LONDON SCREENINGS: Ahead of showcasing Banijay Rights’ slate today, CEO Cathy Payne discusses her content distribution strategy in an industry embattled by soaring costs, slashed budgets and uncertainty.
Cathy Payne
In conversation with Banijay Rights CEO Cathy Payne, one idea you may hear often is: “Where one door closes, another one opens.”
For nearly three years, Payne has headed the distribution arm of European production giant Banijay Group, spearheading the global sales strategy and overseeing an enviable catalogue that includes Survivor, Versailles, Temptation Island, Wife Swap, The Restaurant, The Inbetweeners and Occupied.
With those doors opening and closing across the industry, her glass-half-full outlook prevents her from being disheartened by the many obstacles the content industry faces in 2023 and allows her to be agile enough to serve the ever-shifting patterns of demand.
“It’s definitely a challenging environment at the moment but there’s always opportunity,” she says. “We’re in the middle of a global recession, which has led to a softer advertising market, job losses at big companies, the realignment of corporate teams and a huge amount of consolidation.
“On top of that, no-one could have been prepared for the war in Ukraine, the financial fallout from Covid, soaring energy costs, inflation and the increasing costs of production.
“So, it’s about how we navigate those challenges here at Banijay Rights. We’re always looking to anticipate how the market will react and how we can effectively exploit any kind of demand from our big library. We don’t just wait for people to ask for certain kinds of programme, instead we’re proactively looking at where our content may appeal and finding avenues to sell it.”
Marie Antoinette from Banijay Studios France, CAPA Drama and Les Gens
With 160,000 hours of catalogue content at its disposal, it’s difficult to imagine that Banijay Rights has neglected any genres of programming known to humankind. However, the company always aims to bolster its library, a fact exemplified by the acquisition last year of Australia-based Beyond International.
The deal handed Banijay more than 8,000 hours of predominantly unscripted content, such as Highway Thru Hell, Massive Engineering Mistakes and Mythbusters, plus control of in-house prodco Beyond Productions, maker of Back in the Groove for Hulu.
Now Banijay has finished all the necessary shareholder and court approvals for the deal – rumoured to be worth over US$30m – plus the customary closing conditions, Beyond International is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Banijay.
“Beyond was of interest to us because it has a lot of factual content, particularly in the spaces of science, engineering and history, and that’s something we’ve been looking to build in our catalogue,” says Payne.
“The first part of this year is about the ongoing integration process, but I believe Beyond International is a good fit. That’s the starting point of any acquisition for us at Banijay. Right now, we’re talking to their producers and looking at their content.”
Banijay already controls more than 120 production companies across 22 territories. In the last year alone, it acquired Sony Pictures Television Germany, Romulus producer Groenlandia, 30 Coins producer Pokeepsie Films, the UK’s Kindle Entertainment, Italy’s Movimento Production and Brazil’s A Fabrica.
Tiger Aspect’s Roman period drama Domina
The gossip mill suggested recently Banijay plans to take a stake in ITV Studios, but Payne denies it and claims there is no more M&A activity planned in the immediate future.
“The ITV Studios gossip was just a rumour,” she says. “There’s no other acquisitions pending right now that I’m aware of, but we’re always keeping an eye on the market for opportunities.
“At the moment, we’re looking to expand what I call broad audience scripted offerings – those softer, super-domestic shows, similar to Grantchester and Broadchurch. There’s a big demand for that kind of programming at the moment.
“I’d love to have more comedy too, but it’s not easy to find comedy shows that travel well around the world.”
With a multi-genre portfolio at the heart of its operations, Banijay Rights places instantly recognisable IP from both scripted and unscripted with linear broadcasters and digital streaming platforms.
However, with many SVoD platforms tightening their belts in the past year, with even giants like Netflix struggling to attract new subscribers, has the bottom finally fallen out of the streaming market? And how does that affect Banijay’s relations with the likes of Disney+, Amazon Prime and Paramount+?
“We’ve seen some of the big international streamers unable to match subscription revenues with content spend, which has led to more consolidation in their commissioning strategies,” Payne says.
French-language thriller Serial Lover
“Plus, the VoD platforms have cancelled programming and reversed the decisions on previously greenlit projects. I believe our relationships with the streamers won’t be affected; it will just be a matter of allowing them to reassess their content spends and priorities. Things might be tight until that uncertainty settles down, but as I always say, when one door closes, another opens.”
In times of an economic pinch, acquisition executives have traditionally turned to cheaper unscripted content to fill their schedules. And with a possible writers’ strike looming in the US, Banijay may well profit from its own catalogue of reality, factual, formats and documentaries.
“If the strike goes ahead there will be production delays and platforms will look to fill that with other kinds of content,” says Payne. “Certainly, during previous strikes there has been a number of unscripted shows that launched very well that might not otherwise have got a foot in the door.
“At the moment, there is a need for cost-effective programming; not every acquisition can be premium. We’ve been focusing on documentaries recently because they have come into vogue and are competing for slots previously held by scripted shows. So, we can serve that demand from our strong library product.”
Another revenue stream that continues to grow steadily for Banijay Rights is the emerging market for free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels. Banijay was an early follower of the trend, recognising its future potential by creating 21 channels that have been syndicated more than 80 times around the globe.
“Brand new FAST channel launches are in the works for 2023,” says Payne. “They can be costly to set up, so you always have to look carefully at the particular market and what the likely return against your outlay is going to be.
“You must have a good business head on for FAST channels. We have good rights availability, metadata and technical expertise, so these channels offer another chance to exploit our content.”
This week, Banijay Rights will showcase some of its strongest programming at London TV Screenings.
Titles offered to buyers will include This Town from Peaky Blinders creator Steve Knight, made by prodco Kudos; 1950s-set immigration drama Three Little Birds, starring Lenny Henry and produced by Tiger Aspect Productions in association with Douglas Road Productions; and the second season of Roman period drama Domina, another Tiger Aspect production in collaboration with MGM+ Studios.
Other content being shopped is crime thriller The Sixth Commandment, made by Wild Mercury Productions and True Vision Productions; historical drama Marie Antoinette from Banijay Studios France, CAPA Drama and Les Gens; and French-language thriller Serial Lover, from Shine Fiction in coproduction with Amaury Fournial (Sibaro Films).
“The London TV Screenings is a very customised event to a targeted audience,” says Payne, a former CEO for both Endemol Shine International and Australia’s Southern Star International.
“It’s very intimate and we can have our producers talking about their projects, presenting them in a much more personal environment. Almost 30 companies are holding screenings and not all of them are British, with US companies like NBCUniversal and Fifth Season in attendance, so it shows how highly the event – and UK content – is regarded now.”
