Case Study

How BBC Studios fuels global fan engagement with personalized experiences powered by Marigold Grow

BBC Studios is home to some of the most beloved entertainment brands in the world, from Doctor Who to Bluey. With a diverse global audience and a growing demand for digital content, BBC Studios needed a smarter way to gather data and deepen engagement.

Enter Marigold Grow.

The challenge: Reignite and retain a global fanbase

Before Marigold Grow, data collection was clunky. BBC Studios relied on less intuitive tools and manual processes, which slowed down campaign delivery and limited the amount of audience insight they could gather. What they needed was an easier way to engage fans across brands, while also learning more about their interests and behaviors.

“Grow has helped us influence content strategy. It’s more than just engagement—it’s about using data to make smarter decisions.”
—Manon Jones, BBC Studios

The solution: Interactive experiences built for engagement

Using Grow, the BBC team now creates branded experiences, such as quizzes, games, and spin-to-wins, across multiple properties, including Doctor Who, Bluey, and BBC Earth. These experiences have become a central part of BBC Studios’ CRM l strategy, designed to do three things:

  • Organically collect opt-ins and audience preferences
  • Increase engagement within email and web properties
  • Inform future content decisions through zero-party data

One standout campaign: the Doctor Who Quiz. Now in its fifth iteration, it’s a fan favorite and a clear example of how BBC Studios evolves interactive content to meet audience expectations.

As Manon Jones, BBC’s platform lead, explained:

“Every time we introduce a new doctor, we need to evolve. Our fans love proving how much they know, and Grow lets us keep up with that excitement.”

 

Measurable engagement at scale

  • The Doctor Who quiz was included in a welcome email and generated over 84,000 views and 61,000 entries—clear evidence that this type of content drives higher open and click-through rates compared to traditional formats.
  • Bluey’s quiz and spin-to-win campaigns were especially effective at re-engaging lapsed subscribers who re-engaged to receive downloadable content.

BBC Studios now regularly includes interactive campaigns in newsletters and welcome emails. Feedback modules embedded within campaigns help them refine what content to promote next.

 

From fun to functional: Using data to personalize the experience

The data gathered through Grow doesn’t just sit in a dashboard. It informs what content is delivered next. For example, BBC uses feedback after content previews to personalize what users see in future emails. And with new personalization plans underway, including tailoring Doctor Who content based on quiz results, audiences can expect even more relevant experiences ahead.

Why Marigold

BBC Studios values Grow’s ease of use, flexibility, and evolution. What used to be a multi-step, time-consuming process is now intuitive and fast, meaning more campaigns launched, more data collected, and more insights delivered to internal teams.

“We were using a different platform before Grow, and the experience of building was tricky. Marigold has improved over the years, and it’s really user-friendly to build on now.” —Manon Jones, BBC Studios
Looking ahead, BBC Studios is planning deeper platform integrations, more personalized audience journeys, and new interactive formats to keep its global fan base engaged and growing.

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