Channel 4 Names Audience Research Head

In the UK, broadcaster Channel 4 has appointed former Red Bee Media exec Clare Phillips for the new role of Head of Audience Research and Insight, leading a team which provides support to the programming, marketing and strategy teams.

At Red Bee, Phillips was a member of the creative management team and Head of Strategic Planning. While there, she led the strategic planning for the BBC and uktv and provided brand consultancy for international broadcasters such as Disney, Canal + and abc studios. Prior to this, she set up a strategic planning and insight function at BSkyB creative and held senior planning roles at ad agencies AMV BBDO and JWT.

In her new role, Phillips will work closely with Chief Creative Officer Jay Hunt and the commissioning and scheduling teams to ensure both viewer insight and consumer trend data is part of the early stages of creative development. Her audience research and insight team will also work closely with the marketing team to aid the development of strategic marketing initiatives and evaluate the impact of campaigns.

Commenting on the new appointment, Director of Audience Technologies and Insight Gill Whitehead (nee Pritchard) said: 'Clare has a fantastic track record in strategic planning and insight and I'm thrilled she is joining the team. She will be at the heart of our strategy to continue to understand more about our audience and to harness this insight to inform Channel 4's content commissioning and marketing and communications.'

The appointment completes the senior Channel 4 Audience Technologies and Insight team line-up, alongside Head of Data Planning and Analytics Sanjeevan Bala; Head of Viewer Relationship Management Steve Forde; and Head of Advertising Research and Development Sue Gray. All four roles report to Whitehead.

Web site: www.channel4.com .