Martin Trickey, who joins from Warner Bros International TV Production in January 2025, has been named Managing Director of Zoo 55, reporting to Ruth Berry President, Global Partnerships & Zoo 55. Graham Haigh, currently EVP Digital, will partner with Trickey as COO.Set to launch in early 2025, Zoo 55 aims to be a leading force in digital entertainment on a global scale – taking more ITV Studios brands into the digital realm including YouTube channels, social media and streaming platforms, building on the existing portfolio of 140 owned and operated channels on YouTube, 18 FAST channels across 17 territories and 100+ platform feeds globally. It will exploit more of the 90,000+ hours in the ITV Studios catalogue to see a number of new channels launching across AVoD and FAST, as well as creating environments for audiences to engage with its brands on immersive platforms like Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft. As part of the launch plans, Metavision, the creative agency and studio led by Ashley Lewis, will migrate from ITV to under the Zoo 55 banner.Trickey commented: “To be in at the start of any new venture is exciting but being asked to take the Managing Director role at Zoo 55 is an unparalleled opportunity. I know that with Ruth’s guidance and Graham’s experience we can grow Zoo 55 into a formidable digital content business.”Berry said: “It is such an exciting time to be taking this area of the business to a whole new level – we’re ready, we’re experts at selling to audiences who come to the same places for the content they love, but more and more our end viewer is on the move so we want to engage with them in different ways wherever they are. Martin and Graham will be a dream team taking the business forwards as Zoo 55. Without a doubt, this venture works hand in glove with Global Partnerships as the streaming world expands across Free and Pay worlds. In part it’s an evolution of our windowing strategy and the teams being in lockstep is critical.”Haigh added: “We’ve spent the last few years building a robust, successful digital business, taking our super brands and IP onto new platforms and delivering new audiences in this space. To evolve this work into the launch of Zoo 55 is incredibly exciting and I’m really looking forward to partnering with both Martin and Ruth to drive further growth in this ever-changing space”
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