Campaign Profile

Julian Althaus, recently appointed director of channels and digital sales at Germany’s Autentic, outlines how he’s planning for the transformation of the company now that digital sales have overtaken traditional broadcasting for the first time.

What can you tell us about your new position at Autentic?

For many years, I’ve overseen the digital distribution of our catalogue and the FAST business of our four channels outside German-speaking Europe since their launch. Now I’m excited to take the next step: leading Autentic’s channel division globally, also including our three German-speaking FAST Channels, with more to follow next year. My focus will be on strengthening the company’s channel strategy and partnerships, while building on the strong foundation we’ve established in digital distribution and FAST in the last few years with our great team.

How does your appointment reflect a change in strategy at the company?

It really shows how vital digital has become for Autentic. We, like many other content houses, have seen a constant growth in digital revenues over the past years and now, with my combined position of fully overseeing our channels business worldwide as well as being responsible for global digital sales, there are synergies that will help us to grow further in this field. We’ve learned a lot and gathered tons of insights over the past few years, and now we want to use that experience to make our channels even stronger and reach more audiences worldwide.

What will be your priorities regarding Autentic’s digital channels and digital distribution business?

One priority is to expand the distribution of our channels to the few remaining platforms we’re not on yet – especially in the international field. In our home market, the German-speaking territories, we’re already well-established on all relevant platforms, and across Europe as well. Right now, we’re starting to launch on the major platforms in North America, which was more difficult than we initially thought. As a positive side effect, thanks to the success of our channels, we now also have direct relationships with many platforms in AVoD/SVoD/TVoD exploitation via direct uploads, where we mostly had to go through aggregators in the past.

Which Autentic titles and genres perform particularly well on digital platforms?

On digital platforms, three genres especially stand out for us. The first is blue-chip nature and wildlife. Wildlife programmes work because they’re timeless, high-quality and appeal to a broad audience: people love to lean back and enjoy nature. And high production values ensure long-lasting success. Our cooperation with Terra Mater Studios is a great example and a real success story. We launched a FAST channel together and continue to expand into new territories. We’re also excited to present several new Terra Mater titles at Mipcom this year, including Penguin Baywatch, which takes audiences deep into the quirky world of penguins. Set against one of the planet’s most remote and hostile environments, it blends mystery, science and humour, making it both entertaining and enlightening.

Science and engineering programmes also do extremely well, especially those that skew male and focus on danger, extremes or ‘bigger, better, higher’ themes. This content has a natural ‘clickbait factor’ that makes it super successful online. And we’re currently onboarding an exciting new English-language FAST channel in this genre that will launch with major platforms in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! In addition, our Mipcom catalogue features promising new titles such as Animal Within II, which explores animals and their extraordinary superpowers, and Flow: The Force of Weather, unlocking the secret powers behind Earth’s changing climate.

And of course, history documentaries, particularly about war and conflict, continue to perform strongly. These stories are not only timeless, but their quality and importance keep them relevant and in demand across platforms. Our FAST channels Autentic History and Spiegel TV Konflikte are great examples of how well this genre resonates with audiences. At Mipcom, we’re also highlighting powerful new history titles such as Independence Dawn – The Forgotten Revolution, an anniversary programme on the American Revolution, and Between Hitler & Stalin: Europe’s Darkest Years.

What are Autentic’s strategic goals and successes in the FAST and YouTube sectors?

Our overarching goal is to be recognised as a premium FAST and YouTube provider, built on strong partnerships with platforms. That means staying in constant contact with them, understanding their needs, and growing together. At the same time, we remain true to our own editorial vision, guided by the data and experience we’ve collected and built up over the years. That balance has been key to our success.

We’re proud to say that we’re present on all relevant and emerging platforms. We quickly established a strong footprint in Germany, but launching our channels on the first major platforms in the US is definitely a big success for us this year. On top of that, revenues are constantly growing, which shows we’re clearly on the right path.

Looking ahead, one of our next goals is to expand beyond the Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the English-speaking markets into further territories, with a particular focus on Spanish-speaking markets and other high-potential regions.

What content are you looking to acquire to screen on these services?

We’re always looking for strong content in the genres that already work well for us – nature, science, engineering and history – while remaining open to all genres and all types of partnerships. We are actively looking to expand in the areas of true crime, sports, biographies, home improvement and food. And generally, we see significant potential in standout single IPs and long-running series. At the heart of our strategy is one clear focus: delivering entertaining, high-quality factual content.

Through our strong partnerships, we not only acquire new programmes but also back catalogues and entire libraries. With our expertise in the DACH region, we’re the right partner for companies looking to expand there. At the same time, many companies in DACH rely on us to manage their international FAST business, so we see ourselves as a bridge in both directions.

How do you see these D2C services meshing with Autentic’s content distribution business?

To be honest, it’s less of an issue than we expected. Of course, we feel that some of our traditional linear partners are increasingly asking for exclusivity and holdbacks or want to add FAST/VoD-rights to their packages so they can operate their own channels. But overall, it’s been less of a challenge than we anticipated when we first started with FAST and YouTube. The key has been good rights management, especially around core territories, geo-blocking and language exclusivities. In the end, there were no major problems that we couldn’t solve, and we’ve found a good balance between our D2C services and our distribution business.

How do you see the growth of YouTube impacting the traditional TV and streaming sectors?

We see YouTube becoming an increasingly important extension of traditional TV rather than a direct replacement. Many broadcasters are already using YouTube as a natural way to expand their reach, with specific IP channels and brands/channels targeting selected audiences. At the same time, YouTube often serves as a gateway to their own BVoD platforms or other services. For now, both YouTube and traditional TV will remain important and won’t cannibalise but rather complement each other. And streamers will continue to stand out with exclusivity.

A bigger disruption is already visible in sports. In the US, live sporting events are increasingly streamed on YouTube, which challenges one of the last strongholds of traditional TV. It will be interesting to see what effects similar steps will have in Europe and other regions.

For us, embracing YouTube came at exactly the right moment – if anything, we could have made the move even earlier. It’s not about choosing between platforms but about understanding how each one plays a different role in building reach, relevance, and engagement.

What are your other highlights for the upcoming Mipcom market?

One of our key highlights at Mipcom is The Sum of All Cities, a fast-paced and visually dynamic series that explores urban life through numbers. From iconic hubs like Las Vegas and Berlin to perhaps less well-known cities like Ulaanbaatar, the series offers a fresh, global perspective on cities and the stories behind their numbers.

In the people and places genre, Tattoos: Enigma of the South Pacific is a visually stunning two-parter that delves into the origins, meaning and traditions of tattoos. More than a cultural exploration, it reveals how this ancient art continues to shape identities today.

Another big highlight for Cannes is Game Over: The Fall of Credit Suisse, which we are offering both as a feature documentary and as a four-part series. Credit Suisse no longer exists, even though it was once considered ‘too big to fail’. The film investigates how this could happen and reveals what was hidden behind the bank’s reputable image: a corporate culture of high risk and greed, willing to accept huge losses as long as the bonuses kept coming in.