Talpa hires RTL Nederlands acquisitions exec

John de Mol’s Talpa Studios has appointed RTL Nederland’s acquisitions exec Marloes Sturkenboom to expand the reach of its formats globally.

Sturkenboom becomes managing director of global IP, strategy and operations at the Dutch company, which is behind shows including The Floor, The Quiz With Balls and Caught in the Middle.

The company has also partnered on formats based on brands such as Trivial Pursuit and recently struck a deal with The Traitors producer Studio Lambert for psychological game format The Golden Elevators.

She will work with Sebastian van Barneveld’s distribution team to expand strategic partnerships, accelerate new business and scale Talpa Studios’ formats worldwide.

Sturkenboom was most recently head of content acquisitions and business affairs at RTL Nederlands and before that worked for The Walt Disney Company EMEA, Fox Sports, SBS (Netherlands) and Fremantle.

The move follows the company’s recent leadership rejig, which saw Maarten Meijs appointed chief exec across both Talpa Studios and channel business Talpa Network, with Joost Brakel departing.

Meijs said Sturkenboom would bring “a strong combination of dealmaking experience, commercial judgement and operational discipline.”

He added: “She has a clear ability to turn creative ambition into structured, scalable collaborations that create long-term value. Her arrival adds further depth to our global team and strengthens the way we build and grow partnerships across markets.”

Sturkenboom said she would “further align our international dealmaking and go to market approach, so our formats continue to travel consistently and at scale, built on commercially sustainable models that create long term value across markets.”