BBC issues call for ‘YouTube-first funny entertainment formats’
Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date format
The BBC is about to start developing entertainment formats for a fledgling YouTube channel and has tasked indies with bringing it an idea that can replicate the success of digital hits like Chicken Shop Date and Hot Ones Versus.
The UK pubcaster describes BBC Showground (working title) as “a new YouTube-first home for entertainment formats that make audiences laugh out loud.”
It will feature “bold, returnable content that’s fun, uplifting and easy to recognise, with audience and a strong sense of community at its heart.”
The BBC is looking to work with UK-based production companies with a track record in returning digital entertainment for younger audiences, offering a paid development opportunity for the YouTube channel.
Approximately six companies will be selected to receive £5,000 (US$6,800) each to develop at least one returning format aimed at 16- to 34-year-olds, “while remaining inclusive of all ages,” the BBC said.
Following the development stage, the BBC will select three companies to each receive a commission for at least one returning format of five or more episodes, subject to final approval.
Each episode should be over 15 minutes in duration, working to an indicative production cost of £30,000 to £35,000 per episode. The deadline for applications is September 21, with production/delivery expected from March 2027 onwards.
The BBC has published an editorial brief for the kind of formats it is seeking, the latest in a handful of briefs it has published so far this year as part of its strategy to commission original content for YouTube. In tandem with this, it is also seeking a head of multiplatform commissioning to focus on platforms such as YouTube.
“We want entertainment that feels contemporary, playful and culturally fluent, carrying big-hearted mischief, dry wit and a distinct BBC sense of warmth,” the BBC said, adding that it is not looking for continuing narrative strands, elimination formats or series that rely on viewers following an ongoing competition.
The pubcaster is looking to bring together online content creators, familiar BBC faces, emerging comedians and real people to complete challenges as pairs.
“We want YouTube-first funny entertainment formats that present clear, playful and repeatable ideas, bringing different people and worlds together to create unexpected chemistry,” the brief continues.
“We want formats that can introduce the next generation of BBC talent alongside familiar BBC faces, using the format to reveal people in new ways rather than relying on existing fame alone.
“We’re looking for a broad range of executions, from contained formats built around one location or recurring setup to ideas that take talent into communities, workplaces and locations across the UK.”
Contained formats might include games, interviews transformed by a simple rule, improv, stand-up, sketches, roasts, quizzes and performance ideas.
“We are particularly interested in contained formats that demonstrate how a simple repeatable idea can create consistently entertaining episodes without relying on television scale,” the BBC said.
“Creative reference points include Chicken Shop Date for its dry wit and instantly recognisable social ritual, Hot Ones Versus for its escalating mechanic that exposes relationships, Game Changer and Make Some Noise for playful theatricality, improv and recurring format signatures, and Stand-Up On The Spot for reshaping stand-up through audience interaction and improvisation.”
The BBC added that these references are intended to “illustrate tone, mechanics and audience experience; they are not formats we expect producers to replicate.”
The pubcaster said it is not looking for television programmes made smaller or shorter for YouTube; conventional panel shows, gameshows or factual entertainment with digital talent; or formats built around one creator collective or dependent on one specific personality.
It also ruled out celebrity interviews or location visits with only a superficial challenge attached and formats “driven primarily by noise or aggression.”
