BBC Advertising hires media sales veteran Katy Xu as Greater China sales director

Xu (pictured) replaces Michael Rees, who has relocated to Singapore as BBC Advertising’s regional director for Singapore and Korea. Based in Hong Kong, Xu will also be responsible for BBC Advertising’s business in the Phillipines and will report to Sunita Rajan, senior vice-president of sales in Asia.

The products she will be selling are BBC World News, BBC.com and mobile, Lonely Planet and the BBC Knowledge TV channel. The key client focus includes tourism and airlines, banking, financial services and luxury products.

Xu brings to BBC advertising extensive experience in digital media, internet marketing, international broadcasting and integrated selling.

Key achievements over her 12 years in international media include the first international advertising campaigns by Chinese brands such as Haier and Huawei, Huawei's sponsorship of the broadcast of 2012 London Olympics on Eurosport and Haier's sponsorship of the MTV Asia Awards in 2006.

Xu's recent positions include regional account director, Asia-Pacific, at Eurosport for almost three years, where she was in charge of the group advertising revenue generated from advertisers in Greater China, Thailand and Singapore. She put together integrated Eurosport media solutions including TV, digital and events.

Prior to Eurosport, she has been a global sales manager with Microsoft and an account director for MTV Asia.

"With vast experience in both pan-regional TV and digital, Katy is well poised to drive growth for our business from these markets with her expertise in multi-screen and content solutions, ad sales and her added knowledge and fluency in Mandarin," Rajan said.