Mascha van Erven to become AVROTROS media director

Mascha van Erven will become AVROTROS’s media director on 1 January 2027, succeeding Bart Barnas as the Dutch public broadcaster prepares to develop its programming and reach new audiences.

Van Erven has worked at Disney+, where she was responsible for local productions in several European countries. Before that, she held various roles in public broadcasting.

She will join AVROTROS chief executive Taco Zimmerman and interim business director René Delwel in the broadcaster’s management team. The organisation said her responsibilities would include developing its programming, reaching a broad and new audience, and strengthening public broadcasting.

Van Erven said AVROTROS made programmes popular with a large, loyal audience but would need to keep innovating to remain relevant. Zimmerman said she brought extensive experience in developing and producing content, as well as an understanding of how to bring programmes to a broad audience.