ITV poaches FremantleMedia executive Paul Kanareck

ITV has appointed Paul Kanareck, an executive at The X Factor maker FremantleMedia, to its newly created role of director of brands.

Kanareck led FremantleMedia's expansion into video gaming, including the acquisition of Canadian development studio Ludia in October last year.

Over the past four years, he has helped develop a range of gaming properties based on FremantleMedia brands such as The Price Is Right and Family Feud.

He will now work across ITV's business under a new initiative called Total Value, designed to "maximise commercial returns from programme brands across multiple platforms."

Reporting to ITV managing director of commercial and online Fru Hazlitt, Kanareck will collaborate closely with commissioning, sales, merchandising, production and licensing.

"Paul's appointment is an important step towards our goal to become an ITV that can create world-class content, executed across multiple platforms and sold around the world," Hazlitt said.

"Paul is a hugely talented individual and an experienced commercial operator and I look forward to welcoming him on board to lead and strengthen this new way of working across the company."

Commenting on his new job, Kanareck said: "There is significant opportunity to build new business models from ITV's current and future programme brands and to find new ways for different parts of the company to collaborate."

Kanareck was previously managing director of TV Nation and head of strategy for Channel 4's defunct sales arm, Channel 4 International.

His appointment at ITV is part of the broadcaster's transformation plan, which last year helped triple pre-tax profits to £321 million.

In January, ITV appointed former Viacom executive Jean-Philippe Randisi to maximise the value of ITV Studios Global Entertainment's intellectual property portfolio.