The UK’s Top 7 Leading Women in Streaming Media
Four of our top female leaders in streaming media
By Heather Roy
We wanted to find out who the UK’s leading women are in streaming media.
But we couldn’t find an answer.
We think our Google search skills are pretty hot but we kept getting ‘women in tech’ results, or were directed to a US article.
With streaming becoming increasingly popular, especially over the past year, and time spent watching broadcast television on the decline, we decided to pull a list together of some of the women who are leading the way this side of the pond in UK streaming media - and by ‘streaming media’ we mean video on-demand / SVOD / platforms like Netflix and what have you.
The list is ordered alphabetically:
Georgia Brown. Director of European Originals, Amazon Studios
Image: Edinburgh TV Festival
Georgia Brown is a former TV executive who joined the world of streaming and is now Director of European Originals at Amazon Studios.
Before moving into streaming, her experience in television included roles at FremantleMedia and BBC Worldwide. Since joining Amazon, Brown built a team at the London Prime Video HQ as well as expanding the team in the rest of Europe.
Growing and overseeing a portfolio of content, Georgia has helped bring popular British shows like King Lear to audiences in the US on the streaming service, Amazon Prime Video.
Jay Hunt. Creative Director, Europe, Worldwide Video, Apple
Image: Screen Daily
Beginning her career in television in 1989, Hunt worked as a researcher at the BBC before moving on to become an executive producer at the company in 2002.
In the last 15 years she has made her mark in the world of public service broadcasting having worked for Channel 5, and as Chief Creative Officer at Channel 4 where she commissioned enormously successful shows including Catastrophe, Gogglebox, Black Mirror and Hunted.
Despite her success in leading roles, Hunt is aware that her situation is largely atypical. In 2015, during her time at Channel 4, she pointed out the media industry’s innate inequality issues:
“It makes me sad that it isn’t the sort of industry women think they can forge a big and successful career in, and I hope in some small way the fact that I’m still here shows you can.”
Leaving Channel 4 in 2017, Hunt moved to Apple where she is now Europe’s Creative Director for Apple’s worldwide video service, Apple TV+. Her move to Apple reflects the increasing crossover between traditional broadcasting and streaming and is indicative of the kind of space that the tech company is aiming to carve out for itself in the streaming business.
Fiona Lamptey. Director of UK Features, Netflix
Image: Netflix
As a recipient of a BFI Vision Award in 2020, Fiona Lamptey is Netflix’s Director of UK Features.
According to Variety, Lamptey spent 13 years at Channel 4 and Film4 working on films including Attack The Block before launching her own production company, Fruit Tree Media, in 2013 to champion underrepresented voices and stories.
In 2019, Lamptey was identified as a future leader in film through Film London’s leadership initiative.
Head of Netflix film, Scott Stuber said that Fiona has been “widely recognised for developing underrepresented stories and talent, and has quickly made her mark on the UK film industry.” Lamptey added that she is “eager to continue championing fresh, arresting and provocative ideas, where both new and established voices are empowered to tell their stories.”
Lucy Leveugle. Director of EMEA Nonfiction Originals, Netflix
Image: C4
Working as a showrunner on series 1 of The Undateables, Leveugle went on to serve as Commissioning Editor and Acting Head of Factual Entertainment at Channel 4 for 6 years.
During her time at Channel 4 she commissioned popular series including Child Genius and Alone at Home and oversaw a wide catalogue of content including The Billion Pound Hotel and Inside the Ku Klux Klan.
After an exec reshuffle at Channel 4, Leveugle was hired by Netflix in 2018. Her initial role focused on EMEA unscripted content and documentary series but since 2020 she has been Netflix’s Director of EMEA Nonfiction Originals.
Alex Mahon. CEO, Channel 4
Image: C4
Maybe we’re bending the rules slightly here, but with Channel 4’s popular All 4 streaming service - the UK’s largest free streaming service, as Channel 4 claims - we reckon that the broadcaster’s CEO, Alex Mahon, should be included in this list.
As the company’s CEO - and the first female CEO of a major UK broadcaster - it feels wrong to exclude her, not least because in her five year strategy for the company Mahon stated that a key focus of the company is to “accelerate its pivot to digital and significantly increase both streaming of Channel 4 content and new revenues.”
Mahon’s dedication to ensuring Channel 4’s embrace of digital over the last 4 years, and her focus in diversity and inclusion within the company, were recognised by Variety who named her as the recipient of their 2020 International Achievement in Television Award.
Reemah Sakaan. CEO, BritBox
Image: TVBEurope
Reemah Saakan has a background at the BBC where she worked as Head of Marketing for BBC One and the Beeb’s drama and film portfolios. She then moved over to ITV as its Director Of Marketing & Media where she relaunched ITV’s video-on-demand service, later becoming Chief Creative Officer of BritBox.
Since 2016, Saakan has worked her way up and was recently appointed CEO at BritBox and is spearheading the service’s goal of becoming a global brand with an expansion into 25 territories.
With a team of around 100, Saakan is the embodiment of what it means to be a leading woman at the forefront of streaming media.
Marina Storti. Managing Director, NOW
Image: Sky
Marina Storti’s work in the media industry over the past 20 years has placed her firmly on our list.
With 19 years in various roles at Sky, Marina is now the Managing Director at NOW - the streaming service operated by Sky and what you might know as NOW TV (it recently lost the ‘TV’ in a rebrand).
Working as Deputy Director of Strategy at Sky, 2017 saw Marina take up the role of Strategy and Proposition Director at NOW where she was responsible for establishing and building distribution and content partners, and ensuring a clear and long-term strategy for NOW.
In May 2019, Storti was promoted to NOW’s Managing Director and has since been responsible for all aspects of the streaming business.