BBC iPlayer Ben Lavender joins disruptive online streaming platform Lounges.tv

Ben Lavender, a man once credited with “saving the BBC”, has backed a disruptive new online streaming platform, Lounges.tv.

The former founder of BBC iPlayer is a Board Advisor for Lounges.tv and will assist in formulating the revolutionary platform’s strategy as the brand seeks to give content creators a fair chance for their talent to be noticed, and most importantly, to be more quickly financially rewarded.

Lavender, from Letchworth Garden City, is best known as the creator of BBC iPlayer. He fondly recalls presenting the idea to the BBC’s Executive Committee. “I pitched it to them, they gave me a round of applause and the Director General [Greg Dyke] said ‘you saved the BBC’,” he says.

Lavender later led the design and development of LOVEFiLM’s video streaming service to launch in the UK and Germany, a project that led directly to LOVEFiLM being acquired by Amazon, laying the groundwork for what would later become Prime Video.

He served as the Principal Product Manager for Amazon Instant Video, before moving to DAZN where he was the Chief Product Officer, leading the product from start-up to launch in nine countries. A key early player in the streaming service dubbed “the Netflix of sport”, Lavender was the sixth member of staff to join, enabling him to hire the best team he could assemble to action his vision for the platform.

After six years at DAZN, Lavender joined industry disruptor Lounges.tv. Initially setting out to help, contribute and shape the idea in its formative stages, Lavender stayed on to become more heavily involved. Alongside Lounges.tv’s co-founder and CEO, Scott Green, he was a key member of the team who pitched the platform to global music mogul Simon Cowell, who has also backed Lounges.tv.

Looking to address long-standing issues in the industry, Lounges.tv provides a fairer and faster way for content creators to monetise their content online, ensuring they get to keep 80 per cent of all their streaming income, and are rapidly paid within 24 hours of their on-demand content or live stream.

Catering to a diverse range of creators, from musicians and comedians to fitness trainers, Lounges.tv offers them a space to share exclusive content with fans through live interactive and video-on-demand streaming. The platform also offers a free streaming space in North London for creators to produce content, with professional cameras, audio and a sound and stream engineer on hand.

Thousands of creators have already signed up to the ad-free platform, which, in addition to Cowell and Lavender, is backed also by iconic musician Prince’s former manager Kiran Sharma.

Ben Lavender, creator of BBC iPlayer and equity stakeholder of Lounges.tv, comments: “I am delighted to be involved with Lounges.tv. It’s a platform that resonates with me, having worked extensively in the video streaming industry for a number of years. Now that Lounges.tv has Cowell’s backing, the platform can really kick on and continue to make inroads in the streaming industry.

“I see Lounges.tv as a case of democratising people who could not otherwise get involved. My wife was a professional dancer and her friends still in the business invested in Lounges.tv before they even found out I was involved, so it ticked two boxes for them. There are a lot of people in the industry who are excited about this and sense that the future is bright for content creators.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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