05/03/2025 - The session covered creative strategies, distribution models, and commissioning practices to unlock new opportunities in the evolving TV industry

l-r: Matt Campion, Anouk van Dijk, Amie Parker-Williams and Justin Crosby during the session

“Shaping Success in the Digital-First Era: Insights from production, distribution, and commissioning” in partnership with TellyCast, was the title of a discussion that took place at MIP London on February 27. The panel was moderated by Justin Crosby, founder of TellyCast, and the speakers were Matt Campion, founder and creative director at Spirit Studios, Anouk van Dijk, head of sales and co-productions at Quintus Media GmbH, and Amie Parker-Williams, director of digital commissioning and production at MTV and Comedy Central.

Parker-Williams opened the discussion by explaining that understanding the audience means valuing collected insights and using them to understand what is resonating and where the engagement is happening, through watch-time, likes and shares data. “We see audiences gravitate towards the real, the raw and the personal,” she added, discussing how the digital-first era is affecting their choices. She then mentioned how MTV is responding by providing new formats, such as MTV Faces” their mental health original series tackling topics such as ADHD, grief or neurodiversity. 

Parker-Williams also highlighted the value of fandom: “Every Woman, our series on Sophie Kasaei’s struggle with infertility, is a really good example of fuelling the existing fandom obsessed with the Geordie Shore universe, while also bringing in people who would not really watch reality TV but that are really invested in the subject matter.” She concluded by saying that the key to success is “to become platform-fluent”, understanding the differences each platform brings to content, mentioning also how, over the past few years, MTV have worked much more closely with their linear partners, demonstrating that digital-first commissioning doesn’t mean digital-only, as some of their best ideas have started online and then expanded to the wider business. 

Campion presented his company by saying: “We produce TV shows of a wide genre mix. We make comedy, for example, we've been making a stand-up sketch show for ITV for the past six years. We make a lot of true crime documentaries and factual content, too. We're now moving into the scripted drama space, both in digital and television, with some really exciting, big projects on the horizon. We have our own studio in central London, which produces a multitude of podcasts, video-based podcasts that can double as television shows.”

Spirit Studios’s creative director presented Outsmarting, a series initially produced for Channel 4 as a 10x10’ YouTube series that eventually turned into both a long form linear TV show and a podcast, as an example of one of their most successful productions. The project demonstrates how one piece of IP can be repurposed across various platforms, in a moment that Campion sees as a "golden age" for multi-platform production, where there are endless opportunities despite industry challenges. 

Van Dijk presented Quintus Media, which began as a distribution company in 2012, evolving into a broadcaster on YouTube with 14 channels focused on high-end long-form documentaries. The company started commissioning original content two years ago while still collaborating with broadcasters. “In the traditional linear world, the commissioning broadcaster pays upfront, with the profit and production fee secured at the start. In contrast, digital platforms generate revenue gradually, quarter by quarter. This requires a shift in mindset, as we still need to finance production upfront, but the success materialises later when we begin generating revenue. I believe this is the biggest shift in digital."