K7’s Senior Researcher Dean Thornhill attended the annual TellyCast Digital Content Forum which took place on Thursday 7 November in London at BFI Southbank.

Organised by Justin Crosby (host of the TellyCast podcast), the event brings together the worlds of TV and digital content. This year the event featured a fresh lineup of expert guest speakers from the digital space, whether working in the social video world, or creating brand-backed projects in the linear space.

Below we give you our seven main takeaways from the day’s panels, along with a slate of exciting new digital series unveiled at ‘The Drop‘ portion of the event!

K7’s 7 Key Takeaways

1. Exploiting Content in Multiple Ways: There was a lot of talk of how IP holders can reuse their shows across different platforms in order to maximise revenue from a single piece of content. Strong Watch Studios’ Head of Production Bryony Hopkins used the example of how the company took a three-day shoot to create three long-form episodes of a series, which was later turned into over 400 pieces of repurposed short-form content!

2. Meta and Twitch Praise Short-Form: Both Meta and Twitch are looking to capitalise on the short-form community. Of course Meta has its Instagram Reels, which the company’s Head of Media and Creator Partnerships Dan Biddle says receive over 2.5 billion (yes, with a ‘B’!) shares in the platform’s direct messages every day! Twitch’s Josh Bloom also spoke about how the UGC streaming platform wants to cater more to short form in 2025.

3. Ruth Berry Talks Zoo 55: ITV Studios’ MD of ITV Studios Global Partnerships,Ruth Berry, had a fireside chat with Justin Crosby to discuss ITV’s newly announced digital label Zoo 55. Originally announced at MIPCOM, the venture is designed to expand ITV’s brands across YouTube, other social platforms, and AVOD services, utilising over 90,000 hours of ITV Studios’ catalogue. Zoo 55 will also create environments on gaming platforms like Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite, where consumers will be able to engage with its brands.

4. The YouTube Algorithm Doesn’t Exist?: YouTuber Group the Sidemen’s Head of Content Victor Bengtsson offered up a statement which might come to a shock to some! Bengtsson said “the YouTube algorithm doesn’t exist” and “if your videos aren’t performing well, you’re probably just bad at making videos”. Harsh words? Perhaps! However, it raises a good point! Plenty of YouTubers have tried to ‘understand the algorithm’ in order to grow their audience, but this might not be the way traditional TV players should approach the platform. Bengtsson believes that uploads on the platform should first and foremost just be “good content”, either pulled straight from their catalogs or new original series.

5. Branded Trends: In the branded world, Chloe McCullogh from the JD Sports social and branded team and social media creator Luke Vernon gave their predictions on what is next for the space. The pair agreed that they see the space growing overall, with McCullogh suggesting that we will see more brands creating their own series and projects in-house, which will be a game changer. Vernon believes that brands will create series to utilise more creators at once, moving away from hiring one or two social stars to just front a project, he believes that brands may even hire as many as 20 at time!

6. News Content is Booming on Social!: Finally, there was talk of how well news-related uploads are doing in the social space. Arguably, a current rise in viewership could be attributed to the recent US election and all of the stories leading up to it as well as post-result. However, short-form social platforms are clearly a great way to engage with younger audiences and have quickly become the first place where many Gen Z’ers get their regular daily news. We have seen this with the immense popularity of TikTok star Dylan Page who, until last month, was the most followed news account on the platform. The crown is now held by the Daily Mail’s official TikTok account.

7. New at the Event: Continuing to grow in scale, TellyCast launched ‘The Bridge’, a new Buyers Lounge, this year. This was a dedicated space where delegates could pitch concepts for possible digital series and formats to buyers including the likes of ITV Studios, BBC Studios, MTV, Night Train Digital, Sphere Abacus, Quintus Studios and more. Crosby also announced The TellyCast Social Video Awards, taking place next year.

The Drop

The last session of the day at Tellycast is known as ‘The Drop‘, where production companies and creators showcase a range of their upcoming projects. Last year, out of the small-scale projects which were featured, three received commissions for a longer form series in the linear space. Check out each company’s recently announced series below!

First up was Thom Gulseven’s and Ben Powell-Jones’ Strong Watch Studios, which showcased plans for four factual series; Knock Knock, a docuseries about the abuse and violence against women from those living in Jehovah’s Witness households. The People’s Parole Wall, where people react to crimes committed and must decide on a punishment before finding out the real verdict. Five Perspectives, showcasing how five different people were affected by a tragic event including the Afghanistan War and the 7/7 Bombings. Finally, Who’s Killing Cats, a documentary about the epidemic of cat murders in London.

Seen TV‘s Co-founder Yusuf Omar showcased the company’s Ahmad Alive, a docuseries showing life on the ground living through the current situation in Gaza. Seen TV is also readying Muslim Ish which follows Yusuf Omar’s exploration of what it means to be a modern Muslim, and how he feels about his faith. The series asks the question, is he in fact a true Muslim, or is he perhaps just ‘Muslim-ish’?

Next, Ben Zand from Zandland showcased Trapped With the Enemy, a social experiment series which features two people having a face-to-face conversation with each other despite having opposing views. During their hour long conversation the pair have a period where they maintain silent eye contact, agree on an issue and play a role reversal where they argue each other’s point. Zand stated that some of the participants they have in mind include an incel and a woman, as well as a left wing and right wing voter.

Last up was creator of the recent Channel 4.0 show Baddest In The World, Fawkes Digital. The company showcased its upcoming LinkedIn series dubbed CEOs In The Wild. The show features presenter and adventurer Tinuke Oyediran who will take a different female CEO on a overnight expedition into the wild and teach them basic survival skills. Whilst out there, Oyediran interviews the CEOs about their careers and experiences in the workplace as a woman.