BBC Studios has tapped veteran TV exec Zai Bennett to lead its BBC Studios Productions content division as CEO and chief creative officer.

Reporting to BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell, Bennett will join in November. His oversight encompasses genres including kids & family, factual, scripted and audio, spanning the company’s 12 UK production units and international production bases in the Nordics, India, Australia, Spain, South Africa, Germany, France and the US.

He will look to build out “high-value, distributable IPs,” strengthen the value of returning series, secure new commissions, and grow BBC Studios’ international format pipeline through development opportunities in existing markets and new territories.

Another crucial part of Bennett’s new role will be to maintain the division’s position as a “provider of scale original streamer series, while also continuing to be the biggest supplier of content to the BBC,” according to a release.

Among BBC Studios Productions’ biggest kids titles are Bluey, Hey Duggee and its book adaptation The Famous Five.

Bennett is currently finishing out his role as MD of content at fellow British broadcaster Sky, where he oversees services including Sky Kids, Sky Cinema, Sky Max, Sky Arts and Sky Atlantic. On the children’s side of this business portfolio, he oversaw the launch of Sky Kids’ first linear channel in 2023. 

Before joining Sky in 2014, Bennett was a controller at BBC Three and a director of digital channels and acquisitions at ITV.

His addition to the BBC Studios team comes at a turbulent transitional time, with the BBC preparing to cut 500 more public-service roles by the end of March 2026. BBC Studios Kids & Family’s longtime development exec Liz Randall is also leaving the company this month as part of a previously announced round of job cuts that is expected to eventually affect up to 13 positions.