Content Partnerships
A global creative partner championing the very best of British creativity.
British premium content is at the heart of our company and drives our strategic ambitions. We have a clear strategy around all the content we help to create and represent; to partner with the best British production and writing talent. It’s all about great stories and ideas, told and made by great talent. It’s about being proactive and bold in our creative intent.
The Content Partnerships team leads the company’s creative partnerships, content funding strategies and IP pipeline, with the ambition is to be the creative and commercial partner of choice for the very best British talent.
Divided into two main genres: Scripted and Unscripted, the team is responsible for partner relationships with producers from BBC Studios Production and the independent sector, unlocking and creating opportunities from complex content funding to commissioning, securing investment and maintaining overall IP pipeline, Indie M&A, compliance and channels acquisitions.
We want to ensure great content gets made and help build franchises that audiences will love. That ambition embraces the powerhouse brands of Dancing With The Stars, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Top Gear and Great British Bake Off alongside bespoke reputational pieces like Les Misérables and Doctor Foster.
Working with Independent Producers
We build bespoke partnerships, tailored to the needs and aspirations of each producer and help them grow the value of their business.
We place enormous efforts on nurturing talent on and off screen. We are trusted by British producers and have successful editorial and commercial relationships with them, regularly topping the Broadcast Distributor Survey as the distributor producers rate most highly and most want to work with.
By working so closely with the very best of British creative talent means that last year alone, we were able to return almost £150 million to the UK’s indie community. Great for these businesses particularly, but also for Britain’s creative industries in general.
In some cases, we’ll develop a deeper relationship with an independent production company by becoming a shareholder. They choose to work with us because they share our values and ambition to produce best-in-class, distinctive British content that they want to take out to the world. We now have stakes in 16 British independent production companies. See below for a full list of companies in which we have an equity stake:
