Brian Cox signs long-term YouTube deal with Sony digital studio
Particle physicist and BBC presenter Brian Cox has signed a long-term partnership with Sony Pictures Television's International Production Digital Studio to create original formats for digital platforms for the first time, Deadline reported on 5 October 2026.
The agreement is structured as an ongoing partnership rather than a commission for one specific series. That means Cox and the studio can develop several ideas over time instead of delivering a fixed episode order. All of the content will be forged specifically for digital platforms and will span science, astronomy and culture.
Cox is a particle physicist who has presented BBC science programmes including Stargazing Live, The Planets and Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time. Those are broadcast television credits, built for scheduled slots and consolidated audiences. He already has a foothold online, with a YouTube channel counting more than 16,000 subscribers.
The studio sits inside Sony Pictures Television's international production business. It launched last year to engage with Britain-based content creators, create digital originals and build creator partnerships. The aim is to make shows that start life online rather than adapting television formats afterwards.
It is led jointly by Sacha Khari and Matt Ford. The two are former BBC Studios and Channel 4 executives, and now act as co-leads of the digital operation. Their brief covers finding creators, developing online ideas and staying with those creators across more than one project.
Cox is the studio's second headline creator signing. The first was Tom Simons, better known as TommyInnit. That partnership produced 100 Questions, a YouTube interview series. Guests on that series have included Cox himself and Stephen Fry, so viewers have already seen Cox in the studio's digital setting.
This time it is YouTube-first. For people who follow Cox, that means the next ideas will arrive as online formats shaped for how people watch on phones and laptops. Titles, episode counts and launch dates have not been disclosed.
What makes this stand out is continuity. A broadcast series ends and the team disperses. An ongoing digital partnership keeps the presenter and the production team together, with room to test ideas and keep telling a longer science story.
