In India, we expect growth in both OTT and Linear TV, says BBC Studios’ Myleeta Aga

The merger of BBC Worldwide and BBC Studios has brought several key functions of the media conglomerate — content development, production, commissioning, sales and distribution, as well as creation of new IPs — under one umbrella. BBC Studios’ Myleeta Aga tells Sonam Saini about how the merged entity offers an edge in serving different market requirements, the focus on SVoD, and the potential of branded content. Edited excerpts:

How has the merger of BBC Worldwide and BBC Studios panned out? How has it impacted the India business?

It was a strategic move. Traditionally, BBC Worldwide was the content distribution company, and BBC Studios was a production house based in the UK, but did not exclusively create content for the BBC channels. With the merger, we integrated the creation and distribution of content. This allows us to leverage the full suite of content skills. The network can effectively compete in the changing media landscape, where there are both global and local SVoD players, as well as local broadcasters with different content requirements. In most Southeast Asian countries, there is a lot of interest in BBC channels’ content; in India, there is a lot of interest in BBC’s production capabilities; whereas in Germany, we have content partnerships with existing free-to-air broadcasters. Now, we are able to serve each of these markets.