Around the World: BBC partners with YouTube for original content

Media expert Antony Young rounds up media news from beyond Aotearoa in a regular column for StopPress.

This week:

• Netflix is making its clearest move yet into video podcast.
• Unilever is doubling down on content creators after Vaseline became a TikTok hit.
• The BBC teams up with YouTube for original content and youth-focused channels.
• OpenAI is quietly laying the groundwork for its ads business.
• Fifa names TikTok its official media partner.

Netflix says video podcasts are ‘modern talk shows‘

Netflix is making its clearest move yet into video podcasts, positioning them as “modern talk shows at scale”. 

The streaming giant is the world’s biggest subscription TV service with 325m+ paid subscriptions and 2025 revenue up 17%, but faces slowing audience growth. 

Off the back of licensing deals with The Ringer, iHeartMedia and Barstool Sports, it’s rolling out shows fronted by the likes of Bill Simmons and Chelsea Handler. All of this sits inside a bigger “we want all your screen time” strategy: Netflix says it’s still under 10% of TV time in major markets. 

They remain in the driving seat to land Warner Bros Discovery with an all-cash offer, a move that would make it look less like a streamer and more like a full-stack entertainment studio.

Unilever doubles down on content creators 

Sometimes the best ideas do come from consumers!

Unilever is leaning hard into “social listening” after Vaseline unexpectedly became a TikTok hit, with users sharing viral “life hacks” that reframed the 150-year-old product as culturally current rather than nostalgic. 

Spotting the momentum, Unilever amplified the trend by testing popular claims in-house and feeding the results back to creators on TikTok. The process validated some uses (perfume longevity, leather restoration) while debunking others. This approach reflects the company’s shift toward creator-led advocacy, a strategy it has been promoting across its global FMCG brands over the past few years.

Under new CEO Fernando Fernández, the company is aiming to push around half of its ad spend into social content. This reflects wider shifts as younger audiences spend more time on platforms than TV and brands increasingly act like production houses.  

BBC to work with YouTube to broadcast original content

The BBC has struck a “strategic partnership” with YouTube that will see it produce original, YouTube-first programming and launch new channels targeting children and young adults.

This partnership marks a significant shift in how the public broadcaster reaches younger audiences. The deal also positions YouTube as a promotional funnel for major BBC moments and linear channels, beginning with the Winter Olympics. The move comes as the broadcaster responds to data showing YouTube overtook the BBC in total UK audience reach in December.

Beyond content, the partnership includes investment in UK creators, a training programme led by the National Film and Television School for 150 media professionals, and the ability for the BBC to monetise content shown outside the UK through advertising.  

ChatGPT ads coming soon

OpenAI is quietly laying the groundwork for its ads business, but its recent hiring makes clear this is still a conceptual build rather than a revenue machine.

Recent hirings of roles are skewing heavily toward engineers designing monetisation infrastructure, ad delivery and internal tools rather than traditional sales and agency executives. 

Their focus right now is on building the plumbing rather than pitching brands as the company works out how advertising could technically and safely function inside ChatGPT. 

Apps CEO Fidji Simo flagged attention on trust, brand safety and user experience as key issues. Despite previously calling ads a “last resort,” OpenAI is now under pressure to pursue advertising as leaked figures reported it expects to burn about $ 17bn in 2026 (up from $ 9bn in 2025).

Industry voices argue ads were always inevitable because most users won’t pay, and at OpenAI’s scale the economics of AI eventually demand a mass-market monetisation layer.

Fifa sets teams up with TikTok as an official media partner

Fifa’s new creator partnership with TikTok signals a decisive shift in how major sports events are marketed, experienced and monetised.

Digital creators are being given behind-the-scenes access, highlights and archive footage. In exchange, they’re producing a constant stream of content designed to make the World Cup unavoidable on social feeds.

The strategy reflects how audiences especially younger fans, have moved beyond traditional TV, with organisers wanting to stay present between matches and shaping conversation on “second screens”.

Borrowing from models used by the NFL and DAZN, creator networks are being used to drive traffic back to official coverage while opening new revenue streams through platform advertising and sponsorship amplification.

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