer to our global audiences as we drive forward our restructuring plans."

Hill has worked at BBC Worldwide for ten years, joining as head of factual and lifestyle in June 2002, before becoming head of content direction. In 2007, she was associate producer of the Earth movie and has worked on the BBC Earth brand since its launch in 2009.