NBC News has announced that ITV executive Julian March will join the company as senior VP of editorial and innovation in early 2014.
March is currently director of online for the U.K.'s largest commercial broadcaster, the ITV.
As part of a plan to further integrate the broadcast TV news and digital operations, March will have responsibility for all digital businesses, including NBCNews.com, and the news division's editorial units.
He will also be charged with "driving innovation in all its forms across all platforms," NBC News reported in making the announcement.
March will report to Deborah Turness, president of NBC News, who took that post in August after having served as editor of ITV News in the U.K.
"Julian is the perfect person for this exciting new strategic and editorial role," explained Turness in a memo to the staff. "He is not only a talented, extremely capable and dynamic journalist with decades of television news experience, he's also a proven digital leader and innovator with a very unique understanding of the intersection of broadcast news and digital. And he has the right leadership skills to drive new ways to collaborate and help lead us through the transition, reshaping the way we produce and deliver our news and storytelling on all platforms and devices."
In a statement, March called the appointment an "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," adding that "news is the nexus of storytelling and technology -- and nowhere else is innovation more important right now. As the competition for our audience's attention and trust becomes fiercer, we must find more effective ways to tell our stories."
Prior to ITV, where March was responsible for network’s entire online business, he spent 11 years at Sky News.
