Mike Beale Moves Up at ITV Studios

ITV Studios has elevated Mike Beale to managing director for the Nordics and global creative networks, a newly created position that is effective next month.

Beale will manage ITV Studios’ expanding Nordic production business, which includes ITV Studios Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark-based United. The managing directors of each of the Nordic production labels will report to Beale. He will also continue to oversee the company’s global formats strategy, collaborating with all of ITV Studios’ production labels on the international exploitation of the non-scripted catalog.

Beale was first hired by ITV Studios in 2011 as director of international formats. He became executive VP of global development and formats last year. Earlier in his career, he was VP of international television production at NBCUniversal. In 2001, he co-founded 12 Yard Productions, which is now part of ITV Studios.

Maria Kyriacou, the president of ITV Studios International, noted: “Exploiting our formats around the world is central to our strategy and Mike will continue to spearhead this important business, building on the fantastic growth him and his team have already achieved. His expertise will also be a vital resource for our brilliant Nordic businesses as they grow in their individual markets and, under Mike’s leadership, work in tandem to make the most of the shared opportunities the region offers.”

Beale added: “I’ve always worked closely with the Nordic market in my international capacity, so it makes creative as well as business sense for me to step up my role in the region. We have a fantastic family of production companies, across the four countries, who are behind a wealth of original formats. Our goal is to work more closely together as a region to use their collective expertise to grow the wider business.”