With Emily otherwise occupied, this episode is a hosts' hangout — just Andy and Jo, with a car pickup deadline providing a natural time limit. The conversation covers three topics: the appointment of the BBC's new Director General, the news that YouTube kids show Danny Go has been picked up by Netflix, and some cautious optimism about original IP at the box office.

The BBC discussion centres on what the hiring of Matt Britton — who comes from a background in big tech and spent a significant stretch at Google — signals about the direction of travel for the corporation. Andy and Jo read it as a confirmation of the shift from a channel-first to a platform-first BBC, a move already evidenced by the recently announced partnership with YouTube, under which BBC Children's is launching seven new channels to reach younger, social-video-first audiences. The appointment of someone steeped in data, global distribution, and commercial scale feels deliberate. The hope is that Britton brings a more aggressive commercial mindset to BBC Studios — the revenue-generating arm that has historically played second fiddle to the UK public service operation — and that the BBC uses its considerable global brand equity before it erodes further. In an era of AI-generated content proliferation, trusted, quality brands matter more than ever, and the BBC's international reputation is still a real asset, particularly in the kids space.

The Danny Go segment is full of enthusiasm. The YouTube-native kids show — music-led, high energy, and genuinely well-produced in a way Jo compares to the Wiggles — has just been picked up by Netflix, and Andy argues it could give Ms. Rachel a run for her money once it lands on the platform. The broader point the conversation develops is about the YouTube-to-Netflix pipeline and what it now represents. YouTube functions as an incubation layer — a place where creators build audiences, make their mistakes, and prove their concept — before Netflix swoops in once the risk has been de-risked. Crucially, the exclusivity model that Netflix once insisted on seems to have softened: like Ms. Rachel, Danny Go is expected to remain on YouTube alongside its Netflix presence. Andy frames the Netflix pickup as something like peer review, or the moment an online-only brand gets stocked in a major department store — it confers credibility and marks a kind of graduation. The caveat is that Danny Go has been building since 2019, which leads to a broader point about fandom: you simply cannot speed run it. The Savannah Bananas are cited alongside Baller League as parallel examples of IPs that have taken seven or eight years of patient building before distribution deals and mainstream attention arrived.

The episode closes on a note of measured optimism about original IP. Hoppers for Pixar and Disney and Project Hail Mary both get name-checked as encouraging signs that audiences haven't entirely given up on new ideas — that the franchise-only approach, while understandable from a risk management perspective, isn't the only game in town. The hope is that commissioning budgets eventually follow the same signal.

Key Takeaways:

1. The BBC's appointment of a Director General from a big tech background signals a deliberate shift towards a platform-first, data-literate, globally-minded BBC — one that is more willing to treat distribution partnerships with the likes of YouTube as opportunity rather than threat.
2. BBC Studios and the BBC's global brand equity should be leveraged now, before that value erodes — the trust premium on quality, branded content is growing in an era of AI-generated content proliferation, and the BBC is well placed to capitalise on it internationally.
3. YouTube is functioning as Netflix's R&D department for kids content — Netflix is letting creators build and prove their audiences on YouTube, then acquiring those that break through, rather than taking the development risk itself.
4. The exclusivity model appears to have changed — both Ms. Rachel and Danny Go suggest Netflix is now comfortable with creators maintaining their YouTube presence alongside a Netflix deal, recognising that the audience was built there and can't simply be relocated.
5. A Netflix pickup now carries a credibility signal — landing on Netflix after building on YouTube functions like moving from a direct-to-consumer website into a major bricks-and-mortar retailer, conferring legitimacy and reach.
6. You cannot speed run fandom — Danny Go has been building since 2019, the Savannah Bananas since 2019, Baller League for over two years. The IPs that are now doing distribution deals have typically been at it for seven or eight years. Patient, consistent building is the pattern, not overnight success.
7. Original IP is showing signs of life at the box office — Project Hail Mary's strong hold into its second weekend, alongside Hoppers and K Pop Demon Hunters, suggests audience appetite for new stories hasn't been extinguished by the franchise era, even if the studio system hasn't fully caught up with that yet.
8. Commissioning investment into quality kids content remains under pressure, and the concern is that the YouTube-to-Netflix pipeline, while exciting, doesn't fully substitute for a healthy commissioning ecosystem that takes risks on original ideas from the outset.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Kids Media Club Podcast.

Just the two of us today, Joe.

Ah, just the two of us, yes.

Emily is tied up.

She's a very, very busy lady.

So we decided we were going to have a host's hangout and perhaps a truncated one because I got to go and pick my car up from the garage before it closes.

Okay, so let's crack on, shall we?

So the clock is ticking.

Great.

So what are we going to chat about today?

We wrote a couple of things down before him record.

We did, we did.

Shall we talk about the BBC?

Yes.

So.

So it's all changed at the top.

It is.

And very often, I mean people are definitely reading the new, the, the hiring of the new DG as a signal for where the BBC is going.

Obviously charter renewal negotiations are ongoing.

Huge amount of scrutiny on the BBC.

It's been in the news for other reasons, radio reasons this week as well.

Goodness, there's never a shortage of anything to talk about BBC wise.

But let's focus on that dg because as we've spoken about many times and actually it came up when the BBC and YouTube were speaking to me at MIP London, the Kids and Teens Summit.

We're moving from a kind of channel first BBC to a platform first BBC.

And, and I think this is probably a confirmation of that.

We've obviously had the, the announcement of a, a greater partnership between BBC and YouTube, particularly BBC Children's launching seven new channels and they're going to be putting kids content up on YouTube in an effort to reach those younger social video first generations and reawaken the relevance of the BBC for those younger viewers.

But what does it say?

Yes, the fact that he's come from Google.

Yes.

So Matt Britton is the new Director General of the BBC and as you said, he's come from, I think has some publishing in his background, but very much a big part of it is, is big tech and Google, which, yeah, it does indicate that the BBC feels that it's important for somebody to have an understanding of the way that world operates moving forward.

For sure, for sure.

I mean he's, you know, the fact that he has been at Google and he was at Google for a long stretch, so it's not as if he was just in and out.

So this is, it's going to be in his, the corporate DNA and I imagine, I mean, obviously distribution, a more pragmatic relationship with Big Tech, I assume, which we're already seeing signs off, but this I think really cements that.

Clearly he's going to understand that YouTube is not necessarily a threat and certainly for our younger audiences, part of that media infrastructure, it's where they go, is their first port for video.

We know that it's their default search engine.

But what he is really going to understand is data in a way that perhaps the BBC don't necessarily have expertise in and scale, I mean global scale.

I mean we, you know, we've said this before, those, those three letters, although they evoke a ton of feeling in the uk, are still very respected global, globally.

The BBC as a brand still means something and that I think is exciting because he understands global distribution and scale and that's going to be important for the future survival of the BBC.

Sure, absolutely.

And I think even though everyone has opinion about the BBC in, in the uk, in some ways that's a reflection of how much people care about the BBC that, that, that everyone has an opinion about it.

And what I hope the, the appointment indicates is that you'd hope that he has an understanding of the value that BBC as a brand and as an archive of of kind of all the legacy of programming, that he has an understanding of the value that that has for Big Tech in a way that allows him to be protective of it, but also to, to kind of leverage that value to the benefit of the BBC as a whole.

That's kind of what you hope and, and as you said, it does maybe indicate their fact that they'll maybe have to take more of a kind of a global mindset in terms of the way they approach that.

And I think going and, and looking at kids specifically that BBC logo I think has a lot of credibility internationally for a kids market.

So.

So, yeah, interesting.

Yeah.

And that will be eroded over time.

So arguably the time to really leverage it is now, arguably it was five years ago.

I mean, one of the things when I was still at the BBC, at BBC Children's, when we went into lockdown, I remember, you know, you had CBBs, you had CBBC and you had bite size.

And almost immediately there were other broadcasters from around the world that were looking to kind of access BBC content because it was so good, it was really educational.

Obviously the bite sized stuff was, was really popular.

So there is still that, that brand value, that stock held in the BBC as a brand globally.

And I think that it's interesting because obviously BBC Studios, formerly BBC worldwide, they were the commercial arm but almost treated as that kind of secondary peripheral, you know, make the money to feed the engine that is BBC UK public service.

And given that Matt, Britain has worked for a global platform, but you know, a huge commercial behemoth, I would actually expect that global kind of revenue generating side of things, which is BBC Studios, to come much more kind of front and center and be much more aggressive with exploiting the BBC as a brand and its associated IP globally.

So I mean that I hope will be a shift.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And sometimes I've always been surprised sometimes when the BBC hasn't necessarily leveraged the commercial potential of some of the brands that were really born at the BBC.

I'm, I'm always sort of slightly baffled by how the BBC would so instrumental in something like creating Bake off yet, yet managed to kind of lose that brand to Channel 4.

And I wonder whether, yeah.

Whether it's gonna herald more of a, a kind of a commercial attitude to some of those franchises that are really born for the, from the patronage of the BBC really.

Yeah, I agree and, and I would hope so because like I said actually that over time that will be eroded.

So actually now is the time to really leverage that globally, particularly when there's lots of AI generated content.

Trust in content and what you're being served is now more important than ever, as is quality as we get to that kind of barbell stage where you'll have high quality and then a proliferation of slop.

The two ends of the curve.

So yes, it will be very interesting to see what changes, if any he makes from early on in his tenure.

I don't actually know when he starts.

I think it's kind of summertime.

Ryan.

Yeah.

Tough job though.

Tough.

Oh my good goodness, yes.

Tough job.

You couldn't.

Yeah.

You couldn't pay me enough to do that job anyway.

Yes.

Onto something that was.

I literally only read early this morning, but made me very excited and was immediately put on our Kids Media Club, WhatsApp group.

Uh, Danny Go.

I need to cheer for Danny Go.

For those of you who aren't aware of what Danny Go is.

Yeah.

So tell us about Danny Go.

You need to check it out on YouTube.

Mr. Andrew Williams, you're going to be watching Danny Go later.

And Emily and I have discussed Danny Go before.

It is a brilliantly produced kids show native to YouTube, which has just been picked up by Netflix.

No surprise there.

That has been very much their modus operandi for a while.

But Danny Goat reminds me of the Wiggles in the sense that it's bright and it's energetic and it's music led, but boy, it's good music.

I mean, it's, this is not kind of, you know, patronizing, kind of tinkering on a Bontempi kids stuff.

This is well produced, really catchy.

Earworm songs.

And Netflix have swept in and scooped it up.

So great congrats to them.

And actually I'm really pleased to see it move to Netflix.

And given that Emily Horgan has in the past week published her Netflix Kids Content Performance report, I'd place a little wager that we're going to be seeing Danny Go featuring one of those pretty soon.

Because as soon as it lands on Netflix, I even think it might give Ms. Rachel a run for its money.

It's so good.

Interesting.

So that's another example of in some ways the new way of launching a children's franchise that.

So he's very much built it, he's built it in public himself.

He's proven his audience as well as the creative and then Netflix have come on board once that has been kind of established.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, we've, we've, we've said before that YouTube and Netflix have really leaned into this.

As I said, YouTube is, is actually an incubation platform for content and for creators and very sensible of Netflix to kind of sit back and see what starts popping there and then decide whether it fits their portfolio of kids stuff on Netflix.

But what's, what is interesting is it used to be the case that Netflix would want things exclusively.

We know that with Ms. Rachel, that's not the case.

So, so she's built her audience on YouTube and she's not gonna deny her audience on YouTube and Netflix are okay with that.

I'm not across the detail of the deal for Danny Go, but I'm assuming it's a similar thing.

They've built their audience on YouTube, so they're really not gonna take everything down off YouTube.

But it does bear out.

What Emily has been saying for a while is that, that there is place, there is a place on a curated platform like Netflix for creator led content that has scaled and incubated on platforms like YouTube and they can work quite nicely alongside one another.

Interesting.

And I wonder whether in Some ways.

So it sounds like YouTube functions as the R and D department for Netflix Kids.

In some respects it kind of does, yeah.

I mean, it's difficult not to draw that conclusion, isn't it really?

When you, you can see how they're waiting.

I mean, it de.

Risks it for Netflix.

They can sit back and let the creators make all the mistakes, do all the hard work and build their audience and then community there and then reach out to them.

But in a way, I think it's a nice symbiosis because it almost feels like there's still a kudos and a legitimacy to a creator that has, that has built an audience on YouTube to then say, and now I'm on Netflix.

And you know, it's almost like you've been accepted, you've graduated as a creator.

Yeah, it reminds me a little bit, sometimes you get brands that will be retail brands that will just exist online and they'll have their own website that sells, sells their product and then they'll come a point where they, then they're then sold in stores or a department store will then take on that product and it kind of elevates that brand because it gives it a kind of a real world credibility.

And I feel like Netflix is almost equivalent to that bricks and mortar store.

When you've had a, where you've had a website as the, as your main point of sale before that.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's almost like peer review, isn't it?

You pass peer review and then, yeah, you get taken into, into Netflix or into the store.

So it's great news for Danny Go.

And I don't suppose it will be the last.

I think Netflix are playing a very canny game.

What I do hope, and this has been something that we've talked about before, is that, you know, the headwinds against investment into making good quality kids media are pretty strong at the moment.

If anything, it's the motivation and, and the incentive to invest in making good quality kids media is, is harder than ever.

So seeing something like Danny go succeed and then be acquired by Netflix, hopefully is, is a glimmer of hope and encourages that investment into making good quality stuff.

Because it is good quality stuff.

Yeah, absolutely.

I also wonder in some ways whether it encourages individual creators to decide that they can invest in themselves rather than waiting for a broadcaster or platform to invest in their idea.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean there's, there's, it's hard, isn't it?

Not everybody's got the ability to bootstrap their own content.

Not when the production yeah, not when the production values are relatively high.

Is.

Is when you watch Danny Go later and you will see.

I will check that out.

One final question on the Danny Go thing as well is that do have you seen the production values increase over time as he's has he's built the brand and how long has his YouTube channel been running?

Well, that's a great question.

I mean I certainly was looking at it over 12 months ago.

Right.

In fact, Kids Screen reached out to me and asked me to have a look at some kids and family YouTube channels and give them my views on which had potential into merch and extension and, and Damigo was in one of those and it was already really successful and it had kind of popped up on my radar.

So it's, it's been around a while.

Yeah, I've.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I mean this is, it takes time.

To your point.

These things don't happen overnight.

And interestingly, I was having a very, very similar discussion with someone around new sport formats like Baller League, the creator heavy league that's being shown on a Monday night on YouTube.

It's got KSI and Angry Ginge and really built for that social first generation.

They're into their third season, so they're only about two years old.

They've already paused Baller League Germany, but they are launching in the US but it's that kind of you can't speed run fandom.

You can't speed run sport fandom.

You can't speed run affinity and love for a kids show.

It takes time to build it's affinity, then it's repeat viewing and then at some point it converts into passion.

But actually there's no way to speed run that whether you're launching a new sport format for YouTube in baller league or whether you're launching something like Danny Goat.

So similarly, the Savannah Bananas, one of my favorite kind of sporting IP at the moment.

They stream everything on YouTube, but they're doing distribution deals with ESPN.

So again you.

It's patience and I think that's one of the things that maybe investment investors don't necessarily have.

But these, you know, these IP that have been been doing this and have.

Have largely been building themselves have been doing it for seven, eight years.

It's not.

Yeah.

Overnight success.

Yeah.

And it fits into my seven year theory of life, which is.

Which is all brands need to be around for at least seven years before they start to gain track proper traction.

We've only got one year to go with the kids.

Yes, yes.

We're already over six years old and we're still here.

We're not going.

We better get a move on if we're going to catch up with Danny.

Go.

Okay, well listen, we've got five, ten minutes left before I have to shoot off and pick up my right.

Yes.

So the only other thing that we ended on a kind of an.

Another positive note was that we've discussed a lot about the rise of franchises and, and how there isn't really space for original IP in the same way.

And I thought that some hopeful signs were.

One is how well Hoppers did for Pixar and Disney and really managed to, you know, make a big splash.

And also, I mean even more so was Project Hail Mary which really seems to put original movie IPs back on the.

Back on the agenda.

Really is it really have, hasn't it?

It had a storming second weekend.

The drop off was not as steep as is typically observed after.

After one full weekend at box office.

I was reading yesterday.

So yeah, echoes what we've said in kids media for a while in the sense that kids still crave novelty.

I know for young kids it's easy to say, oh, you inherit a new audience every three years because they age out and so it's new to them.

But actually, particularly in movies and particularly in more family movies, we've seen K Pop Demon Hunters, we've seen Project Hail Mary, we've seen Hoppers.

There is still the demand for new even at a time when a lot of the studio system is trying to de risk and is just falling back into okay, we'll just stick with a franchise approach.

So yeah, I haven't seen Project Hail Mar, Project Hail Mary yet.

My youngest saw it and wants to go and see it again on Saturday.

So I'm going to go with yeah, it's.

I saw it last week.

Right.

Yeah, it's great.

And, and following on from your point, I think there becomes a point where, you know, we all, we all like nostalgia but if that's all that's being served, I think people start to get a bit tired of it.

So yeah, I'm hoping, I'm hoping that there's space for people to have more of an appetite for, for the new.

Yeah, yeah, I would hope so.

I mean we've got, I mean whether it Seems to be more successful in that in movies.

I do hope that we get some more fresh kind of new kids content coming through that isn't just being swept up from YouTube.

But, you know, we'll have to see how commissioning budgets are in the future.

Yeah.

Willing to take a punt on something new.

Yes, indeed.

Yeah.

Right.

Okay.

We're, we're just.

Oh, there's my reminder to go and pick up the R. Perfect.

We beat the clock there.

We did beat the clock.

And what I will say is we'll finish off actually just by saying that the Kids Media Club podcast is going well.

I mean we're kind of here, there and everywhere.

You and Emily went to Kids Screen in San Diego whilst I was hosting in MIP London.

We are gonna be.

Emily went to Dingle.

Then we're gonna be at Content Europe in a couple of weeks time.

Yeah.

You're gonna be at the streaming thing before that as well.

And I'm going to stream TV Europe.

Yes.

Before that.

So I'm two.

Two successive weeks in Lisbon.

But you have to get flat.

Yeah.

So the Kids Media Club podcast will be out and about.

But if there is anyone in Kids Media who actually wants to meet us at those kind of conferences, let us know.

We'd be more than we.

We love chatting to people when we're out and about, don't we?

And also the Kids Media Club podcast and associated newsletter is open for collaboration.

So do let us know if you've got a big announcement or, or you've got something that you're launching at any one of these conferences and you'd like to amplify it through the Kids Media Club podcast.

We're, we're, we're open to offers.

Well, I am anyway.

Absolutely.

Yeah, we all are.

That was great.

I'll do a quick sign off so you can, you can get going.

So how you guys have enjoyed that.

Please like and subscribe wherever you get your podcast and we will see you next.