This Privacy Notice for contributors applies to the following organisations within Immediate Media Company Limited’s group of companies (“Immediate”, “we”, “us”):

• Immediate Media Company Limited, the parent company of the companies listed below.
• Immediate Media Company London Limited, publisher of these brands. Click here to explore our brands: Discover our iconic brands | Immediate – Immediate.
• Upper Street Limited and River Street Limited, who run live events under the “Immediate Live” trading name.

Immediate is owned by Hubert Burda Media KG, a media and technology company based in Germany.

The company responsible for your personal data (“controller”) depends on the specific content or event you are engaging with. You will always see the name of relevant company in your contributor agreement, application or entry form, release form, or any consent form you sign with us.

This privacy notice explains how we collect and use your personal data — including videos and photos of you – when you contribute to the media content we produce.

This privacy notice applies to contributors and, where relevant, their representatives. This notice does not apply to Immediate employees; if you are an employee of Immediate, please refer to our Employee Privacy Notice.

A contributor is anyone who helps to create, or is featured in, our content. Content in this notice means content in any media we produce or publish, such as videos, photos, audio recordings, podcasts, articles, written materials, or any other creative output. The content may be used for editorial, journalistic or marketing purposes, or any other purpose which has been specifically described to the contributor.

Contributors can be members of the public, professional contributors (such as journalists, artists, actors, presenters, or other performers), content creators, or anyone who takes part in — or applies to take part in — our content. A contributor can be paid or unpaid, an adult or a minor under the age of 18.

Personal data means any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual (either directly or indirectly), such as a name, email address, postal address, image, online identifier, or special category data, including information about racial or ethnic origin, health, or sexual life. Content may become personal data when it identifies you, makes you identifiable, or otherwise relates to an identifiable person.

The categories of personal data we collect depends on the type of content and the nature of your participation.

Personal data of the contributor
(a) The personal data we always collect about contributors:
• content details: photos and/or videos, including image, voice recordings, any details captured during an interview or content shoot (for example, a story or opinion).

(b) The personal data we commonly collect:
• identity data: name, age, gender, and (if needed) ID/passport details,
• contact details: email address, mobile phone number, (home and business) address,
• professional details: professional experience, field of specialism, skills, portfolio,
• social media details: publicly available account names and handles, details of public social media pages,
• business details: category such as freelancer or company, business, the company or organisation name, company address, registration details,
• payment details (if it is a paid contribution): the fee, expense, and taxes, bank account details, tax number/national insurance number,
• representation information: details of the contributor`s representative (if any),
• permission or contract information: the agreement between us, including signature, date.

(c) The personal data we occasionally collect:
• sensitive data (or “special category data”), collected only if it is voluntarily shared as part of the content, or if it is legally required or necessary in connection with participation in the content. This may include information about health or disability, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or trade union membership.

Personal data of the contributor’s representative
A representative can be an agent, a guardian, any other person or company who acts on the contributor`s behalf.

If a contributor has a representative, we commonly collect personal data from the representative which may include:
• contact details: email address, mobile phone number, (home or business) address, emergency contacts` details (if relevant),
• identity data: name, age (and if needed ID/passport details),
• business information: job title or professional capacity (for example, freelancer, company representative, or agent), business or organisation details, business address, and registration number (if applicable).
• status of representation: information confirming authority to act on behalf of the contributor.

We collect your personal data in different ways. We typically collect personal data from the following sources:

• From contributors or their representatives directly:

Directly from the contributor (or the contributor’s agent or representative) typically from an application form, commissioning form or brief, contributors’ agreement, talent contract, release form, or correspondence with us about your contribution.

• From others

We may receive information about contributors from other third parties, such as talent agencies, but only where it is relevant to creating the content and in line with data protection laws.

• From shooting in public places:

We sometimes carry out filming or photo shooting in public places, or in private places or gardens that are temporarily open to the public. This means you may appear in the content simply by being in an area where we are shooting, whether intentionally or by coincidence. We put clear notices in and around the shooting area so people know that filming or photography is taking place and they can choose to avoid the area if they prefer not to be filmed or photographed. If you do not want to appear in the content, we will take reasonable steps to respect your wishes wherever possible.

• From shooting at our events:

We may film or take photos during events that we organise. You can explore our events here: Live Events – Immediate Live

If you attend one of our events, you may appear in the content incidentally or by taking part directly. If you do not want to appear in the content, we will take reasonable steps to respect your wishes wherever possible.

• From user‑generated content:

We collect user‑generated content such as stories, opinions, photos, videos or other material created by contributors in response to our public invitations, such as posts we share on our social media pages or campaigns we run for our magazine readers or email subscribers.  We generally do not use unsolicited user‑generated content that is sent to us.

• From public sources and database

We may collect personal data from publicly available sources where it is relevant to creating the content. This can include information from public social media pages (e.g. Instagram, Tiktok, Meta) , public domains, professional directories, Companies House records, or other publicly available databases.

There are various reasons that we may rely on to use your personal data.

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

Broadcasting or publishing the content

The content we make will usually be made available to public.

Please note that the content once published will be publicly available, which means we cannot fully control how it may be used, shared, or reused by others after publication.

Other recipients of your personal data

We may also need to share your personal data with others where this is necessary for the purposes described above:

• Your agent or representative: where you are represented by someone else,
• Our clients or advertising partners: companies or organisations that pay us to create or feature content for them. They may be brands, advertisers, sponsors, or organisations we create content for as part of a commercial project.
• Service providers: third parties who provide services to us under our instructions, such as IT and data‑hosting providers, payroll processors, creative or production agencies, or photographers supporting the shoot, document management and archive system providers, security providers.
• Professional advisers: specialists we work with for advice, such as lawyers, auditors and insurers.
• Our affiliates and company group: Hubert Burda Media KG and Immediate group companies.
• Regulators, public authorities and courts: such as HM Revenue & Customs, law enforcement or other government bodies.
• Collecting societies where needed for copyright or rights‑management purposes.
• Unions and industry representative bodies only if relevant such as where a contributor asks us to liaise with their union or where industry rules require information to be shared.
• Medical professional emergency contacts: where necessary to support you in an emergency situation.

We require third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to manage your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes, and in accordance with our instructions where it is within our remit. We do not share more information with them than is necessary for the relevant purpose.

We usually store and process your personal data in the United Kingdom (“UK”) or European Economic Area (“EEA”).  Sometimes we may need to transfer it to other countries.

We may transfer your personal data within the Hubert Burda Media KG company group. We also work with third‑party service providers, and some of these may involve transferring your data to the EEA/EU to other countries, including the United States.

Transfers to the EEA/EU and the United States are covered by UK Government “adequacy decisions”, which means these countries are recognised as providing an appropriate level of data protection. For transfers to countries that do not have an adequacy decision, we use approved standard data‑transfer clauses to help ensure your data remains protected.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. When determining the retention periods, we assess any reasons we need to use the data for, associated risks and any legal or regulatory requirements.

We may keep that content indefinitely as part of our archive to re-use or license the content in the future.  Where your contribution to the content is protected by copyright, we will keep the content and the associated contributor information details connected with it for as long as applicable copyright law requires.

Once the purpose to keep your personal data has been fulfilled, we will securely delete the data, unless we are required to keep it for legal, tax or accounting reasons. Alternatively, we will anonymise the information, so that we (or anyone else) can no longer tell that the data relates to you, at which point your information will cease to be considered personal data.

You have several rights under UK data protection law, but some rights only apply in certain situations or may be limited by law. These include the right to:

• Be informed – to know how and why we use your personal data, this is why give you this privacy notice.
• Access ­– you can ask us about how we use your personal data and request a copy of it.
• Withdrawal of your consent – if we collect your personal data based on your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time.
• Deletion – you can ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Corrections – you can ask to correct your personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Restriction – you can ask us to pause the use of your personal data in certain situations.
• Objection – you can object to us using your personal data in certain ways.
• Portability – you can ask for any personal data you have previously provided to us to be transferred to you in a usable electronic format, or to another organisation (where this is technically feasible).
• Complain – you can make a complaint to us if you believe your personal data has not been handled in line with the UK GDPR. If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner (ICO).

We try to respond to all valid requests within one month. If your request is complex, if you have made several requests, or if we need more information from you, we may need more time to respond. If this happens, we will let you know. If we cannot comply with your request, we will explain why.

If you are still not satisfied, you can also raise a complaint to us.  If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner (ICO) at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

If you would like to use your data protection rights, or if you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data or your request and you would like to complain, please contact us using the details provided in the “Contact us” section below.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, or if you want to use any of your data‑protection rights, you can contact us at:

Email: dataprotection@immediate.co.uk
Postal address: Vineyard House, 44 Brook Green, Hammersmith, London, W6 7BT

Online form: https://www.immediate.co.uk/privacy-form/

Last updated: May 2026