Cecilia Persson Outlines BBC Studios Kids & Family Strategy

Cecilia Persson, managing director of BBC Studios Kids & Family, discussed the division’s strategy for bringing content to broadcast and streaming partners around the world as day two of the TV Kids Summer Festival kicked off today.

Persson took part in a keynote conversation with TV Kids’ Anna Carugati that you can view here. She outlined the strategy for the division she oversees, which was formed last April and formally unveiled to the global market at MIPJunior last year.

On attracting talent to the unit, Persson noted: “In November, Edward Barnieh joined us as our head of development. He leads our internal development team and has brought an external look to the market and knowledge and awareness of people that we haven’t necessarily worked with, both on the talent side and the broadcast side. He’s working very closely with our team to get out there and find new ideas, new approaches to content as well as talent that we hadn’t previously worked with. We’ve also continued relationships with talent we’ve been working for years with, like Jacqueline Wilson, and also brought in established writers like Eoin Colfer. It’s been a bit of new and a bit of continuing what’s tried and tested for us.”

Articulating the approach to working with talent, Persson said, “It’s very important that you give individuals the space and the support needed to realize the original idea that was appealing to us and fit with what we needed for our slate in the first place. But then also, one of the reasons we feel that we’ve gotten a lot of positive interest in what we’re developing is that trust that comes with being the BBC and the values that we uphold. It’s an ongoing process and one that our team are very well versed in to be able to work with this talent to accomplish and deliver.”

Setting a clear content strategy has been paramount for her unit, Persson said, working in tandem with broadcast partners, digital and consumer-products teams, “to make sure that we are pulling together and approaching the audience at the same time and harnessing what the characters and the stories are about, and making sure that we’re giving the best opportunity for our shows to land when they launch or as they continue to connect with audiences. Also making sure that there’s consistency in how our characters are presented and that they embody the characteristics and the joy that the shows are about, so that they connect with the audience and they recognize that thread. It’s essential for this audience as they’re coming up now, particularly in preschool, that they are able to connect and see the characters that they love and see the stories that they enjoy in many places, and that they can dig deeper and learn more and understand more. That sort of access is important for kids today. And that’s what we’re working on accomplishing with our content.”

Addressing the challenges of discoverability, Persson explained: “It is about consistency and being available on a lot of platforms—being ubiquitous and working with your partners to make that possible. Parents and kids are expecting games, YouTube short content compilations. It’s that consistency of delivering the characters and the stories across all those different mediums. You can build the perfect storm so that you are cutting through in this fragmented environment.”

Persson then talked about the role of co-pros in the company’s kids’ slate. “We want to connect with audiences globally. It’s really important that you have a partner that can bring that editorial input that connects with an audience. So you don’t sort of get too focused on what you know and where you come from. We also work on co-productions with independent producers. Hey Duggee is a co-production with Studio AKA and commissioned with CBeebies. It’s about finding the right partnerships to get that editorial execution, but also to think about a broader market than potentially where your original talent is from.”

The conversation then moved to sustainable production, a tenet that is “core” to BBC Studios, Persson said. “We follow a British sustainability process called Albert rigorously. This is something that we are very invested in and we know that our audiences want this.”

DNI is also core to the organization, Persson explained. “We want to reflect the audience watching the programs. That’s imperative for us. We have been investing in securing people both in front and behind the camera that are diverse.”

Carugati then asked Persson about building L&M campaigns for IPs. “Initially, it is about finding the story and the character that is going to be compelling, that’s going to connect with an audience. Once you know what kind of story you’re telling, you can see if it lends itself to live beyond the screen. The audience wants to connect with their favorite characters. They want to be able to explore more and get to understand their worlds more and touch, feel and play.”