Ian McDonough

Ian brings considerable knowledge and experience of delivering growth and value in the global media sector. His core expertise is in building high-value and commercially innovative partnerships.

During his five years at BBC Worldwide, he rose to become Executive Vice President and General Manager for one of seven global regions. Most recently, Ian covered the UK, Ireland, Nordic and Baltic countries as Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Turner (formerly Turner Broadcasting). He previously held senior commercial posts at A&E Europe and Viacom Asia.

Ian McDonough said the following on his LinkedIn profile: I strive to be a strategic, entrepreneurial leader and have track record of consistently delivering double digit revenue growth, enterprise value, innovation, partnerships and successful investment in content across global markets.

I am CEO of the multi-award winning, publicly quoted, technology company Blackbird plc. Achievements to date including relaunching, refinancing, rebranding and repositioning the world-leading cloud-native video editing and publishing platform, Blackbird, as a remote production solution to global media companies and most recently turning Blackbird into a global tech licensor.

During my tenure I have led three successful multi million pound fund raises, and established Blackbird as a premium brand with an A list clientele used on global sports and news events including the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cups, Ryder Cup and Tennis Grand Slams. Our technology is packaged and licensed to global broadcast companies. Our new product elevate.io is aimed at shifting the paradigm for creators.

Until April 2017 I led the largest and most profitable of Turner’s international businesses winning six BAFTAs (including Children’s Channel of the Year), secured external local funding for an international animation production and driven world-first Time Warner partnerships with Warner Bros and HBO.

In March 2016 led the negotiation of an extended and improved 5-year affiliate partnership with Sky UK, which secured carriage of all of Turner’s channels and on demand content in 10 million Sky TV households until 2020 and securing Turner as a key partner on the Sky Kids app. This was followed by a similar long-term and improved partnership with Virgin Media.

Was selected to attend Harvard Business School in 2016, which was transformational. Also a strong believer in investing in the team’s skills and personal development enrolling them in courses in leadership negotiation and M&A.

Prior to Turner delivered 5 years of record-breaking growth at BBC Worldwide leading the EMEA and latterly CEMA regions, launching businesses in Italy, Africa, Poland and the Nordic. Successfully invested in local production winning two SAFTA.

A global citizen who has lived and worked successfully in China, Romania, Poland, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Although each country has many unique attributes and challenges, an open mind, professionalism and respect for others invariably yields success.

Identified by the BBC as one of the top three executive talents and by Viacom as one of 10 ‘Future Global Leaders’.