Distribution in Focus: BBC Studios’ Janet Brown

With buyers flocking to London TV Screenings and Mip London this week, Broadcast International speaks to Janet Brown, president of global content sales at BBC Studios, about co-exclusive licensing, deal complexity and leaning into experimentation.

The sector continues to be challenged and there is an absolute need to be agile, partner-focused, and creative in response. That said, there continues to be a strong appetite for British content around the world which creates an incredible opportunity.

The cost of production remains at elevated levels whilst constraints on budgets continue. Navigating funding for each piece of content often requires a sophisticated approach across multiple partners. Whilst this can add complexity, this could also unlock new opportunities to collaborate and inspire the development and deepening of a new range of on-going partnerships and revenue share models.

A challenged economic situation provides a moment for real innovation that can benefit the entire industry. These are the times to look beyond traditional ways of working and we at BBC Studios are leaning into the spirit of experimentation.

We are seeing more opportunities for creative windowing between customers, piecing together different partners or at different times for each piece of content. A recent example of this is the co-exclusive US premiere for The Jetty on two different platforms, licensed to both Hulu and BritBox.

Our team in China recently achieved their first revenue share model with iQiyi, Tencent and Youku for our natural history landmark Asia. So far, the performance has exceeded our expectation and the data it has provided has also helped us to better understand the performance of our programme.

Uncertainty is the new certainty. Buyers’ budgets and needs are in a state of flux which means ongoing conversations can change, stall, or even move forward at speed, which requires our teams to be flexible, responding quickly and creatively.

We are seeing a flight to quality; buyers are transparent that they are being highly selective in their content spending and placing bets only on content that they are confident will work for their audiences. They are more risk adverse and attracted to returnable brands that have already built up a strong awareness. We are really fortunate to have a high-quality catalogue of breadth and depth in every genre and strong returning brands to meet buyer’s needs, but we are not complacent.

We use data and analysis in our conversations and draw on the expertise of our local sales teams who have built long-standing and deep relationships with partners, to help them understand why certain content will be attractive to their audience and the different commercial options to best suit their needs and budgets.

Content and creative deal-making will drive growth. Even in this challenged environment the need for quality content prevails. Our homegrown stories stand out in the international marketplace as they have a universal ability to entertain, inspire, challenge, and help people make sense of the world.

The quality of our content, combined with our ability to work with creative and commercial partners in innovative ways is an ongoing strength for us. We have deep and long-standing partnerships with global and regional customers that gives us a unique ability work around the world to make and distribute premium content.

Our readiness to experiment and innovate, particularly when navigating this particular moment for the industry, will not only put BBC Studios in the best position for continued success but will benefit the industry at large, from the producers we represent and our customers to audiences worldwide.

We have had a number of successful scripted coproductions with streamers on a global, multi-regional and local level, our approach is tailored depending on the needs for each piece of content. Some recent co-production examples include Doctor Who with Disney, A Good Girls Guide To Murder with Netflix and The Outlaws with Amazon Studios. Beyond co-productions we also work with streamers across all lines of business including acquisitions and production.

Outside of the global streamers we have immensely good relationships at a local level across the world – this is further enhanced by having local sales teams in market. One example of this is the valued regional co-production partnership with ZDF. We recently agreed a multi-year extension to our strategic partnership with to co-produce and acquire world class scripted content with upcoming titles to include The Chelsea Detective S3 and the second series of A Good Girls Guide to Murder, alongside Netflix and the BBC.

We also have strong relationships with streamers who are acquiring scripted content on local level for example Max in France and Stan in Australia.

From a commissioning perspective we have the benefit of also being able to commission through our own branded services – for example Outrageous, the upcoming drama around the infamous Mitford sisters, was a co-commission between BritBox and UKTV.