Talk us through an average day in your role
There’s no typical day, but with a focus on working with partners, it’s not unusual to start with a breakfast meeting (ideally in West London!) and if I don’t have an early meeting, I’ll submit to my training schedule and head out for a run or row before work.
We have a great team and once in the office we’ll catch up on the latest goings on in the industry, and if it’s early in the week, last week’s sales data. The most important meeting brings together the UK leadership group, always at 9:59am Tuesday (I was once told 10am is the most productive hour of any day so start early I say…) or later in the day once a month to involve colleagues in the US. Roku’s operation in the UK is a complete snapshot of the business, including engineering and ads team with global responsibility, so it’s a good pulse check for the organisation. We might hear from one of the team about the quarterly business review they had with ITV or Channel 4, a second about new Players and Roku TV deals that we’ve got coming up with retailers, and another about upcoming enhancements to our user interface.
Lunch is normally on the hoof and from 1pm teams in New York are online and the buzz in the office grows, with another step up at 4pm once our HQ in the West Coast wakes up. My boss is based in California and he’s happy to start the day in the car as he passes Pismo beach on the way to San Jose.
Part of my role is to keep Roku plugged into what’s happening in the industry. This might mean that we’re going to an RTS planning meeting for their next convention, or recently meeting with the new team at the Department of Media, Culture and Sport to discuss how Roku can be a positive force in UK broadcasting. Calls continue late into the evening, so I’ll try and get home for those, then brace for the inbound email which arrives while I’m sleeping.
How did you get started in the media industry?
I spent most of my university career imagining working in journalism; I was editing the newspaper at Warwick University and studying English Literature. After graduating I started work in retail for Andersen Consulting and loved learning about business, but soon realised I really wanted to work in the media industry. I applied for a job at the BBC and for a journalism course at City University and got accepted for both on the same day. I chose the BBC because it took me straight into participating in media and I was gripped from day one. I joined just as the digital TV revolution was kicking off, at this curious crossroads of the new and old world as pay TV took off and digital broadcast launched in the UK. I was hooked by the creative and commissioning side of television, channel planning and later the future of delivery and distribution.
One of my very first projects was trying to find the successor to the 1996 Pride and Prejudice series. The BBC had commissioned author David Lodge to write a treatment of every single major English novel and I was asked to add an opinion on which book could be the next big series. At the same time I was working with NTL on ‘near video on demand’ (where I met Gidon Katz, now a colleague at Roku) and I think that was a defining period – half of my brain was in a Victorian novel and the other in the future of TV distribution.
What training did you have before entering the industry?
The media industry is fascinating because it exercises those two parts of your brain. One is the editorial and content part, and the other is strategy focused. At university I trained the creative and editorial side and then my time in consulting trained the strategy side. Retail consulting also gave me a fantastic view of, and knowledge of, audience trends, the opportunity of big data to improve the customer experience and how that could and should direct innovation and investment into digital media and entertainment.
Now I have the opportunity to help others kick start their careers too, as I sit on the advisory board for the RTS’s Mini MBA Program. It’s a brilliant multidisciplinary introduction to the industry that will help to create the generation of leaders and innovators.
Why do you enjoy working in the industry?
Since I started at the BBC, every year feels like a revolution with constant change and innovation in TV. That feeling has stayed for the last twenty-five years. I’ve been able to witness and take part in huge restructuring, from the traditional four or five channels many of us grew up with, through to YouView, Freeview and the growth of the EPG as we transitioned to digital TV. Now we’re into the next phase with a focus on streaming, content, and collaboration. Figuring out what kind of business model can be successful at each of those points and how partnerships help drive better outcomes has been fascinating.
Working in the UK is so rewarding as we have this long, deep history of British broadcasting innovation in content and technology and it remains a privilege to be part of that conversation. Working for a US tech company, having led YouView and working in the ads business at Origin gives a totally new perspective.
What piece of advice would you offer someone looking to explore a role similar to yours?
Don’t say no to anything. If something is interesting to you, and it feels important, then do it. And it’s likely that it will lead you on to more and better things in time. So many experiences from across your career provide something in relation to the job you’re in now and will be in the future. For example, if I didn’t have my experience from retail consulting, I wouldn’t have the knowledge and interest in that industry that is necessary to do my job today.
If I could go back in time and gave David Lodge a piece of advice it would probably have been to expand his definition of the Great British Novel – surely Rivals is the true heir to Pride and Prejudice?
