Kerensa Samanidis has long been a familiar and generous presence across the UK OTT community, sharing her expertise through conferences, webinars and consulting engagements. This year she rises to the #1 position in the 50 VOD Professionals ranking for the first time, reflecting both her own contribution to the industry and the central role BBC iPlayer continues to play in UK television. With a new Director-General at the BBC and intensifying competition for audience attention, the year ahead promises to be a pivotal one for both the corporation and iPlayer.

Samanidis joined the BBC in 2023 to take up the newly created role of General Manager, BBC iPlayer, leading strategy, growth and business operations across the service. Working across multiple business areas and stakeholder groups, she has helped guide a platform that recently celebrated its 18th consecutive year of growth in both reach and engagement.

Her career in video began long before OTT became a mainstream term. From devising PlayStation’s first video-on-demand strategy in the early 2000s to developing and implementing Channel 4’s international business, Samanidis has launched and grown a wide range of popular and specialist services across multiple markets.

Prior to joining the BBC, she held senior leadership roles at WarnerMedia, AMC Networks and the BFI, and also ran a successful consultancy whose clients included BritBox International, the BBC and Channel 4.

Few executives can claim such a broad perspective across the evolution of video, from its earliest digital experiments through to today’s highly competitive platform ecosystem. That experience, combined with her leadership of one of the UK’s most important media services, makes Samanidis a fitting choice for this year’s top spot.