The Beeb on the Blox

Plus: $100M+ investments in creators + H&M are back

Author

Oli Thomas
April 16, 2024

Sometimes the media world can feel like a school disco: people stand nervously weighing each other up before eventually just bouncing between (dance) partners. Take this week for example: the BBC saddled up with Roblox, a Private Equity group jumped in with a set of YouTube creators, and a comedy sitcom flirted with a golfing brand.

But in reality, this is the direction of travel. The media circus is drawing in more and more players as audiences continue to fragment, cookies drop off, and brands chase the experience game.

Here’s your weekly rundown on the big news + spotlight on a UK startup with big potential in the gaming industry.

Hope you enjoy - love to hear any feedback good or bad…👍

Harry & Meghan’s next move on Netflix

  • So here’s the thing - H&M have an £80M contract with Netflix against which they need to deliver. Whilst their documentary was the most streamed doc of 2022, they haven’t done too much since to justify that money.

  • Following the tentpole ‘this is our life’ documentary, the next focus seems to be a couple of series that focus more on the behind the scenes of their daily lives.

  • For Harry, this is polo. For Meghan, this is apparently cooking and gardening.

  • Whilst they’ve amassed a fair amount of bad publicity in recent years, the couple still pull the crowds and Netflix knows this: global appeal, evergreen content, and show launches that will receive mass publicity across the world.

  • The big question is whether having them appear in more ‘regular’ documentaries and churning out the episodes will dilute this star factor.

  • It worked for the Kardashians…

    Read more here

    Source: Associated Press

Gaming dynasties reign supreme

  • A new report showed that the majority of gaming time (on consoles) was spent on older games in 2023: 77% of playtime was spent on games released over 2 years ago

  • The top 66 games accounted for 80% of playtime

  • And Fortnite was the #1 game across all platforms

  • What this means:

    • Breaking new gaming IP is really tough

    • Games publishers will increasingly find it hard to compete against the ecosystems of user-generated games being built within Fortnite and Roblox

    • Gaming is following the path of TV - big name IP will continue to thrive and have a place (think Marvel, Harry Potter, Game Of Thrones, etc), but the long tail will increasingly be occupied by user-generated content (Roblox/Fortnite in gaming, YouTube in TV)

Read more here

Source: Epic Games / Rockstar Games

The BBC launches on Roblox

  • The BBC has taken its first step into the world of Roblox, and its a pretty big one

  • ‘Wonder Chase’ is more than a simple kids game, its a full ‘world’ which leans on a lot of the BBC’s famous shows and faces to provide a full experience. This is about keeping the BBC relevant to younger audiences and recognising that the future of shows such as Match Of The Day, Eastenders, Doctor Who and more, relies on putting this content in front of Gen A and Gen Z, in the places they’re hanging out right now

  • Features at launch include:

    • Video streaming

    • Intrinsic ads (billboards featuring BBC shows, and opportunities to interact with BBC personalities - see screenshot below 👇)

    • Games

  • This comes in the same week that Roblox announced a new partnership with Pubmatic to enable programmatic selling of immersive video ads (see here) - unlocking video ad revenue on the platform could be a big earner for Roblox and the games developers in the future. Watch this space…

Read more here

Source: Roblox

Dude Perfect score $100M+ investment

  • Dude Perfect - the YouTube channel come entertainment network - raised $100M+ in capital investment from a Private Equity group, reflecting the growing interest in the creator space

  • The valuation here is not in YouTube ad revenues, but in the broader entertainment brand the DP team have built, which can be leveraged and applied to a much wider array of products and content in the future (incl. live events, co-pro deals with streamers, etc)

  • It demonstrates the potential value of an emerging playbook in the creator space - (1) build an engaged community of fans on YouTube and/or social, and then (2) develop new products and derivative content to sell to those fans. The trick, of course, is in nailing (1)

  • Its also the same week in which Warner Bros Discovery sold off the Rooster Teeth podcast network to Night, the creator management network behind Mr. Beast and others (see here)

  • So whilst investment firms are betting big on creators, Traditional Media is tightening its belt and focusing on the core, of which podcast networks and creators are not a part. Right or wrong move? - time will tell…

Read more here

Startup watch: Clearly Development

🎯 Looking for: Brand partnerships

👥 Founder: Lucien Kinsman

⛺️ Pitch: With nearly 10,000 developers on the platform, Clearly Development is one of the largest marketplaces for Roblox developers to showcase and sell their work. With more than £500k already paid out to developers, and the massive growth in Roblox activity, ClearlyDev is the perfect platform for brands and agencies looking to explore building their own branded experiences.

😎 Our take: The magic in Clearly Dev is in the fact that it was built by developers for developers. Lucien and his friends were some of the original Roblox gamers and developers, and created Clearly Dev whilst still at school as a platform to try and sell their craft. 4 years on and the platform is well established amongst the Roblox developer community. As more brands and corporates look to move in on Roblox (eg. the BBC, as above) Clearly Dev are seeing increasing demand for wider support and developer services. So much potential, and well worth a conversation if you’re interested in exploring Roblox.

Read more and contact the team here