Judges 2020

Ben joined DAZN in 2015 as Chief Product Officer. In this role, he oversees all product innovations and new features for the revolutionary sport streaming service that is available on over 96% of devices in all live markets. Prior to DAZN, he was at Amazon as product leader for the Amazon Video Store. Ben has also worked at LOVEFiLM where he was the Digital Product Director launching their streaming video service on web, mobile and TV devices; which was acquired by Amazon. Before this he was at the BBC where he created BBC iPlayer. Ben has been named as one of the top ten technology and Internet innovators in the world by The Observer.

Bhavesh Patel is currently the Chief Digital Officer at beIN Media Group based in Paris. He is working on building their next generation global OTT platform and driving innovation across the group. Prior, Bhavesh was an OTT strategy advisor for CBS Studios International and Verizon Go90, headed up Betfair’s US horserace wagering business, and led the launch of FOX Soccer 2 Go and NBA International League Pass.

Mr Hack is responsible for driving the European Tour’s media and digital strategy creating significant growth in fan engagement across its digital channels. In addition Mr Hack heads up the group strategy function driving strategic alliances with other global golfing organisations and introducing format innovation to the sport. He also sits on the Board of European Tour Productions, which is the world’s largest producer of live golf content.

Louisa has worked at BT (Consumer) since the evolution of BT TV and was heavily involved in the launch of BTSport after BT secured its first set of key rights for the Premier League. Working in Business Development across the BT business, but with a core focus on Sport and TV, Louisa has negotiated commercial agreements with all sizes of partners critical in delivering amazing customer experiences across devices and channels. Building long-term partnerships with rightsholders, broadcast infrastructure suppliers and social media partners with a view to developing new ways to deliver content (Subscription, Free-to-Air, Pay-per-view), whilst bringing value to consumers and the BT TV and BT Sport businesses. Born and raised in the north-east of England but living with her two children in Hertfordshire who keep her on her toes and in touch with what today’s younger consumers demand from content and the viewing experience.

Andrew Hall is Digital Product Director at ATP Media, responsible for the company’s award-winning subscription OTT product, Tennis TV, which offers consumers around the world live HD tennis across mobile, web and streaming devices. The latest incarnation of Tennis TV was launched in time for the 2017 season, and offers subscribers up to 2,000 live matches from 64 ATP tournaments every year as well as on-demand replays, highlights, features and classic matches.

Thierry Pascal has lead the PGA TOUR’s international media business since 2012. Based out of the PGA TOUR headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Thierry manages a team based in the US, London, Beijing and Tokyo. He has overseen the growth of the media business that now worldwide sees PGA TOUR tournaments broadcast to more than 1.1 billion households in 227 countries and territories in 23 languages. Born in London, Thierry has worked in the sports media business for over 20 years, including postings in the UK, Middle East and Singapore with Sportsworld and Parallel Media Group. He joined the PGA TOUR in 2004.

Victoria Cotton is BBC Sport’s Executive Editor for live streaming. She is responsible for the commissioning of content and for further developing the live digital strategy that delivered over 3000 extra hours of live sport to BBC platforms last year. She is also their BBC women’s sport lead and oversees Get Inspired, the BBC Sport’s participation strand.

VP of Strategy & Operations at NFL Media; Gil oversees the Owned & Operated DTC business, including new product development.

Prior to joining the NFL, Gil was a Partner at a top-tier consulting firm in the Media & Entertainment practice, during which he worked with major Hollywood studios, national distributors, major OTT platforms, etc.

Gil’s experience spans internationally having lived and worked in many different countries (UK, Spain, Italy, Israel, Australia, Kenya).

Heading up all content creation for Gfinity, Amanda comes with over 20 years’ experience in the production industry. Prior to joining Gfinity, Amanda was the UFC’s Director of Production across EMEA where she led all original content initiatives and built a world-class production team to deliver every live UFC event across the region.

Prior to that, Amanda was Head of Production Operations for ITV Sport, the UK’s leading terrestrial broadcaster where she was responsible for overseeing the channel’s sports output, including the live coverage of UEFA Champions League, England Internationals, French Open tennis, IPL, Boxing and Motorsport and documentaries including the critically acclaimed Sports Life Stories series.

Hans Gabbe has served as Senior Vice President Sports Rights & Commercialization at Sky Deutschland since February 2016. In this position, he oversees the acquisition of sports rights as well as the Sports Commercialization division, which focuses on the development of alternative revenue models in sports and the strategic utilization and alignment of sports rights. The 44-year-old lawyer played a major role in acquiring the broadcasting rights to the German Bundesliga until 2021, the UEFA Champions League and the German Handball Bundesliga. Gabbe has been with the company since 2004, when he joined Premiere – as it was known at the time – as Junior Manager after completing his studies.

Guy-Laurent Epstein is the Marketing Director of UEFA Events S.A. set up in 2009 as a wholly owned UEFA subsidiary company; it manages the marketing and commercial interests of UEFA.
In 2002, Guy-Laurent joined UEFA as TV & Sponsorship Manager and soon became Head of Marketing Activities. In 2005, he created the Media Rights unit which is responsible for the overall sales of broadcast rights for UEFA competitions. Thereafter in 2010, he was appointed Marketing Director, responsible for the on-going development of all marketing and commercial activities, including brand, media and sponsorship, across all UEFA competitions.

Sky has appointed Nathan Homer as Director of Trading, Broadband & Sports on the company’s NowTV business.

He will lead the commercial trading team, overseeing customer growth and revenue as well as contributing to the business’s overall strategy on sport and on broadband.

Homer’s previous experience includes work on FMCG, finance and sport brands, after spending 14 years at Procter & Gamble where he ran Gillette’s UK business and the 2012 Olympics campaign, “Proud Sponsor of Mums”. He then moved to Barclays’, heading up the bank’s sponsorship portfolio across sport and entertainment propositions, including the Premier League and ATP Tour Finals.

In her role, Marion establishes and nurtures successful distribution partnerships with publishers across the EMEA region. Prior to joining Roku, Marion held senior business development and partnership management positions at several entertainment companies, including: Orange, MK2 and Musiwave. For the majority of her time at Orange Marion was responsible for all content distribution deals with American entertainment studios and major streaming services. Marion holds a master’s degree in Intellectual Property law from the Bordeaux IV University plus a master’s degree in European Business Law from the University of West England.

Sébastien is Head of Sports at Canal OTT, the digital division of Canal+. After 15+ years in linear broadcasting as a host, announcer and editor in chief he joined in 2015 the digital division as the head of the sports department. In this role, he handles all digital content output on social media and on the proprietary platform MyCanal. Two years ago he launched Canal OTT’s first dedicated social talk show, #LePetitDebrief, reviewing the football week live exclusively on Facebook, Twitter and Dailymotion.

Theo started his career as a truly terrible reporter for BBC local radio but had the good fortune of being let go by the Beeb just as a small Californian outfit called Google launched its UK office. At Google, Theo worked at YouTube managing the Major record labels, bringing Channel 4 onto the platform and launched the Queen’s YouTube channel. Seven years and several stone heavier he left the company to head up Digital at Simon Cowell’s production company Syco before leaving Cowell for the bright lights of Twitter where he heads up the sport partnerships team focussed on video monetization. He has no idea how to verify anyone on Twitter (before anyone asks) but will happily speak to you about video opportunities on the platform.

David Arroyo has led the Dorna Digital team since late 2017 covering MotoGP and the entire portfolio of Championships in Dorna Sports. Since then, MotoGP have radically changed their digital content  strategy obtaining record viewing and engagement figures. Having quickly progressed through the Dorna ranks from web editor, Live Content Specialist and a Media Sales Executive, David was from 2015 to 2017 the Media Director for World Superbike, setting up the entire media team from scratch including Content, Communication, TV Production and Media Sales. From 2011 to 2014, David was also part of the team launching the Mobile Advertising business for Telefonica Digital.

Tom is responsible for the strategy and development of Eleven’s digital and OTT offering globally. He oversees ELEVEN’s product launches in new markets and drives platform innovations like the Sports Pro OTT award winning Watch Together tool. A senior leader in digital content and product with over 15 years’ experience, Tom was previously Head of Video at Sky Sports.

Maria leads the strategic development and manages the day-to-day operations of a team of analysts tracking the evolution of global service providers and operators. She created the team while at Screen Digest, now part of IHS Markit, following that acquisition in 2010. Their research on service providers leverages long-standing relationships with operators in all 70+ markets covered by IHS Markit, resulting in the most comprehensive source of television and operator market intelligence in the world.

As Commercial Director, ESPN Europe and Africa, Charlie oversees The Walt Disney Company’s commercial activities in sport across Europe & Africa, as well as leading the ESPN team in London. Charlie has been with ESPN since 2013 in a variety of marketing, commercial and strategy roles, and also serves as a trustee of London Sport as well as on the NSPCC Sports Board.

Prior to joining ESPN, he worked for rights owners the RFU and The FA, looking after some of the most iconic brands in English sport including England Rugby and The FA Cup.

Brian Ring is Principal Analyst at Ring Digital llc, a revenue growth agency that uses consumer surveys to understand viewing behaviors, inform client product strategies and execute go-to-market thought leadership for vendors serving TV providers, networks, studios and broadcasters around the world.

After a career spanning e-commerce start-ups and stints in both B2B and B2C publishing, Charlie joined Seven League in 2015, bringing a wealth of commercial digital experience to the sports sector. He has worked with some of the biggest names in sport and entertainment across a variety of projects including devising overall digital strategies; monetising digital channels; selling digital sponsorship; specifying, procuring and delivering digital products; evaluating and improving content performance; devising localisation strategies; planning esports market entry strategies and advising on organisational and team composition.