Thomas Watts

Publicist @BBC

Salford, GB

Led the BBC Director-General’s high-profile visit to the North East to promote the BBC’s £25m commitment to the region – securing meetings with 2 Metro Mayors, North East Screen, 25 production companies, and 10 on-screen celebrities- Organised BBC Radio 2 in the Park 2024’s full week of press activities – achieving over 200 online/print articles with 27 world-leading presenters/musicians. My campaign boosted the overall attendance to over festival goers- Launched the high-profile promotion of the BBC’s Bristol Economic Impact Report – which showcased how the BBC boosted the city’s screen sector by 75%. Achieved over 848k online views and contacted over 140 opinion formers – including MPs, the Metro Mayor, the City Mayor etc- Promoted BBC Local’s brand-new investigation The New Drug Threat – achieving a coverage reach of over 5 million, a linear audience of over 1.2 million (9.4%share), and inciting Lord Alton to table a question at the house of Lords to tackle Chinese drugs- Organised Waterloo Road’s red-carpet screening in Stockport – securing over 150 press articles, 10 broadcast interviews, and achieved an online reach of 1.8 million. This boosted the total linear viewership to approx. 4.6 million.