Media Lifeline: Dan Brooke

August 1998: Dan Brooke had moved on from his job as an account director at St Luke's to become the marketing director of Paramount Comedy Channel in 1997. He soon becomes known as the king of cunning stunts (he basically dresses up in silly costumes and disrupts news interviews outside Parliament), thus attracting the attention of Channel 4, which makes him the head of marketing and development for its pay-TV services in 1998.

March 2003: In 2001, Brooke becomes the general manager of E4, where he co-develops the channel's creative output. In 2003, he becomes the controller of all C4's digital channels, tasked with building a family of channels including E4, Film4 and More4.

August 2005: Brooke's progress had not gone unnoticed at Discovery Networks Europe, which now lures him to become the general manager of its UK operations, replacing David Abraham following his move to Discovery in the US. Brooke is to oversee all programming, production, development and operations for Discovery's nine UK television brands including the Discovery Channel, Discovery Travel & Living and Discovery Home & Health.

January 2009: He is given an expanded role in 2008, becoming the vice-president and managing director of Discovery Networks UK. So his sudden departure in January 2009 comes as something of a shock. He subsequently reappears as the managing director of Rare Day, an independent production company with a track record in making programmes for the BBC and Channel 4.

October 2010: He returns to Channel 4, having been handed the newly created role of director of marketing and communications. He will join in early 2011, reporting to the chief executive, Abraham, a former boss of St Luke's before he joined Discovery.

Fast forward ...

January 2012: As traditional spot advertising revenues continue to dry up, extended sponsorship deals and ad-funded programming are becoming an ever-more important facet of the broadcasting economy - and the smaller, defter advertising agencies are well placed to take a lead role. So it's no surprise to see Brooke landing the managing director's role at a new production company set up by ... St Luke's.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk