David Eilenberg, the chief creative officer at ITV America, is joining Roku in April as the company’s Head of Originals, Roku said Friday. He’ll oversee original content for Roku’s free ad-supported streaming service The Roku Channel.
Eilenberg will report to Roku programming VP Rob Holmes.
“Throughout his remarkable career, David has pioneered compelling television that has resonated with audiences around the world,” Holmes said in a statement. “With millions of streamers demonstrating there is a strong appetite for original programming on The Roku Channel, it is the perfect time to welcome one of the most experienced and well-respected creative executives in the business to oversee the next exciting phase for Roku Originals, while also helping us further establish The Roku Channel as a destination for users to watch great free original programming and advertisers to reach scaled audiences only available in streaming.”
“I am thrilled and honored to be tapped to lead Roku Originals during this incredibly dynamic phase of its evolution,” Eilenberg said in a statement. “Roku’s culture of innovation and relentless focus on creating the best possible experiences for viewers make it a natural home to launch terrific original series, and I look forward to finding and nurturing those series under Rob’s leadership and with the exemplary team he has built. I’m also immensely grateful to David George, Adam Sher, Danielle Bibbo and all my colleagues at ITV America for an incredible six years of teamwork and creativity, and I expect to remain in business together in my new capacity.”
Eilenberg will work to expand Roku Original’s programming slate domestically and in international territories.
Current Roku executives Colin Davis, head of Scripted Originals at Roku, and Brian Tannenbaum, head of Alternative Originals at Roku, will report to Eilenberg.
The Roku Channel was launched in 2017 and currently reaches U.S. households with an estimated 80 million people. It licenses and distributes content from more than 250 partners, but its originals currently comprise half of the top 10 on-demand titles on the platform, the company reports.
Last year, the company acquired Quibi’s library, including Kevin Hart’s series “Die Hart.”
At ITV, Eilenberg oversaw six production labels – ITV Entertainment, Leftfield Pictures, Sirens Media, Thinkfactory Media, High Noon Entertainment and Good Caper Content. Among the many series he has spearheaded are Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” and ABC’s “The Chase.”
Prior to ITV, Eilenberg was senior vice president of unscripted development, late night and specials at Turner, overseeing “King of the Nerds,” “Cold Justice,” and Conan O’Brien’s late night talk show. Before that he was head of development and current programming for Mark Burnett Productions where he helped develop and produce “The Voice,” “Shark Tank” and “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?”