Gfinity poaches Mark Brittain from Simon Cowell's SYCO

Esports promoter Gfinity appointed Mark Brittain as its new chief commercial officer on Friday, joining the company from his previous position as global head of commercial at Simon Cowell’s production vehicle SYCO Entertainment.

The AIM-traded firm said that during his time at SYCO, Brittain was “instrumental” in delivering multi million pound revenue deals and was involved in the implementation of the X Factor tour, which sold over three million tickets and remained the UK's longest running music tour.

During its last season, X Factor had nine commercial partners and Gfinity said Brittain closed deals with more than 50 brand partners, and secured more than 30 licensing deals.

Over the last 12 years, he worked on some of the world's biggest entertainment properties such as American Idol, X Factor, Got Talent, 1Direction, Spice Girls, David Beckham and Andy Murray.

“Securing Mark's services is a real coup for us,” said Gfinity chief executive Neville Upton.

“His experience with brands such as X-Factor and the Got Talent series, which have led the way in creating commercial rights around broadcast content, will be invaluable in helping Gfinity secure strategic partnerships and drive long term revenue growth.”

In his new role at Gfinity, Brittain would be responsible for forging new commercial partnerships with brands intent on increasing their exposure to the rapidly growing audience that was moving away from traditional media channels, Gfinity explained.

The audience for esports was forecast to rise to 385 million during 2017, the board claimed, comprising 191 million esports ‘enthusiasts', with a further 194 million occasional viewers who would watch larger international events.

“[Brittain’s] decision to choose Gfinity over a number of other offers is a further endorsement of the potential of the esports market and of Gfinity's place within it,” Upton added.

Photo : SYCO Entertainment / Twitter