Building Nesta's Content Engine

A channel reset.

The first focus was YouTube. I led a full channel reset, refining strategy, formats and distribution to better align with how audiences actually consume content on the platform.

This work was created in tandem with creating our brand new podcast, with the first two episodes generating 18K social views, with week-on-week YouTube view growth which quadrupled.

My starting point was diagnosing why the existing output wasn't landing. The issue wasn't effort, it was structure. There was no consistent format, no distribution logic, and no feedback loop between what was made and what the audience actually watched, partly due to absent analytics.

I reset the channel strategy around platform behaviour rather than internal preferences, introduced a shorts-led discovery funnel, and built the podcast as an extension of that system rather than a separate project.

Zero infrastructure. Three weeks.

Alongside this, I launched The Policy Fix podcast. With no producer or crew in place, I built the production from scratch, filming, directing and setting the workflow myself.

We launched 2 episodes within 3 weeks, supported by a daily YouTube Shorts strategy over a 2 week period to drive discovery and audience growth. The first 2 episodes generated 18K social views.

A business case that paid for itself.

Recognising the longer term opportunity, I proposed and secured a dedicated in-house podcast studio. I built the business case, focusing on cost efficiency and output scale.

Working with the amazing Nesta facilities team, the studio core was delivered in 3 weeks, with projected build costs recouped within 15 months. It gave Nesta a permanent production capability and removed the ongoing cost of external facilities.

Nesta's new in-house studio