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Building Lasting Growth in the Digital Age

  • Writer: Engine Room
    Engine Room
  • Jul 17
  • 3 min read

Updated: Aug 2

ENGINE ROOM NEWS & INSIGHTS | DIGITAL GROWTH | JULY 2025

By Engine Room


The media landscape never stands still. Platforms evolve. Audiences shift. Formats fragment. Yet, the challenge remains: how do we build growth that lasts?

BBC Studios: Digital Transformation
BBC Studios: Digital Transformation

After two decades working across MTV, ITV, Fremantle, and BBC Studios, one thing is clear. Digital success isn’t a single moment. It’s a sustained build. It takes structure, vision, and the right pressure applied at the right time. Most importantly, it takes people.


Real growth doesn’t come from a pivot. It comes from belief in where things are headed and in the teams building the road to get there.


Laying the Groundwork for Scalable Growth


From QVC to MTV to BBC Studios, the focus has always been on content that performs not by luck, but through design. At QVC, it was about how live formats and platforms influence real-time behaviour. At MTV, campaigns were scaled across borders before multi-platform was even a buzzword. At BBC Studios, a major digital transformation reshaped how the business approached growth—carefully, structurally, and with strategic patience.


The Numbers Speak Volumes


The results are impressive:


  • 111% year-on-year growth in YouTube ad revenue (2025)

  • 92% increase in total YouTube view-time

  • 100+ channels in 17+ languages, forming a true global network

  • Bluey: 14B social video views and 75M+ views on Book Reads alone


But the real story isn’t just in the stats. It’s in the teams that rebuilt how value was seen. YouTube stopped being a promo tool and became a content engine. Rights, commercial, and editorial teams aligned behind shared outcomes. Platform-native formats flourished, and creative leads were backed to innovate with confidence.


It was foundational.


From Systems to Stories and Back Again


Shifting how digital was understood meant sharing insights, challenging assumptions, and championing where audiences were already heading. Much of the work happened quietly, building trust across departments. We aligned with rights and commercial teams, proving that digital could deliver more than just reach.


Success came from empowering a brilliant, cross-functional team not just to create content but to reshape how the business valued and structured it. Their bold thinking and collaborative spirit turned early experiments into long-term change.


The Engine Pop Approach


At Engine Pop, we take those same principles and apply them to a new generation of growth challenges. Creativity and commercial clarity work hand in hand.


We collaborate with:


  • Arts and culture organisations to turn ideas into scalable IP

  • Purpose-led brands to align values with commercial outcomes

  • Studios and production companies to rethink commissioning and monetisation

  • Talent-led businesses and creators to expand IP beyond platforms into licensing, partnerships, and owned ecosystems


We don’t chase trends. We design systems for growth. We bring the human edge and the strategic spine to help clients move with clarity, not just content.


Why Strategy Matters Now


The digital landscape is shifting rapidly:


  • YouTube Shorts sees over 70B daily views.

  • TV-based YouTube watch time reaches up to 45% in key markets.

  • Branded content spend is expected to exceed $30B by 2026.

  • Creator businesses are forecast to be worth $500B+ by 2027.


These aren’t trends to watch. They’re realities to plan for.


Let’s Build Growth That Lasts


Growth isn’t just a spike on a dashboard. It’s a long game of systems, stories, and smart strategy. That’s what we build at Engine Pop: IP with commercial longevity, designed to move across YouTube, social, streaming, and brand worlds.


If you’re ready to move with clarity, not just content, let’s talk.


Contact Engine Pop hello@enginepop.co

Connect with Athena on LinkedIn


Athena Witter is the founder of Engine Pop and a former creative and strategy leader at BBC Studios, MTV/Viacom, QVC, and Virgin. She specialises in digital-first content strategy, IP development, platform growth, and future-facing business models for the creative industries.

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