The Drum appoints Dave Birss to newly created role as head of TV
The Drum has promoted its editor-at-large Dave Birss to the newly created position of head of TV.
Birss has been the PPA Media Brand of the Year’s editor-at-large for the last two years, and will continue in that role while also heading up its new TV content arm.
He has spent much of the last year in the role of head of culture and innovation for ESI Media – the company behind The Independent, Evening Standard and London Live TV channel. During his time there he helped develop a creative culture and to innovate across media channels.
Birss will kick off The Drum’s UK premier of its Day Before Tomorrow documentary series, in November, which takes a deep dive into how different industries are being affected by technology.
Spanning health, education, smart cities, retail, entertainment and money, the films were premiered in the US at Ad Week New York earlier this month, and will air in London at separate screenings from 3 November.
Commenting on his appointment Birss said: “I've found myself working with broadcasters more and more over the last few years to help them embrace a multichannel approach. So it excites me no end to be able to put the thinking into practice for The Drum.
“We'll be creating a mixture of web and broadcast content. Some of this will be in association with brands, some will be directly to broadcasters and other pieces will be independent content for The Drum. We've been blown away with the response so far. This looks like it's going to be one exciting ride!”
Throughout his career Birss has been creative director at major agencies including MRM, Ogilvy and Poke.
Birss added: “After so many years looking at the bits that go in the ad breaks, it's great to be focusing in the stuff that goes in between.
"We're currently getting ready to release our first documentary series, The Day Before Tomorrow, and we've got lots more exciting projects in the pipeline."
The Drum editor and co-founder Gordon Young said: “This is ground breaking for two reasons – not only will we have more access to the amazing creative talents of Dave, but it will very firmly flag up our intentions of becoming a serious producer of great video and TV content.”
Birss, who is also head of ideas at the School of Communication Arts, will begin his new role effective immediately.
Last week The Drum announced the appointment of former Design Week editor Lynda Relph-Knight to the new role of consultant design editor.