Exclusive: UKTV promotes Andrea Amey to chief digital officer

Andrea Amey (Source: UKTV/David Cummings)

BBC Studios-owned UKTV has promoted Andrea Amey to chief digital officer as part of its strategy to become a ‘digital-first’ company.

Amey joined UKTV in 2020 from UK broadcaster Channel 5 to lead its streaming efforts as general manager for digital, overseeing the development of UKTV’s VOD and digital strategy, with a key focus on its streamer UKTV Play, which will be rebranded as U later this year.

In her new role, she retains responsibility for UKTV Play, but also now holds central accountability at exec leadership team level for the adoption of digital practices across the company and seeking out areas for digital innovation within the business.

Continuing to report to managing director Sam Tewungwa, Amey will spearhead the adoption of digital working practices within UKTV, including promoting collaboration across departments and cross-functional teams. She will also play a critical role in supporting the ongoing company-wide digital transformation and help to refine digital strategies and enhance implementation of digital initiatives.

Prior to UKTV, Amey spent 10 years at Channel 5, latterly as senior director for VOD product and service management, where she led the VOD content and production teams and oversaw the strategic direction of VOD service My5. She also launched third party channels and supported C5’s SVOD expansion onto Amazon and BritBox, and before that served as head of digital content and managing editor.

UKTV CEO Marcus Arthur told TBI that Amey is a “brilliant balance of a digital person who knows and understands the right content but has a forensic knowledge of product and development and platforms. She is someone who knows the content and also really gets the delivery and the business model and the markets.”

Amey’s promotion comes after UKTV announced plans in November to rename its free-to-air channels and its free streaming service UKTV Play under a new ‘masterbrand’. The move is set for summer 2024 and will see UKTV Play transition to U and UKTV’s family of free-to-air channels will become U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&YESTERDAY and U&W. UKTV’s pay channels Alibi, Gold and Eden will transition to U&alibi, U&GOLD, U&eden at a later date.