Three years after ex-LADbible executives Ben Powell-Jones and Thom Gulseven launched Strong Watch Studios with backing from Hat Trick Productions' Jimmy Mulville, the digital-first studio is delivering for Channel 4, the BBC and Netflix - and has just hired two senior TV executives to help it do more.
This week on TellyCast, Justin Crosby is joined by co-founder Ben Powell-Jones for his first solo appearance on the show, to talk through how Strong Watch actually works: the strategy-first pitch that won Channel 4's A Comedy Thing, why the studio calls itself a content company rather than a digital one, and why Ben believes TV and digital commissioning are converging into a single industry — content distribution.
The conversation also covers Strong Watch's expanding slate, including last year's Sidemen series three for Netflix and the Pluto TV FAST deal for its own factual series People Are Deep, why Ben thinks the creator economy is giving way to a "community economy" built on platforms like Patreon and Substack, and where AI fits — and doesn't — in the studio's workflow.
Inside this episode:
Why Jimmy Mulville backed Strong Watch Studios, and how the deal came together
Hiring senior TV executives Adam Reeve and Helen Gordon into a digital-first structure
The strategy-first pitch behind Channel 4's A Comedy Thing, and who owns what
Why TV and digital commissioning are merging into one "content distribution" industry
Content acquisition, TFI Friday and Piers Morgan's Uncensored playbook
Taking People Are Deep from YouTube to Pluto TV and FAST channels
What LADbible's pandemic-era data taught Ben about stripping out "creative ego"
The shift from creator economy to "community economy," and what Time Team's Patreon success reveals
Why Strong Watch uses AI everywhere except in the content itself
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