Tobi de Graaff has been appointed the executive VP for Western Europe at BBC Worldwide, effective August 18.
He will oversee all of BBC Worldwide’s businesses across German and French speaking markets in Europe, as well as Benelux, Scandinavia, Italy and Iberia.
He also will be responsible for all TV and Digital sales, Channels, Production and Format sales, Licensing and Publishing as well as Live Events across Western Europe.
The position was previously held by David Weiland, who took up the post of EVP Asia for BBC Worldwide in May.
De Graaff will be based in London and report to Paul Dempsey, president of global markets. He previously headed up ITV Studio’s sales business as director of global TV distribution and prior to that he was director of sales & acquisitions for Zodiak Television World.
Commenting on the appointment, Dempsey said: “BBC Worldwide has been enjoying strong revenue and profit growth in Western Europe and with Tobi joining the team I am confident that we can scale even greater heights. We have big ambitions for this region and I am delighted we have found a leader of Tobi’s calibre to lead the next phase of growth.”
De Graaff added: “BBC Worldwide is a world class organisation and I’m hugely excited to be part of this company. Working across a wide range of businesses such as Channels, TV Sales and Production is a challenge that I’m really looking forward to.”
