STV taps ITV's Rufus Radcliffe as its new CEO

STV Group announced the appointment of Rufus Radcliffe as its new chief executive officer on Friday, effective 1 November.

The London-listed broadcaster said Radcliffe would join the board and take over from Simon Pitts, who was stepping down on 31 October.

Radcliffe was joining STV from ITV, where he served most recently as managing director of streaming, interactive and data until April.

During his 13-year tenure at ITV, Radcliffe played a significant role in the company's digital transformation, notably spearheading the development and launch of the ITVX streaming service in December 2022.

He also led ITV's interactive business and was instrumental in shaping the group-wide data strategy.

Before his leadership in streaming, Radcliffe served as ITV's chief marketing officer, where he oversaw direct-to-consumer operations and led the marketing launch of BritBox.

His career at ITV also included a stint as group marketing and research director.

“The board is delighted to welcome Rufus to lead STV following a competitive selection process involving some of the best leadership talent in the UK media industry,” said chair Paul Reynolds.

“We now embark on the next phase of STV's exciting growth journey as a digital first, content-led business and Rufus brings with him a rare breadth of strategic and operational expertise from his previous significant industry roles.

“We very much look forward to working with him.”

Prior to joining ITV, Radcliffe worked at Channel 4 for nine years, eventually becoming controller of marketing.

During his time there, he contributed to the launch of E4 and the network's first streaming service, 4OD.

Radcliffe's appointment followed Simon Pitts' decision to step down, as announced in March.

“STV is a great brand with an enviable track record of making high quality, must-watch content and has a strong relationship with viewers and advertisers,” commented Rufus Radcliffe.

“I'm thrilled to be joining and cannot wait to work with everyone at STV to build on the tremendous success and growth of the past few years.”

At 0810 BST, shares in STV Group were up 3.88% at 268p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.