Bairamian will report to BBC's director, marketing, communications and audiences Andy Duncan. He will manage a team of Audience Insight Managers that will work with production divisions to help programme makers use audience insight as a part of new programme developments.

The team will also work on key projects across the BBC. Duncan was quoted in an official release saying, "The appointment of Justin really is a significant step in our ambition to put audiences at the heart of the BBC. We believe the expertise and insight that this new team will bring to our programme development teams will encourage greater creativity in everything that we do."

The appointment of Bairamian and the creation of the Audience Insight team follows a successful pilot project in Documentary & Contemporary Factual earlier this year.

Bairamian comes from a media planning background. He used to be the MD at ad agency Leagas Delaney. He worked on a broad portfolio of clients including The Guardian, Patek Philippe, Intercontinental Hotels, Opodo and Nationwide Building Society.