LONDON SCREENINGS: With the screenings in the UK capital entering their final day, C21 hears from another pair of international programme buyers about their content requirements and how demand for UK programming is changing in their markets.

Wiernik

Cathrine Wiernik
Director of acquisitions, formats and development, TV4, Sweden

What sort of demand are you seeing at the moment for UK content in Sweden and how has it changed?
The demand is unchanged; it’s still extremely high. It’s always been extremely high, historically, especially for scripted acquisitions. Crime has been one of the most important acquired categories of all – it’s a huge genre in the Nordics, not just in Sweden, and it resonates so well with our Nordic audience.

UK acquired content is also crucial for both our SVoD and AVoD platforms and for our linear channels. Given the competition from the global SVoD players and all the US content they provide, it’s even more important that we keep offering UK content as a differentiating profile.

Can you talk about some UK shows or formats from the UK that you have had success with recently?
We have a big volume of acquired UK crime shows and dramas that have done really well. To name a few, we’ve had Professor T [ITV], Dalgliesh [Channel 5], The Missing [BBC One], Death in Paradise [BBC One], The Deceived [Channel 5], Mrs Wilson [BBC One] and Bloodlands [BBC One]. On our SVoD service C More, we’ve had huge success with the second window of Line of Duty [BBC One]. Sweden’s pubcaster, SVT, has the first window and C More has the second, and it’s the biggest UK show of the year.

BBC One crime drama Bloodlands

We also have a lot of unscripted reality shows where we extend our local versions with acquired international versions, and we’ve had continuing success with Love Island UK [ITV]. We’ve also had success with our local adaptations of UK formats like SAS: Who Dares Wins [Channel 4], which launched last year and did really well on our AVoD player, TV4 Play. We’ll soon be launching the first season of gameshow The Wheel [BBC One], of which we’ve made Swedish and Finnish local versions.

Do you think UK drama is becoming a replacement for US drama, as the big studios hold back content for their own platforms?
Yes, to some extent it is, because we have a need to differentiate our content and find available content in competition with the global streamers. That’s also why BritBox is so important for C More; C More secured a partnership with BritBox through which it has become the exclusive partner in the Nordics, so our hope with BritBox is to create the home for the best of British on C More in that region. It’s essential to diversify C More from the global streamers that provide so much premium Hollywood content.

We are, however, still very much looking to secure premium US shows and feature films, which remain a very important content category for C More. Given the availability is more limited these days, we are open to finding creative solutions around windowing and exclusivity.

What are you looking for at the London Screenings this year?
Given we have already secured BritBox for C More, we’re now concentrating on UK content for TV4 Play, so our main focus is content with standalone AVoD rights. It doesn’t necessarily only have to be scripted, we’re also looking at unscripted and comedy formats as well, with a key focus on the younger demographic of people aged 25 to 45.

With formats, we’re looking for anything that sticks out, that makes noise and has the power to bring in big, broad audiences. Also, just because we have BritBox already covered for C More, that doesn’t mean we’re not still looking for the next big premium appointment TV show for C More, too. We won’t miss, for example, the next Bodyguard or Vigil, so we’re definitely going into the market asking people to pitch all the big shows to us, specifically those that will not end up on BritBox.

Kellie Brown

Kellie Brown
Manager of content acquisitions and partnerships, Discovery Australia & New Zealand

How has demand for UK content – both comedies and dramas – changed in New Zealand over the past decade?
The game-changer for all scripted content, not just from the UK, has obviously been the evolution of streaming services in the past decade. Audiences are increasingly looking to VoD to find their scripted content rather than the classic free-to-air model. That said, we are lucky on Three [Discovery’s general entertainment channel] as we are one of the few places in our territory where the classic procedural dramas such as NCIS and 9-1-1 still perform for us.

We are also about to launch our new FTA channel, Eden, in March. This will provide a new FTA home for UK drama in New Zealand and as part of our AVoD offering on ThreeNow. Eden provides a broad offering to the top end of our commercial 25-54 demo. It will include drama, entertainment, lifestyle, gameshows and popular factual programming, along with features and a daily news bulletin – essentially a full-service FTA channel. It will have a strong focus on UK programming, bringing lots of opportunities to acquire at the London Screenings.

How does the popularity of UK content compare with content from other countries as well as local Three programming?
New Zealanders have always had a strong affinity for content out of the UK and I don’t think that has changed, which is one of the main reasons we decided to make this the focus of our new channel. What has changed is the kind of UK content that is working for us. The shows that used to come to mind when you thought of the UK were highbrow drama and documentary, soaps and cheesy gameshows. However, none of those formats have really ever worked for Three as our audiences tend to be younger than the average FTA viewer. Where we are now having success is the innovative new ideas and formats coming out of the UK, like Our DNA Journey and Married At First Sight UK.

Three is seeking innovative formats such as Married At First Sight

How is Three coping with competition from global streamers to acquire UK programming?
In New Zealand, there’s such a strong local VoD presence along with a highly competitive market, which makes it more attractive for distributors to exclude us from global streaming deals for both VoD and FTA deals. We intend to take advantage of this and boost ThreeNow’s presence in this market with big, noisy, one-offs and series which get viewers talking and bring them into the platform, where they’ll find the great depth of content housed there from our Discovery pipeline and soon-to-be five FTA channels.

Which UK formats have you adapted in 2021 and do you have any more in the pipeline?
We are only in the market for unscripted formats across the board. This year we have our returning local versions of Dancing With the Stars and MasterChef, both of which have been resting for a few years. We are also currently working on our own version of Sort Your Life Out from All3Media. We feel this is a great contemporary take on the DIY/life hacks genre with lots of energy and heart, perfect for the Three audience. With so many disruptions over the past two years, we have begun to take a longer view on local productions. We’re looking forward to the 2023 schedule and keen to see what exciting new formats come up at the London Screenings.

What kind of content and which genres will you be looking for at the London Screenings?
It’s exciting to have so many platforms to buy for as it means my wishlist is long and fairly broad. As I’ve mentioned, we are always in the market for the big, shiny, loud shows for both Three and ThreeNow. These could be reality, entertainment or factual. For Eden we are looking for drama, home design, entertainment and human interest – getting an insight into worlds/places we don’t usually see. For our pay channels, the current focus is on travel, make and do, property – buying, selling and design – and we’d love some gardening content with younger hosts to make it more contemporary.