BBC Worldwide’s commercial arm, BBC Advertising, has grown its sub-Saharan African presence by launching a new Johannesburg-based team, with the aim of increasing the focus on emerging markets.

The team will be led by Africa regional sales director Isla Macleod, who joined in 2009 after working in digital business development for EMEA region in London. Macleod aims to grow a local talent team with home grown experience, as well as generating and delivering advertising sales within the market.

“The African market is an exciting and rapidly growing market offering a wealth of new opportunities for BBC Advertising, particularly in the digital space,” said Macleod.

“I’m delighted to be heading up this new team for BBC Advertising, that will ensure we can offer our clients a more personal and bespoke service around BBC.com, BBC World News and BBC World Service; while delivering the business’s commitment to further boost the BBC’s international digital footprint within the market.”

Macleod will be supported by digital sales director for South Africa Zione Akule, with recruitment underway for a head of commercial partnerships Southern and West Africa for BBC StoryWorks.

“With her wealth of knowledge of the market and her proven abilities in developing successful marketing partnerships with customers, Isla is perfectly placed to support and grow our new operation in Africa and I’m delighted by the appointments to date,” said senior vice president EMEA and Latin America Sean O’Hara.

“I am confident in Isla and the team we have a stellar combination of talent, to deliver an ambitious and exciting new chapter for the business in Africa.”

This comes following the success of BBC.com’s Africa edition, which launched in April 2015, which has attracted around 400k unique browsers per month, delivering 10% of page views to the African News Index.