Tulin Ulkutay Eris is new head of business at BBC Children’s and Education

Tulin Ulkutay Eris is to join the BBC as head of business for the Salford-headquartered BBC Children’s and Education.

Ulkutay Eris will take over the new role in September and be responsible for overseeing the Children’s and Education business and commercial strategy, with a particular focus on increasing the value to audiences and return of investments. She will oversee Children’s and Education departmental budgets, and lead the department's production management and operations teams.

Ulkutay Eris’ experience covers both the commercial and creative sides of the children’s media industry. She specialises in global children’s IPs and character brands and their regional positioning, strategy, management and monetisation through licensing, distribution, marketing and sales across traditional and digital platforms.

Her career began in advertising, at McCann Erickson, before joining the London-based family business, Ulkutay Creative. Here she gained in-depth experience servicing the licensing and entertainment industries worldwide. Clients she worked closely with at Ulkutay included Disney, Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network (CN), LEGO, Kellogg's, BBC, Rainbow and Hasbro.

She was also senior creative producer at Cartoon Network Studios in Abu Dhabi, helping to create original content for the Middle Eastern, North African and Turkish regions. She executive produced the local Turkish Cartoon Network animated series ‘Kral Sakir’ for four seasons. It became the top-rated show on Cartoon Network in the region.

Ulkutay Eris is presently commercial director at Bidaya Media, one of the leading children’s content production companies in MENA, best known for producing Iftah Ya Simsim (Sesame Street) and Mansour in the region. Here she is responsible for all commercial initiatives such as licensing and merchandising, distribution and syndication, events, outreach and across digital platforms.

She says: “I am thrilled to be joining BBC Children’s and Education, a department with such deep-rooted cultural history, at such an exciting time in its journey. It will be a privilege to help carry the light forward into the digital age, whilst continuing to uphold the mission to 'inform, educate and entertain' children of all ages, through world-class content.”