Propagate co-CEO Ben Silverman, whose current projects include a new version of The Office US and an Owen Wilson-led golf comedy, on why a commissioning rebound could be on the horizon as SVoDs find their economic footing.
Ben Silverman
After two years of brutal cuts and a commissioning freeze, could the international TV business see an uptick in new commissions and original content spending in 2025? Propagate chairman and co-CEO Ben Silverman thinks so.
The economic realities facing streaming have meant many services have prioritised minimising churn over acquiring new subscribers, the LA-based former co-chairman of NBC Entertainment told C21 last month.
But with the streaming business seemingly now on a surer footing – Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global have all posted stronger direct-to-consumer results this quarter, while Netflix’s results have been strong and Amazon is continuing to invest heavily – the industry contraction will, hopefully, soon be in the rearview mirror.
“I’m hoping [the past two years] was like the culling and that there will be a re-growth and relaunch of more commissions and more originals because they have to do more original content to drive new subscribers, not just keep the existing ones,” he says.
One of the key factors, argues Silverman, will be Paramount’s return to the fray after a period in limbo while it was going through its M&A process. Its US$8bn acquisition by Skydance and RedBird Capital Partners is set to close in the first half of 2025.
“Paramount being back in business is going to be a big unlock. Disney did really well in their [fourth-quarter earnings], so they’re going to feel better about their overall streaming strategy and its turn to profitability. I think we’re going to continue to see Netflix compete and invest, and then Apple and Amazon are in it for the long haul,” he says.
The Office US ran on NBC for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013
Silverman and Propagate, set up in 2015 with joint CEO Howard T Owens, are busy at work on several major projects, including the new iteration of The Office US, with Greg Daniels and Michael Koman behind the reimagined world for NBCUniversal-owned streamer Peacock.
Due to the enduring success of the original version of the show, which ran on NBC for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013 and made stars out of Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms and others, Silverman admits he feels “tons of pressure” for the new iteration to live up to the sky-high expectations.
At the same time, the ever-candid Silverman claims it’s time the team behind The Office did a new version because the property has been imitated so much on network TV. “We’ve been ripped off so many times, why don’t we expand the universe ourselves?” he says.
Outside of the new series, the exec has also jumped back into the world of The Office with a children’s holiday storybook, The Night Before Christmas at Dunder Mifflin, co-written by Silverman and actor Brian Baumgartner, who played Kevin Malone in the US sitcom. The book was released last November.
Long-running sports docuseries Untold
Other projects in the works include a golf comedy starring Owen Wilson for Apple TV+, a documentary about NBA legend Jerry West, the Chopped franchise and the ongoing sports docuseries Untold, which has included episodes on influencer Jake Paul, former Olympian and TV personality Caitlyn Jenner and tennis player Mardy Fish.
In addition to the scripted rebound, Silverman says he expects to see an uptick in unscripted greenlighting too.
Across the board, Silverman says streamers need to find the “right mix” when it comes to how much they spend on shows. He says the “budget bloat” that defined the ‘peak TV’ bubble was unsustainable. “The average budget in the US went up to US$9m, which is nuts from my perspective. You can make things for a third of that,” he notes.
But the major streamers and networks now have a chance to recalibrate. That means streamers need to be commissioning reality shows for between US$300,000 and US$500,000 an episode, documentaries for US$1m-$3m and scripted shows for US$2m-$4m, he says. “Taking a whole-slate approach is how to sustain the original production flow, because it has to remain part of your mix if you are in a subscriber business,” he says.
