MUMBAI: Ben Silverman‘s multimedia studio Electus, an operating business of IAC IACI, has announced that Chris Grant will join the company as CEO effective 1 November.

In his new role, Grant will take responsibility for the company‘s next phase of growth across Global TV, digital and branded entertainment.

Grant‘s strengths in advertising and international distribution,
acquisition and production will also serve as a launching pad for Electus‘ domestic television agenda.
 
Grant will report directly to founder Silverman who will continue to oversee all aspects of Electus including creative opportunities and expansion strategies amongst the company‘s studio partners CollegeHumor, Notional, DumbDumb, Electus Distribution, 5x5 Media, DiGa and myriad of television and digital projects.

Drew Buckley, COO of Electus will expand his role, taking responsibility for all operations including digital, advertising, finance, mergers and acquisitions and managing the company‘s Yahoo, Microsoft and Google relationships. Buckley will be partnered with Grant and will report directly to Silverman.

Silverman said, "With Drew Buckley and Chris Grant‘s individual experience, relationships and skill sets, Electus will continue to drive forward our ambitious content strategy across platforms as well as our overall vision to become the only true, nimble independent studio."

Grant said, "Once I join Electus, I expect to collaborate with Ben and Drew to aggressively seek out and acquire U.S. and U.K. companies who can create international productions that live and thrive on a variety of platforms and that can leverage Electus‘ distribution model."0

Grant previously served as Shine International president, the global sales and distribution arm responsible for distributing programming from the Shine Group companies, including Reveille, Kudos, Dragonfly, Princess Productions, Brown Eyed Boy, Shine TV, Shine France, Shine Germany, Shine Australia and Metronome, the Nordic region‘s production group.

During Grant‘s tenure at Shine International, non-scripted formats including MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and The Moment of Truth became global television brands, broke ratings records across multiple territories; while scripted successes have included The Listener, a successful co-production between NBC, Fox International Channels and CTV in Canada where the show is entering its‘ third season, and Archer, a hit FX series which, despite its adult animation format, has done exceptionally well all over the globe.

Earlier in his career, Grant was MD at Reveille, the production and distribution company focussing on exploiting worldwide intellectual property rights through scripted and alternative television formats that was founded by Silverman.