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Published by Tom Smith
If you’re building a career, leading a team or thinking about your next move, it helps to hear how other people have found their way. On What It Took, Tom Smith sits down with leaders in connected TV to explore the personal and professional journeys behind their success. Hear about the first breaks, unexpected opportunities, difficult decisions and setbacks that shaped their careers, and the people who made a difference. Each conversation explores what they learned along the way, how those experiences influence the way they lead today and what they think comes next. You might recognise a challenge you’re facing, hear an idea you can put into practice or take some encouragement from someone else’s experience. And sometimes, you’ll simply hear a great story that stays with you. Brought to you by FX Digital - The Connected TV App Experts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Roku’s UK Managing Director Richard Halton joins Tom Smith to look back on a career spanning the BBC, YouView and television’s move to streaming. Richard shares why he left consulting for work he believed in, what it felt like to find himself among the BBC’s senior leaders in his twenties, and how he learned to bring people with competing priorities together. He reflects on the colleagues who backed him, the pressures of leadership and the experiences that shaped his priorities. Chapters: 00:00 Episode preview and introduction 02:01 Northern roots and work ethic 04:20 Leaving consulting for the BBC 08:32 BBC vs ITV: moving the news 13:23 Helping shape BBC Three and BBC Four 19:29 Learning to lead inside the BBC 22:07 Overcoming imposter syndrome 24:33 Balancing fatherhood, family and work 27:47 Keeping the BBC relevant to younger audiences 32:13 Inside the BBC’s first YouTube deal 40:15 The human cost of strategy 43:00 Why Project Kangaroo never launched 50:36 Family, loss and the support that mattered 55:42 From Project Canvas to YouView 1:03:31 Standing his ground with seven CEOs 1:08:07 Bringing the team together to launch YouView 1:16:05 Working with Lord Sugar 1:21:47 Project Origin: solving advertising measurement 1:28:17 Building Roku’s UK business 1:35:39 What it took: the closing summary What It Took is brought to you by FX Digital, the Connected TV App Experts . Your host, Tom Smith, co-founded FX Digital with CEO Matt Duhig and serves as its Chief Product Officer. Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for more conversations about the people and decisions behind the industry. Content note: This episode includes a discussion of suicide and bereavement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Observed November 4, 2026.
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