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ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide today confirmed that Chris Dobson is to join the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's commercial arm as Executive VP and General Manager Global Ad Sales.
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Dobson will have a global remit to oversee advertising activity across ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide's channels and online business as well as ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World News and will act as liaison for internal stakeholders across these outlets.
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The appointment builds on the work undertaken twelve months ago when in-house advertising sales teams across online, channels and news were brought together for the first time under the leadership of Jonathan Howlett (RoW) and Mark Gall (US) as a result of the launch of bbc.com, the creation of an in-house sales team for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ America and the rollout of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide's channel portfolio.
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Howlett and Gall will now report to Dobson, when he joins on 6th October.
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By having a bespoke in-house ad sales force which is driven by audience, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide hopes to generate increased revenues from around the world, which can then be returned to the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ to invest in programming.
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Darren Childs, to whom Dobson reports, commented: "Chris brings with him a strong background in both traditional linear media and a pioneering role in digital while at MSN. He is one of the most experienced and successful leaders in this field, and his appointment is a signal of our commitment to growing our ad sales business.
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"We've listened to agencies and clients who are looking to simplify the buying process across multiple platforms with a single conversation with ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide and this is how we are responding to them."
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Chris Dobson added: βThe world of media is changing but one constant is the core need for top quality content delivered across multiple platforms to suit rapidly changing consumer needs. ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide provides flagship ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ content to a global quality audience and the chance to lead the next level of advertising sales development across both pan regional and national TV as well as online for one of the world's premier media brands is a unique opportunity that I'm very excited to take on.β
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Dobson joins ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide from Microsoft where he was Acting General Manager for Microsoft's UK online business as well as VP Global Advertising Sales. Holding increasingly senior sales roles during his seven year tenure, Dobson led a sales team of up to 600 people and is credited with growing Microsoft's advertising revenues by more than 500%.
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Prior to Microsoft, Dobson was European New Business director at leading media agency ZenithOptimedia, a role he took up after leaving MTV where he held a variety of sales management roles - culminating in VP Sales - from 1994 to 2000.
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He began his media career at ITV's Thames TV in 1987, having spent his first working years on the client side in a range of marketing and business development roles in the automotive industry.
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Note to Editors:
Advertising sales in print media will continue to be managed by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide Magazine's Director of Ad Sales Matt Teeman.
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Chris Charlton
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