James Dolan, a YouTube and social video specialist who has held senior positions at ITV Studios and Little Dot, has launched a new venture, Beam Digital.
Beam Digital has two main areas of activity: advising organisations, rights owners and content creators on their digital strategies, and working with selected IP and brands to build out their digital worlds, with a particular focus on YouTube.
From launch, Beam will work with partners on anything from creating a clear digital strategy and setting up and managing YouTube channels to mining libraries or re-packaging content and implementing activities that find and build communities.
The new company will also offer practical training sessions and workshops that enable organisations such as production companies to seamlessly migrate team members to new digital workstreams. This will help companies maintain full control of their IP and ensure they can readily spot and maximise opportunities.
Beam Digital’s approach is built on Dolan’s experience as a YouTube/social video-first executive. As digital channels director in the commercial arm of ITV Studios, he led the digital content team, overseeing the distribution and monetisation of a 90,000-hour catalogue and managing a portfolio of 140+ digital and social channels.
Dolan has also worked as a consultant. Notable recent projects include an extended period with All3Media International, where he created a detailed social media playbook and guidelines for international format licensees and broadcasters keen to get maximum value and engagement from their adaptations of The Traitors.
Dolan said: “With the blinkers well and truly removed as to the opportunities on YouTube and social platforms, the content industry is experiencing a bit of a gold rush moment – but we don’t want anyone to get burned. At Beam Digital, our focus is on building long-term, sustainable activity with partners and clients. We do this by starting with audience and data-led strategies to establish sound foundations and then make sure we identify and nurture direct relationships with engaged and loyal communities.”
Dolan added that Beam’s goal is to not just to help individual companies earning as much revenue as possible. “With changing business models, new ways of engaging audiences and a dropping off in TV commissions, there is growing unemployment in the traditional side of the content business. If we can help stem job losses by re-training people in production companies and distributors, for example, and simultaneously help meet the growing demand for expert digital channel managers, it’s a win-win situation for individuals, companies and the evolving industry as a whole”.
