TellyCast: The content industry podcast

Ahead of the TellyCast Digital Content Forum returning to BFI Southbank on 5 November, we're revisiting one of last year's standout sessions.
Daniel Winner chairs a conversation with three of the most active investors in creator and social video businesses in the UK: Indi Sunner of Lunar X, Jason Kingston-Brown of Viewture, and Claire Geddie of Electrify Video Partners.
They discuss why institutional capital has replaced vanity investing in this space, what makes a YouTube-first business investible, how valuations are actually calculated, why the "thousand true fans" model has overtaken subscriber count as the metric that matters, and what founders need in place before they raise.
Watch the panel session
Recorded live at the TellyCast Digital Content Forum 2025.
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Emma Walker founded Curly Media in January 2022, after deciding she did not want to spend her career in a television industry that was contracting around her. Three and a half years on, the agency has made Spotify's Wrapped campaign in the UK, Sky's Danny Dyer lookalike contest, video podcasts for Netflix and work for Nike and BBC Studios.
She joins Justin Crosby to explain the commercial logic that took her straight to brands. Brand money was already paying for television through ad breaks, so the question was never whether brands would fund content, only who they would fund it through. What follows is a practical account of how that money actually moves: which departments hold which budgets, why social, PR, marketing and out of home teams need to be treated as one conversation rather than several, and why understanding a client's internal politics matters as much as the creative work.
Emma takes us inside the Spotify Wrapped UK film, built around twelve artists and twelve scenes, each designed to stand alone so every artist could post their own moment. She explains the cultural nods that carried it, the ITV ad break takeover that put it in front of an audience that never sees TikTok, and the world building approach Curly now applies to every campaign, where a single hour on set produces assets that all belong to the same universe.
We also cover the economics. Project fees against retainers, the absence of an IP tail in branded work, and what changes when a business can finally see a few months of runway. Emma discusses hiring Jade Green out of Spotify's social marketing team, why brand side experience is now a competitive advantage for a production business, and a newly greenlit project that points somewhere genuinely new: a scripted mini series, brand funded, but commissioned by a broadcaster who keeps editorial control.
Plus the Disney and TikTok deal, a viral friendship between a monkey and a Buddhist nun, and who is going in the bin this week.
(00:00) Introduction 
(00:57) Founding Curly Media and being a chameleon business 
(02:50) The first commission and why podcasts were the way in 
(03:30) "I don't love podcasts": moving from audio to video 
(05:00) From video podcasts to branded social storytelling 
(06:00) Why branded entertainment works best when content leads 
(06:40) Brand money was already funding television 
(09:00) Where brand budgets sit and how to navigate departments 
(12:00) Sky's Danny Dyer lookalike contest and 10 million organic views 
(15:40) Making Spotify Wrapped UK 
(18:30) Cultural nods, bus auntie and building for the feed 
(21:00) The ITV ad break takeover and designing scenes to stand alone 
(23:00) World building: one shoot, one universe, many assets 
(24:40) Hiring Jade Green from Spotify and why brand side experience matters (28:45) A brand funded scripted series with broadcaster editorial control 
(30:30) Project fees, retainers and life without IP 
(32:40) What comes next and what producers can learn from creators 
(34:00) Story of the week: Disney and TikTok 
(36:20) Hero of the week 
(37:50) Get in the bin
TellyCast is the podcast about the business of digital-first video, hosted by Justin Crosby. Produced by Spirit Studios and recorded in London.
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/85nAhf1oAIY
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Three years after ex-LADbible executives Ben Powell-Jones and Thom Gulseven launched Strong Watch Studios with backing from Hat Trick Productions' Jimmy Mulville, the digital-first studio is delivering for Channel 4, the BBC and Netflix - and has just hired two senior TV executives to help it do more. 
This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by co-founder Ben Powell-Jones for his first solo appearance on the show, to talk through how Strong Watch actually works: the strategy-first pitch that won Channel 4's A Comedy Thing, why the studio calls itself a content company rather than a digital one, and why Ben believes TV and digital commissioning are converging into a single industry — content distribution.
The conversation also covers Strong Watch's expanding slate, including last year's Sidemen series three for Netflix and the Pluto TV FAST deal for its own factual series People Are Deep, why Ben thinks the creator economy is giving way to a "community economy" built on platforms like Patreon and Substack, and where AI fits — and doesn't — in the studio's workflow.
Inside this episode:
Why Jimmy Mulville backed Strong Watch Studios, and how the deal came together
Hiring senior TV executives Adam Reeve and Helen Gordon into a digital-first structure
The strategy-first pitch behind Channel 4's A Comedy Thing, and who owns what
Why TV and digital commissioning are merging into one "content distribution" industry
Content acquisition, TFI Friday and Piers Morgan's Uncensored playbook
Taking People Are Deep from YouTube to Pluto TV and FAST channels
What LADbible's pandemic-era data taught Ben about stripping out "creative ego"
The shift from creator economy to "community economy," and what Time Team's Patreon success reveals
Why Strong Watch uses AI everywhere except in the content itself
Story of the Week
Hero of the Week
Get in the Bin
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Recorded on the ground at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this Cannes special closes the current series of TellyCast before the summer break. Host Justin Crosby meets three guests working at the point where advertising, entertainment and technology now converge.
Jason Day, Head of EMEA at Luma AI, explains how the company is unifying multiple video and image models into a single creative platform, why he believes the technology has moved ahead of consumer expectations, and how brands are building AI capability in-house rather than outsourcing it. He also discusses Luma Agents and the Moses drama series produced with Wonder Project and Amazon Prime.
Will Scougal, EVP of Brand and Commercial Partnerships at ITV Studios' Studio 55, unpacks Double Date Island, the TikTok-first dating format built with Tinder and OMD. He sets out why ITV Studios is bringing broadcast-grade IP and creator craft to brands, and why production groups are still rare at Cannes.
Emma Hardie Commercial and Brand Director at Aardman, marks 50 years of the studio with a look at how Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit and a forthcoming Pokémon series translate into brand partnerships, gaming, Roblox and live experiences, from a Japanese farmhouse recreation to Feathers McGraw tattoos in China.
TellyCast returns in September, with the Digital Content Forum taking place in London on 5 November. Explore the back catalogue of more than 270 shows, plus recent content from the studio and events, on the TellyCast YouTube channel.

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What does it take to build one of the UK’s most successful branded entertainment franchises?
This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by Mark Rivers, co-founder of Cold Glass Productions, the company behind the award-winning Dish from Waitrose podcast and video series.
Mark shares the remarkable story behind the show’s growth from a bold business plan into a billion-view entertainment brand, why Cold Glass doesn’t think of itself as a podcast company, and how premium digital entertainment is reshaping the production landscape.
They discuss:
Why podcasting is now an entertainment business, not an audio business
Building Dish from Waitrose into one of the UK’s biggest branded content success stories
Creating different edits for YouTube and Spotify audiences
The importance of quality in an increasingly crowded podcast market
Working with A-list talent including Dave Grohl, Emilia Clarke and Louis Theroux
Why distribution strategy should be developed alongside creative
Cold Glass Productions’ new original series Outside In
Subscription, Substack and the future of creator-led media businesses
How TV production companies can learn from digital-first entertainment brands
If you’re interested in the future of podcasts, branded entertainment, YouTube strategy or the convergence of television and digital media, this episode is essential listening.

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Sign up for The Drop newsletter
Enrol on the TellyCast Digital Bootcamp
Buy tickets for the Digital Content Forum
Subscribe to the TellyCast YouTube channel for exclusive TV industry videos
Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect with Justin on LinkedIN
TellyCast videos on YouTube
TellyCast website
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TellyCast Twitter
TellyCast TikTok