The just-concluded season of Dancing with the Stars attracted a new generation of viewers due in no small part to TikTok and YouTube, and BBC Studios Productions boss Zai Bennett is busy thinking about how other shows can do the same.
“I want us to be thinking about how we are working with the creator economy,” Bennett said today at Content London. “How can we look at our existing formats?”
Bespoke content made for TikTok and YouTube, along with the casting of social media juggernauts, helped Dancing with the Stars bring in mass audiences this year. The hit version of the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing just closed to a record-breaking finale, including the best share with young viewers since the Friends conclusion 20 years back. “Our show should be perfect for something like TikTok,” EP Conrad Green told us earlier this month.
Bennett said BBC Studios doesn’t necessarily have the right expertise within its traditional production firepower, but has a division running 90 YouTube channels.
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“I’m not suggesting our production capacity can just flip into the right content for YouTube because it’s a different skillset,” he added. “I’m interested in my part of the studio and what can be next. There is lots for us to think about.”
Bennett has been in post for more than a year and has initiated plenty of structural change during his time. He revealed this morning a new fact-ent development label led by UK production vet Fernando de Jesus, but the team just lost an indie, Rebel Rebel, which has instead partnered with Sony and rebranded to Rebel Minds Media.
Bennett said he is constantly thinking about investing in smaller indies, as long as BBC Studios can then make “creative bets and exploit a return on those bets.”
“I want a risk and reward to them so they can’t just be funding mid-tier or certain sorts of drama that will make you 2% [margin],” he added. “You want a spectrum of risk.”
During a wide-ranging session, Bennett also revealed that execs from CIISA, the UK’s new anti-bullying body for the TV and film industry, had visited the sets of a number of his shows, including BBC kids stalwart Blue Peter. “They said, ‘We love what you’re doing’,” he said, a year after Strictly was hit by a misconduct scandal and the exit of two professional dancers. “The industry expects us to be pushing these standards, making sure it’s a fantastic experience for freelancers.”
The BBC is one of the financial backers of CIISA, which has still not completed its rollout. Deadline revealed recently that big players like Channel 4, Disney and Amazon are not paying annual fees to back the nascent body.