Paul McGrath has stepped down as the senior director of entertainment strategy and audience development at Canadian pubcaster CBC and is joining the creator-led digital media company Underknown.
Underknown is behind What If, How to Survive, Animalogic, and more than 100 owned-and-operated programmatic channels. McGrath joins the outfit as SVP of content and operations.
“Paul has the experience and systems thinking that defines our next chapter,” said Steve Hulford, Underknown’s CEO. “As we expand globally to help media companies succeed on YouTube, Paul will unlock the next level of scale for both clients and for Underknown.”
Working with Raphael Faeh, co-founder of Underknown, McGrath will work on improving workflows, boosting the content pipeline, and identifying operational efficiencies for the channel slate. He will also work to expand the company’s services division, which aligns with traditional media companies, creators, and studios on deploying YouTube and social strategies.
“We’ve admired Paul’s work for a long time,” Faeh said. “His ability to build strong operational frameworks, drive efficiency, and apply a data-led mindset to growth is exactly what Underknown needs at this stage. As Underknown accelerates its expansion into FAST, YouTube, and AI-driven media, Paul will play a central role in shaping the growth of our studio of the future.”
“Underknown represents the future of what media companies can be: agile, smart, creator-led, and relentlessly innovative,” McGrath said. “I’m thrilled to join a team that is transforming media and audience engagement on a global scale, and I look forward to helping build the systems that will power the company’s next decade of growth.”
