Lara Izlan — Director of Data Strategy at ITV

ITV has appointed Lara Izlan as Director of Data Strategy, a senior leadership role focused on shaping how the UK's largest commercial broadcaster leverages data assets across its advertising and content businesses. This appointment is part of a broader set of data and AI leadership hires announced by ITV, signaling a strategic push to build out sophisticated data capabilities as the broadcaster navigates the ongoing shift from linear to streaming-led viewing. Izlan's role will be central to ITV's efforts to monetise its first-party data from ITVX, its streaming platform, which has grown significantly in registered users and represents a key asset in ITV's advertising proposition. The appointment reflects ITV's recognition that data strategy is now a core competitive differentiator in the broadcaster advertising market. With ITVX accumulating a large base of logged-in users, ITV has a substantial first-party data asset that can be used to offer advertisers audience targeting, measurement, and attribution capabilities that rival those of digital-native platforms. Izlan's role as Director of Data Strategy positions her to lead the development and commercialisation of these capabilities, working across advertising sales, technology, and product teams. This move is significant in the context of the broader UK and European CTV and broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) landscape, where identity and first-party data have become critical as third-party cookies are deprecated and privacy regulations tighten. ITV joins Channel 4, Sky, and other European public and commercial broadcasters in investing heavily in data leadership to compete more effectively with global streaming and digital advertising platforms.

This leadership appointment reinforces a clear industry trend: traditional broadcasters are aggressively investing in data and AI talent to close the gap with digital-native advertising platforms. For the AdTech ecosystem, ITV's strengthened data leadership has several implications. First, it signals that ITVX's first-party data will be more systematically packaged and offered to advertisers, potentially making ITV a stronger competitor in the premium CTV and addressable TV advertising market in the UK. Second, it may accelerate ITV's development of or participation in clean room technologies, data collaboration frameworks, and identity solutions that allow advertisers to match their own customer data with ITV's viewer data in a privacy-compliant manner. Third, the appointment could influence how ITV engages with the broader programmatic and data ecosystem, including DSPs, DMPs, and measurement vendors. Competitors such as Channel 4, Sky (now part of Comcast), and the BBC will be watching closely, as the race to build robust data propositions among UK broadcasters intensifies. For advertisers and agencies, a more data-sophisticated ITV means richer targeting and measurement options within a brand-safe, premium environment, which could shift some budget from social and digital platforms back toward broadcaster inventory.