North, who was formerly head of sport marketing, replaces Jacky Brandreth, who was promoted to head of marketing, communications and audiences for nations and regions earlier this year.
He will be responsible for the strategic development of five BBC programming genres - BBC Sport, BBC News, BBCi, Specialist Factual and BBC Learning.
He will take charge of the marketing of their core output, which accounts for a substantial proportion of the BBC's marketing spend, as well as about 30 staff.
Duncan described it as a "meaty portfolio" and said there were a number of big marketing challenges ahead, not least in sport, where the BBC expects to have a bumper 12 months in 2004. The year includes the Olympic Games, Euro 2004 and Sports Relief as well as the 50th anniversary of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.
He will also be responsible for the future strategic direction of BBC News in the wake of the Hutton enquiry. And with BBC Learning, he will steer the development of the digital learning curriculum project, due to launch in 2005 with a budget of £150m over five years.
But perhaps his biggest challenge lies with BBCi, and the government's investigation into the BBC's online services, led by former Trinity Mirror chief executive Philip Graf.
This week the British Internet Publishers Alliance accused the BBC of breaking promises made to the government regarding its online services in 1998. In particular, it says the BBC is spending five times its proposed annual budget of £21m and that web sections such as Celebdaq and Fightbox do not meet the promised focus on education.
As head of sports marketing, North was responsible for last year's BBC World Cup campaign, which featured Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen in a Japanese-style animated execution.
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