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Channel 4’s former sales chief Matt Salmon has joined Snap Inc as a commercial director to lead its UK advertising business.

Salmon will lead the UK vertical and category teams at the owner of social media network Snapchat – a key sales leadership role that nurtures relationships with top advertisers and their agency partners.

Salmon returns to a full-time industry leadership role after leaving Channel 4 towards the end of 2020 and taking time off, as well as doing some consulting work.

He spent eight years at the public service broadcaster, where he had risen to interim sales director, which he described as being like “a caretaker manager role”, before handing over the baton to chief revenue officer Veriça Djurdjevic.

Salmon also spent more than 11 years at Hearst Magazines, where he rose to group commercial director.

He joins the EMEA arm of Snap, a business that reported a 77% increase in global revenue to $2.8bn in the first nine months of 2021. The global business is still loss-making (with a net loss of $511m over the same reporting period), but its adjusted Ebitda improved by 209% to $174m in Q3 2021.

In Europe, Snap Inc reported revenue of $561m in the 12 months to 30 September 2021, a substantial year-on-year increase on the $349m that it reported in the 12 months to 30 September 2020.

Salmon said he was “delighted to be joining Snap Inc at this key moment in their expansion”.

“Snapchat offers a hugely exciting and innovative opportunity for brands and I am looking forward to leveraging my broadcast experience to further develop our existing commercial partnerships and bring new clients to the platform,” he said.

When asked by ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 what attracted him to Snap, he added: “I wanted my next role to be at a business that at its heart was about technology for good and I was especially attracted by Snap's culture and values. I have long admired Snap's pioneering leadership in the AR space alongside its privacy first ethos so having the chance to help further grow the UK opportunity was a major attraction for me.

"Snap's Discover platform was another huge draw for me. My broadcast experience has seen me work with the UK's largest brands and agencies, partnering them to get the best results from their video investment and create meaningful partnerships. So I am excited to leverage this experience at Snap.”

Salmon will report to UK general manager Ed Couchman, who said: “Thanks to his tenure at Channel 4, Matt has a deep understanding of, and passion for, the TV broadcast market, which will help us to further build on Snap's strong momentum in the online video market.

“This, combined with his proven track record in advertising and reputational success, means we will be able to offer our clients even more value and insights to drive tailored campaigns that support their business objectives."

Salmon is one of several senior UK-based EMEA appointments for the social media platform in the past year.

Last month, Amber Sayer joined as senior head of retail and ecommerce, while Jed Hallam recently joined Snap’s creative strategy team as EMEA head of comms planning.

Other notable recruits include Leila Woodington as EMEA director of business marketing and Laura Clare as EMEA senior director of communications.