Earlier this year, the BBC announced a landmark strategic partnership with YouTube, focused on investments in new programming for the platform, showcasing more BBC moments on YouTube, and upskilling the next generation of future creators and producers from across the UK.
At the time, the BBC said it would be looking to build targeted communities for UK children and young adults on the platform, promote key BBC programme brands through it, deliver trusted, high quality news and drive commercial growth through global fandoms.
As part of this the corporation would be looking upskill and partner with creators, as well as established TV producers who want to create and commission digital-first content.
While this news may not have been surprising - in January, data from independent ratings body Barb showed Youtube reached more people than the BBC for the first time ever - it still remained somewhat unclear what the deal would mean in practice, and what it would do to BBC content going forward.
View oEmbed on the source websiteConsidering this, Radio Times spoke exclusively with Molly McDonald, executive producer and founder of social-first production company Blue Door Productions, to find out what she is expecting.
McDonald, a viral content producer and director who has worked in digital content for the last six years, said she personally wasn't surprised by the announcement, adding that "the move makes sense now, because for an entire generation, YouTube isn't an alternative, it's the main screen".
"I think under 25s already treat it as default television, and for BBC, it's probably about time that they embrace it," she said. "And I'm sure a lot of people have have been saying 2025 is the year that TV died - in viewership, in funding, in downsizing teams and the infrastructure of what these distribution channels are working with. To me, it feels appropriate to be jumping on now."
McDonald said that the BBC looking to partner with creators is "a huge step", adding: "The fact that they're looking for external production companies who specialise in social-first content means they recognise that it's not TV repurposed - it's very different.
"I think they have to make the distinction very clear from the start what the differences are between a YouTube piece or a traditional TV episodic. YouTube is fast paced, it's often conceived, not just cut down around a story, it's fit to be quite an intimate relationship with the audience."
McDonald said that when looking to create this "very different" content for YouTube, the approach should include "keeping retention in mind, keeping stakes throughout a story, a very strong hook at the very beginning,", while also adding that "your packaging is massive - your title and your thumbnail, what people immediately see."
However, she also acknowledged it will be important for the BBC to remains true to itself, and not lose the elements of its brand which have been so successful to date.
"I think if we break down what the BBC means, and it's very important for BBC to bring this onto this new format, it's the trust of fact checking and tone in the stories they're telling," McDonald said. "It's access journalism and it's cultural memory, having an impact that when people know the BBC logo is attached to it, there is just an automatic trust and a validity to the information that you're receiving.
"And then when we talk about fiction, when we talk about comedy, it's an editorial standard. It's a stylistic choice of the comedy being inherently British, part of the zeitgeist, and knowing that if you're clicking a BBC piece, there won't be a compromise on the quality of what you're viewing. It's not just clickbait, viral-worthy, churning out content because the algorithm demands it."
McDonald said she expects the sort of move the BBC is making to be common amongst all broadcasters in future, noting that she was worked with Channel 4 before, and that they have been "looking at it internally" but that "there is a push between the higher ups who come from decades of TV projects, and then the new, up and coming creatives, that are really pushing for it".
"There's still a bit of a divide there," she added, "but I guess in the next two years, we're going to see massive shifts, and that's really exciting to me as a YouTube producer."
Any content the BBC commissions specifically for YouTube may be "very different", but what will success in this arena look like for the corporation?
McDonald says it will be about "reaching an audience that doesn't use iPlayer, so obviously that younger, under 35s," and "thinking about engagement quality, not just virality".
"I think that they could possibly fall into a bit of a metrics hole, which we've all done before, where you're just trying to see the numbers tick up, when, in reality, what you need is a response from your audience that builds a core that then becomes loyal to you and your brand and whatever story you veer to tell," she added.
"And then trusting retention - it's the key to success on that platform, is making sure that at the end of every video your retention rates are high."
View oEmbed on the source websiteWhether this new, YouTube first content will sit alongside the corporation's current output on the platform - clips, trailers and archival content - McDonald says will depend upon "a period of experimenting to find out".
She said that unless the clips being shared are "archival, great BBC moments that are already living in the zeitgeist and already recognisable", the BBC should predominantly focus on "original formats, original concepts, collaborating with creators who are already established, as well as hopefully championing new talent that don't necessarily have the following that they're so reliant on at the minute."
YouTube isn't the only platform currently looking to work with the BBC - earlier this month, Netflix co-chief executive Greg Peters revealed that the streaming service is "eager" to host BBC programmes, in a closer relationship which would, according to the Telegraph, see it effectively replacing iPlayer.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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