Quintus Studios hires Pluto TV programming exec as head of operations

David Woodford

German factual distributor and AVOD operator Quintus Studios has hired Pluto TV exec David Woodford as head of operations.

Based in the company’s Berlin headquarters, Woodford will be responsible for the “cross-platform and geographic optimisation” of Quintus Studios’ content, as well as workflow management across the business.

He previously served as director of programming for Europe at Paramount’s AVOD business Pluto TV Europe, where he oversaw channel launch, content and scheduling strategy.

Quintus Studios owns and operates YouTube channel brands, which it says has a combined yearly reach of more than 200 million unique visitors, including Free Documentary, Free Documentary – Nature, FD Real, FD History, FD Paranormal and ENDEVR. It also owns and operates FAST channel Radical Docs which is available on platforms including Rakuten TV and Samsung TV Plus.

Earlier this year, the company moved into commissioning, partnering with US-based Cry Havoc Productions for Supercar Tech – its first ‘original’ show, which is destined for German network Welt and YouTube.

In May, Quintus expanded its team for a push into “alternative platforms”, with the appointments of Christian Gretzler as senior manager of YouTube & FAST channels, and Olivia Cole as senior media strategist.

“The market and Quintus´ activities in it have become more and more complex, so presenting the right piece of content in the right form to the right audience on the right platform in the right territory and at the right time is key in this environment.

“David’s experience and expertise will help us to exploit Quintus´ thousands of hours of content even more efficiently and across its activities in TV, FAST and VOD” said Gerrit Kemming, MD at Quintus Studios.