The Apprentice and BBC iPlayer on TikTok
Modern Marketing for a traditional TV show
Welcome to Good TikTok Creative! We are Simon Andrews and Anthony McGuire, two people who have been working in marketing, advertising, and media for decades. Find Simon and Anthony on Twitter.
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Good TikTok Creative: The Apprentice/BBC iPlayer on TikTok
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Simon’s Take:
Every year we get surprised to find The Apprentice is back - the BBC have chosen to drag out another series.
The format feels tired, the judges look tired and the applicants become more stereotyped every year.
It’s not surprising to see BBC iPlayer running ads to try and build the audience but the trad ads remind us just how well social could add a fresh dimension to the Apprentice.
I guess the BBC has to do due diligence on the talent - and checking their socials must be a big part of that - you can be sure the Daily Mail et al is looking for embarrassing posts.
Imagine if each contestant had been given a fresh social profile to chronicle their Apprentice story - from finding out you had a place to the prep and meeting the rest of the team.
Avoiding giving away plot points would be a challenge but the managed insights could freshen up the format and add depth to the contestants.
What we do see the beeb doing is quite smart - they have partnered with some influencers to get their thoughts and creating some distance between what’s officials and what’s influencers opinions adds a new dimension.
@RisingBallers picks up on Sir Alans love of Spurs and @SamHam notes Big Zu gets featured.
As the BBC starts making shows designed for YouTube, we hope the connection goes both ways - what can BBC learn from the formats that win on social?
Imagine giving the Sidemen or Jake Paul a brief to reimagine the Apprentice?
Anthony’s Take:
First, let’s set the context. The Apprentice (UK) is an unscripted “business reality competition show” now in its 20th series. It’s a spinoff of the US show that began in 2004 with Donald Trump as the host.
Over twenty-plus years, The Apprentice still gets enough viewership to be one of the BBC’s top shows. Though the show is far from its peak ratings, it still manages to be a talking point in British pop culture.
So if you’re on the marketing team of the BBC/BBC iPlayer/The Apprentice, you’ve needed to evolve your thinking. Marketing The Apprentice in 2026 is different than marketing it in 2016.
And for this latest, newly released season, it appears that the marketing team is doubling down on all the cultural conversation that surrounds The Apprentice.
The Apprentice is partnering with creators like @SamHam and @RisingBallers to create ads that function more like conversation starters around the show.
@SamHam creates a lot of reaction content, so his ad is essentially a video of him reacting to latest trailer of The Apprentice. Apart from a few sentences of awkwardly placed corporate copy, it comes across pretty naturally—more like organic content than a blatant ad. It makes me aware of the show and drives interest for me to watch.
@RisingBallers is a large football entertainment channel on TikTok but they also have a specific format called “In Football Terms,” where creator @Jensen explains a topic using only football references. This creative execution is pretty solid, very social-native and would help reach the football fans they clearly have in mind with this idea.
Creators are the voices who can help your brand tell your story. And the best ways to leverage creators can often be by giving them at least some creative freedom.
The videos from @SamHam and @RisingBallers work because they are native to the creator, not just paid ad reads where they say, “Go watch The Apprentice now on BBC iPlayer.”
This is the subtle, but powerful shift in how you should be approaching modern marketing on social media. This is how you demonstrate an understanding of human insight and consumer behavior.
Honestly I wouldn’t even be surprised if the TikTok-adjacent/reaction content gets even more views than the show’s official episodes.
And from looking at this latest TikTok campaign, it seems like the marketing team of the BBC/BBC iPlayer/The Apprentice understands this as well.
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