Viacom Inc has appointed David Lynn as president and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN).
Lynn is currently President of VIMN’s operations in the UK, Northern and Eastern Europe, encompassing more than 30 territories which also include Australia and New Zealand.
As CEO of VIMN, he will have management oversight of all of Viacom’s media networks and related businesses outside the US. Lynn will report to Bob Bakish, whom he replaces as CEO of VIMN following Bakish’s promotion to become president and CEO of Viacom Inc last month.
Lynn will be based in London but will also work regularly out of VIMN’s offices in New York.
Lynn was promoted to president for Viacom International Media Networks in the UK, Northern and Eastern Europe in 2014, having been EVP, managing director since March 2007. In the time he has been running the business, Viacom’s UK operations have substantially increased investment in local content and grown their share of UK TV viewing more than threefold.
Lynn has management responsibility for the largest of Viacom’s geographic divisions outside the US and played the leading role in the acquisition of Channel 5 Broadcasting in 2014.
Viacom reports that under his management, Channel 5 has performed strongly, delivering its highest ever operating profit in its latest financial year (to September 30, 2016) and growing its portfolio share amongst 16- to 34-year-old viewers by 9%.