New audience technologies and insight chief for Channel 4

Gill Pritchard

UK broadcaster Channel 4 has named Gill Pritchard as director of audience technologies and insight.

Pritchard, who will take up her post with immediate effect and report directly to CEO David Abraham, will be responsible for transforming the way Channel 4 collates and uses data and viewer insight in order to generate new ideas and maximise Channel 4’s competitiveness, the company said. She will lead all activities relating to research, data capture, database management analytics and its dissemination and commercial use throughout Channel 4.

Pritchard, who will be tasked with building a new group within Channel 4 that will include the existing research and insight team, the viewer support team and audience technologies, joined Channel 4 as director of strategy in 2008 and was subsequently promoted to director of strategy and corporate development with responsibility for the channel’s corporate development function, including all M&A and partnerships.

Keith Underwood, Channel 4 head of strategy, will now take overall responsibility for strategy and Glyn Isherwood, Channel 4 director of finance, will take on corporate development

Prior to joining Channel 4 Pritchard held a number of senior positions at BBC Worldwide including director of Children’s and head of strategy

Pritchard said: “Building on our reputation for innovation and the advantage of having such a young, technology-savvy audience, Channel 4 will use the latest technologies and analytics to become the most viewer centric broadcaster in the UK. In this exciting new era our priority is to foster the use of data-driven relationships with audiences throughout Channel 4, helping to deliver pioneering new ideas and business models for the fully converged future.”