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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Smart thinking from the people running the content business.

Cathy Payne on her IFA Gold Award win and the future of formats

Cathy Payne, winner of the Gold Award at the International Format Awards at Mipcom, discusses overseeing multiple mergers and the distribution of some of the world’s biggest scripted and unscripted hits.

Cathy Payne

For Cathy Payne, this year’s Gold Award at the International Format Awards in Cannes is the latest high in a career that has grown in step with the rise of Banijay Entertainment, where she now leads distribution.

Payne was CEO at Southern Star International in her native Australia where, over 10 years, she was responsible for building one of the largest distributors of English-language content outside of the US.

That company was acquired by Endemol in 2009 and Payne subsequently spent another 10 years there as the company became Endemol Shine following another merger, directing all worldwide distribution efforts as CEO of Endemol Worldwide Distribution.

When Banijay won the race to buy Endemol Shine and form the biggest independent producer in the world in 2020, Payne was retained to lead the enormous group’s distribution efforts. This put her in charge of a catalogue that includes formats such as MasterChef, Survivor, Deal or No Deal, Big Brother, Hunted, Lego Masters and Temptation Island, as well as scripted titles like Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror.

“It’s very pleasing to be recognised; I was delighted and surprised,” Payne says. “It’s a nice thing to be recognised after what has been, let’s be honest, a challenging 18 months for the industry.”

“When I look back across the years we’ve been through a lot of huge integrations: Southern Star bought Primetime, then got bought by Endemol, then we merged with Shine and then Banijay acquired us. I’m very proud that in every one of those situations we were able to bring two teams together and do it in a way that really created value, because sometimes two and two doesn’t equal four for all.

“They’re not easy times. You have to give people clarity, be clear in your decision making and do it promptly. Difficult decisions have to be made and it often ends up with people leaving the business. The most recent one, when we were acquired by Banijay, we did the whole integration during Covid, via Zoom. They completed the deal on July 1 and we were operating as a combined team by October 1. I look back with immense pride at how they were handled.”

John Torode (left) and Gregg Wallace front the UK version of MasterChef

Payne is just the fifth woman to win the award after Annie Wegelius, Alex Mahon, Trish Kinane and Anette Rømer, but she’s also a rare recipient on the distribution side of the business.

She highlights the 1999 deal that saw Home & Away switch from its UK home of 12 years, ITV, to Channel 5 as a career turning point, when she was personally chosen by Australia’s Seven to lead on negotiations. “As far as individual deals go, I do always look back at the Home & Away deal I did in 1999. Whoever would have thought a deal done back then would still be going 25 years later?” Payne says.

“That was a really hard deal, it took a long time and I experienced the worst moments of my career and the best moments in my career. It was a hard deal to do because it was a show that had been on one channel for a long time. It was a length-of-series deal and they couldn’t start airing it for another 12 months. It was hard. It made me a much stronger person commercially.”

There have, however, been greater challenges in the last 18 months, as Payne describes: “We’ve had streamer realignment and recalibration of what they’re spending and what territories they’re focusing on. We’ve had a huge amount of consolidation in the industry and a lot of executive churn. It’s been challenging economically, though things are improving.

Lego Masters

“The mix of that breeds a bit of risk aversion. When all that comes it’s slow and there can be a reliance on what’s known. It’s about having the ability to pivot. It’s not easy selling on the front line and you feel like it’s a brick wall, but it’s about how you break through that and find the light at the end of the tunnel. Everybody’s talking about the challenges of funding scripted. Well, OK, how do we pivot to what people are acquiring? People still need content, you’ve just got to pivot.”

So with broadcasters’ budgets declining and relevancy being chipped away by brands going direct to the consumer online and people watching on social media, can unscripted IP be monetised to the same levels as before?

“When you retain the rights to those non-scripted programmes you’ve produced, that allows you to exploit different avenues and gives you a certain level of comfort,” Payne says. “Ask anyone at Banijay Rights and they’ll tell you, ‘Cathy expects a lot from the sales,’ and I do. But I have been surprised at how well our catalogue has performed. It’s all about finding new ways to distribute it.

“DTT is being replaced by the likes of FAST or self-publishing. In terms of doing originals for streamers where they retain the rights, linear and domestic broadcasters are a cost-effective solution for original programming when you have formats you can scale.

“I certainly think we will have the brand-funded model in various aspects of our businesses and we’ll see how that expands and where it works, but there are certainly opportunities in that space. I do see that increasing.

“I see the whole economy of a business like ours being a mixed slate. You’ll have your work-for-hire shows, some with linear at a different price point and maybe brand-funded makes up the difference in the budget. One of the advantages we do have is we can come in and offer money to retain rights as well.”

Banijay is attempting to monetise digital-first formats, having recently picked up global rights to heist-themed gameshow The Infiltrators from UK-based creative agency Cowshed Collective, in a deal brokered by Luci Sanan at 53 Degrees North Media.

Launched on Channel 4’s dedicated YouTube and social media outlet Channel 4.0, the gameshow sees popular content creators attempt to navigate a complex security system in a series of weird and wild physical challenges. The budget-friendly format is set for international roll-out via production companies within Banijay Entertainment looking to pitch buyers series with elements of escape rooms and strategic gameplay.

Entertainment format Deal or No Deal

There have been fears expressed that the explosion of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the content business could see it rendering creatives redundant with its own ability to produce shows, and wipe out the value of catalogues by coming up with copycats that score just low enough on the FRAPA index to avoid legal action. So is big tech coming to kill format distributors?

“We have to be mindful of AI as an industry and there are a lot of requirements coming in from the regulatory world for a level of protection against it and protection of people’s copyright,” Payne says.

“AI has probably been used for years to come up with quiz questions and things like that, but I really do believe, when you think of the groundbreaking formats that have come through our format makers, they’re really very clever, creative people. I don’t believe AI can replace that. AI can help kids in our world by making processes more economical. I see that for us in delivery and self-publishing, but it never takes away the creativity. Even in distribution, [you know] that image from that show is going to sell it better to the audience because you have the history and experience. AI plays its role but I don’t think it replaces the creative.”

This suggests Payne sees reason for optimism after a tough 18 months. “There’s growth in non-scripted formats globally,” she points out. “We continue to push them out and I believe that, by being creative, we can scale – they tell great stories, they deliver to the audience.

“Everybody will have to think a little bit differently about how we produce and set up our companies to produce at a more affordable price point. It’s about being lean, keen and fast on your feet. That will happen and there are opportunities.

“Great IP gets great audiences – that’s not going to stop. How you watch it, where you watch it will change, but people love great content and that will never go away.”


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