BBC Advertising announced the appointment of Alistair McEwan as SVP Commercial Development Asia & ANZ.

Alistair will be responsible for the delivery of profitable advertising sales revenues from the Asia-Pacific region on BBC World News, BBC.com, BBC World Service, Top Gear, BBC Good Food, BBC Worldwide Channels.

Reporting to Carolyn Gibson, EVP BBC Advertising, Alistair will also remain part of the ANZ leadership teamunder Jon Penn, Managing Director, BBC Worldwide ANZ and join the Asia leadership team under David Weiland, EVP & GM Asia. He will play a strategic role in integrating the regional advertising teams and optimising opportunities across BBC Worldwide and BBC Global News Ltd’s portfolio, while building the business’ profile across Asia-Pacific. He will also provide sales and business leadership to his senior management team of Sales Vice Presidents, whilst further developing the capabilities of the high calibre sales team across the region.

This builds on the announcement last September that BBC Worldwide is boosting its ad sales team in Asia to make the most of growth opportunities in the region. VPs John Williams and Katy Xu will continue to run sales and day to day line management of their teams in ASEAN & India and Greater China & North Asia respectively, while both reporting to Alistair. The current ANZ Ad Sales and Brand Partnerships team will continue to report to Alistair.

The role takes effect on 1 July and Alistair will work from both the Singapore and Sydney offices. Carolyn Gibson, EVP BBC Advertising, said, “For this expanded, strategic role, which is responsible for the whole of BBC Worldwide and BBC Global News Ltd’s portfolio across the region, we were looking for someone who can lead and integrate the teams and drive new commercial opportunities. With his knowledge from working in markets across Asia and ANZ, as well as a mix of print, TV and digital experience, Alistair will be an excellent asset to the BBC Advertising leadership team.”

Alistair McEwan commented, “Asia-Pacific is a dynamic and very important region for BBC Worldwide, where weare increasingly building audiences with our world-class content and services in both mature and fast growth markets. I’m incredibly excited by the scope of business opportunities across the region, fostering new and existing partnerships and leading a highly talented sales team.”

Alistair joined BBC Worldwide in July 2013 as VP for BBC Advertising ANZ. In 2014 he was appointed Director of Advertising Sales & Brand Partnerships where he has been leading a cross media commercial department for BBC Worldwide ANZ, responsible for multi-channel advertising and sponsorship revenues for the portfolio of media brands and platforms in Australia and New Zealand. This includes STV channels BBC First, BBC UKTV, BBC Knowledge and BBC World News as well as BBC.com and BBCGoodFood.com. Additionally Alistair has been managing the BBC Worldwide joint venture interest with Bauer Park Publishing for Top Gear Australia magazine and its website.

Alistair has 20 years’ experience in media spanning several posts across Asia, Europe and Africa. Alistair joined BBC Worldwide from multi-screen media and marketing agency Modaliti and prior to this he was National Group Advertising Director at News Ltd. Before moving to Australia in 2010, Alistair was International Advertising Director at The New York Times, with his first 12 years in media being with Paris based newspaper the International Herald Tribune where he worked in various commercial roles in Singapore, Johannesburg, London and Paris.

A key area of focus for Alistair will be driving opportunities around BBC.com and BBC World News. Sustained investment has resulted in an enhanced offering across TV, radio and online, run from a new 24-hour newsroom in London and supported by an extensive network of bureaux and correspondents around the world.

BBC.com, the BBC’s international website, started 2015 on an all-time high – with more than 101 million unique browsers using the website and news app globally during the month of January, generating a record 1.35 billion page views as greater choice and responsive technology encouraged users to turn to BBC.com for news on the go. A fully responsive tablet version of the site was launched in late 2014.

BBC World News breaks more stories from more countries than any other international news channel. This has propelled BBC World News to the number one position in several key markets. The latest Ipsos Affluent Survey Asia Pacific (IASAP) for Q1-Q4 2014 ranks BBC World News the number one news channel, and is the go-to international number one news brand across TV and digital among high income/high net worth Asians.