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Banijay today announces the appointment of Owain Walbyoff as Chief Commercial Officer. Based in London, his newly devised role spans licensing, merchandising, gaming, gambling and music, and will commence on 1 September.

Walbyoff has spent almost 20 years working across sales and management in the licensing, media and technology space. In his most recent role in the technology industry, he oversaw licensing, R&D partnerships, and marketing activity, working with brands like LVMH, and Formula 1.

Elsewhere, in 2018, Walbyoff provided consultancy to ITV, helping with strategy and business development across its gaming, gambling, and app portfolio. He also worked with the licensing team there on its vast IP offering. Prior to this, he was Managing Director for Endemol Shine Group’s global licensing business. There he took care of sales and operations for gaming, gambling, licensing and merchandising across its 20-country-strong footprint. Marrying TV sponsors to branded commercial products, he directed record multi-territory licensing deals for brands like Deal or No Deal.

Reporting to Banijay’s COO, Peter Langenberg, Walbyoff will devise and execute the group’s overarching licensing strategy to drive market penetration and revenue growth. Tasked with maximizing monetization opportunities across the business’ extensive and high-profile IP portfolio, he will manage all teams across merchandising, brand licensing, gaming and gambling and music.

Peter Langenberg comments: “Owain has an incredibly strong track-record in the commercial space. With a CV spanning multiple genres and industries, he brings a wealth of knowledge across all disciplines and, having inked a number of stand-out deals in his career, we have no doubt he will be invaluable in strengthening our IP monetisation efforts moving forwards. As we build one of the world’s largest content catalogues, we were after a strong entrepreneurial and commercial mind to lead in this area and in him, we have found just that.”

Owain Walbyoff comments: “In some ways, it feels like a return and in others, a new, exciting adventure. With an abundance of world-renowned, commercially viable assets, a healthy pipeline of new IP and the most talented combined team, I feel privileged to be leading this department through its next phase. Historically, this portfolio has already performed incredibly, so let’s see where we can take it to next.”

The Banijay portfolio which Walbyoff will now represent comprises Masterchef, Deal or No Deal, Peaky Blinders, Temptation Island, Survivor, Tipping Point, Big Brother, Operation Triunfo, Simon’s Cat, Mr Bean, The Biggest Loser, Ready Steady Cook, Black Mirror, Miss France, Eat Well for Less and Crystal Maze.