TellyCast: The content industry podcast

In this episode of TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by Joe Churchill, former Digital Commissioning Editor for Branded Content at Channel 4 and now co-founder of Fan Club, a digital-first agency built around brands, creators and premium social video.

Joe breaks down what it really means for brands to behave like broadcasters, why owning audiences now matters more than owning formats, and how branded entertainment has moved far beyo...

Sam Barcroft returns to TellyCast with a major update: he’s now Group CEO of SWNS Media Group, the UK’s largest independent newswire. In this wide-ranging conversation, Sam explains why news, social video and the creator economy are colliding faster than anyone expected — and what that means for producers, brands and the entire media landscape.

Sam breaks down the future of news in a video-first world, how SWNS is reshaping itself a...

Factual isn’t standing still - and this panel proves it. Recorded live at the TellyCast Digital Content Forum, this conversation digs into how the factual genre is being rebuilt for a digital-first world. Lucy Smith hosts a sharp, unsentimental discussion with Gerrit Kemming (Quintus Studios), Marvyn Benoit (Baker’s Dozen Studios) and Jamie McDonald (After Party Studios) about who really owns value in today’s market: the audience-h...

Vertical video drama has exploded in the past year – but is it a passing craze or the next big shift in storytelling? 

Recorded live at the TellyCast Digital Content Forum, this session brings together Spirit Studios’ Matt Campion, TheSoul Group’s Victor Potrel and writer-director-producer Katharina Gellein Viken to unpack the boom in micro drama. Moderated by Deadline’s Stewart Clarke, the panel digs into what audiences are actuall...

This week’s TellyCast comes from Lisbon and the 2025 Web Summit, featuring three standout conversations from the frontline of social video. Engineering superstar and YouTube icon Colin Furze joins the show fresh from his packed session to discuss two decades of building one of the world’s biggest creator channels, the near-mythical underground tunnel project, his relationship with TV, and how he keeps millions of viewers hooked. Ah...

Strong Watch Studios co-founder Thom Gulseven joins the show to talk about building one of the UK’s most exciting digital-first production companies. He reveals how lessons learned at LADbible shaped the launch of Strong Watch with Ben Powell-Jones, how their channel People Are Deep became an award-winning social video hit, and why Channel 4 trusted them to run its new comedy channel A Comedy Thing. Thom also shares his take on the...

In the final TellyCast MIPCOM special from Cannes, we hear from the people shaping the digital-first future of TV. Fan Club’s Joe Churchill talks about brands becoming broadcasters and his upcoming session at the TellyCast Digital Content Forum. Luci Sanan from Cowshed Ventures reveals her new YouTube adventure joint venture with Propagate Content. EndemolShine Nederland’s Sil Geurtsen explains how hit format Let’s Play Ball made t...

In part two of our TellyCast MIPCOM special, Justin Crosby dives deep into the creator economy — the fastest-evolving part of the global content industry. Guests include Gerrit Kemming of Quintus Studios, Paul Telner from Viral Nation, Matt Gielen — digital media entrepreneur and former CEO of Electric Monster, Tobias Hoss from Lunar X, ITV Studios’ Cecile Olsen, Spirit Studios’ Matt Campion and All3 Media International's Gary...

TellyCast is back in Cannes for Day One of MIPCOM 2025 — bringing you the biggest new shows, the freshest formats, and the digital-first innovators transforming the global content business.

Justin Crosby talks to Jodie Whittaker and Elizabeth Berrington about Frauds — the hit ITV drama created by Suranne Jones and Anne-Marie O’Connor — as it makes waves with international buyers.

Then it’s format innovation with Richard Cowles of Lif...

Actor Shaun Evans and executive producer Tom Leggett join Justin Crosby on TellyCast to discuss Betrayal — ITV Studios and Mammoth Screen’s gripping new espionage drama.

Best known for Endeavour, Shaun takes on a very different kind of spy in Betrayal, playing MI5 operative John Hughes — a man navigating a collapsing marriage, shifting office politics and a looming terrorist threat no one else believes is real.

The pair reveal the fi...

This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by ITV Studios EVP of Global Content, Julie Meldal-Johnsen, for an exclusive preview of the company’s 2025 MIPCOM slate. From high-stakes thrillers like Frauds and Betrayal, to sun-soaked drama A Taste for Murder, bold new formats including Nobody’s Fool and Celebrity Sabotage, and powerful documentaries such as Operation Dark Phone and Poisoned, ITV Studios is showcasing one of its m...

In this week’s TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by filmmaker Ben Zand and Documentary Campus CEO Donata von Perfall. Ben discusses the launch of Human, his bold new self-funded YouTube documentary strand that puts storytelling and brand-building ahead of TV commissioning. He explains why he’s betting on a digital-first strategy, how Zandland is creating content with empathy and access, and the business model behind the series.

Don...

This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by writer, producer and cultural commentator Stephen Arnell. With a career spanning Sky Arts, BritBox, ITV and bylines in The Guardian, The New Statesman and The Spectator, Stephen has seen the TV industry from every angle.

In this episode we dive into the big media stories of the week, from the Baywatch reboot and the search for Channel 4’s next CEO, to Jimmy Kimmel’s clash with Trump...

Is YouTube really the new TV? In this week’s TellyCast, Justin Crosby speaks with Ben Woods, Creator Economy Analyst at MIDiA Research, about his new report The New Hollywood: Tactics for YouTube’s TV Takeover. They explore why YouTube has now overtaken Netflix on living room TV sets, how younger audiences are watching social video instead of broadcast, and what this means for broadcasters, producers, and advertisers.

From the domin...

This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by Tom Jenkins, Creative Director of Spud Gun Studios, the digital-first indie behind the hugely popular animation channel Mashed. Fresh from taking full ownership of the brand from Channel 4, Tom reveals how the studio is building on Mashed’s global fanbase of nearly seven million followers, striking new brand partnerships with the likes of Xbox and Baldur’s Gate, and winning four aw...

Branded entertainment is booming - but how can producers really work with brands? In this TellyCast episode, Justin Crosby talks to brand funded content specialist Charlie Read, founder of Upstream, about the five things every content producer needs to know about brand-funded content. From understanding business outcomes and audience insight to building IP with brands, learning their language, and shifting from interruption to enga...

Big Deal Films co-founder Dhanny Joshi joins Justin Crosby to share how he turned a call centre hustle into a BAFTA-winning indie. They discuss breaking through with Dreaming Whilst Black, navigating the commissioning crisis, and why digital-first, talent-led content is the future of TV.

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This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby sits down with Ofcom’s Director of Broadcasting and Media, Cristina Nicolotti Squires, for a deep dive into the regulator’s urgent six-point action plan to save public service media in the digital-first era. 

With younger audiences flocking to YouTube, Netflix and TikTok, and PSBs losing share, is the UK’s broadcast model reaching a breaking point? Christina unpacks the tough questions: securing...

This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby sits down with Taf Makopa, founder of Mako Studios and one of the most exciting new forces in digital production. Taf reveals his first slate of four brand-funded shows with BoohooMan — including Are You Even Real?, a dating series hosted by UK rap icon Chip, and Luke Comes Home, a Luke Littler documentary featuring Angry Ginge.

In this candid conversation, Taf unpacks why talent-first formats a...