Campaign Profile

Blue Ant’s MD for Asia Pacific, Jon Penn, and senior VPs of international sales & partnerships, Gerbrig Blanksma (EMEA) and Bryan Gabourie (Americas), reveal how they stay agile in a changing market, and highlight in-demand titles they’re bringing to the London TV Screenings.

The execs credit being embedded in the culture of their respective markets as being one of the success drivers. “The three of us are deeply rooted in our key markets — we’ve grown up in these regions, lived in the cultures, and understand firsthand what resonates with these audiences. That insight is what drives our growth. We can identify and conclude sales with our regional clients but the three of us can also quickly collaborate to look at an opportunity with the global account, whether that’s a global streamer or a global pay TV network,” says Sydney-based Jon Penn, Blue Ant’s MD for APAC, whose team is split between Australia and Singapore.

London-based Gerbrig Blanksma, senior VP of international sales & partnerships (EMEA), agrees: “Finding the content we know is going to work for us requires a constant conversation. We feed back to our acquisitions team what we’re hearing in the market – what our clients are looking for. They also bring us projects and ask if we think they could work based on our market knowledge. We’re collaborating in real-time and can be incredibly agile and quick to find solutions for our client’s programming needs.”

New York-based senior VP of international sales and partnerships (Americas) Bryan Gabourie, whose team includes execs in Miami, Los Angeles and Toronto, says that the same type of internal collaboration helps to feed Blue Ant Studio’s own creative development and production slates, which drive our content packages globally.

“In mid-2023, we merged our distribution team and our production and development team under one umbrella – Blue Ant Studios – under a common leadership. Our sales team is feeding intel to our creative executives in real time. Equally, we as salespeople are learning about the content that’s coming out of that pipeline at a much earlier stage – so it’s a more informed and effective process.”

“We had a good year last year,” says Penn, “And not to put our head too far above the parapet, I think we’re headed for a very strong year this year.”

Penn adds: “That’s because we don’t just listen to our clients — we uncover the root of their challenges and guide them toward solutions that an outside perspective can offer.

“At the same time, we can identify future needs they may have that we can cycle back to our acquisitions team. That team can then go on the hunt for pieces of content and build bigger business in different genres that will suit the needs of those clients as they simultaneously grow and develop.”

With 36 countries and a population of 4.3 billion, Penn describes the APAC region as “eclectic” with “lots of different cultures and languages”.

“The English-language markets of Australia and New Zealand like a diversity of content, scripted and unscripted. We’re looking forward to bringing documentaries like Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy and Never Get Busted! to these markets. Crime titles like A Killer’s Mistake, which we now have multiple seasons on offer of, work well too.

“In Asia, factual content travels well, particularly premium docs and natural history titles like Airborne, Bugs That Rule the World and Snow Leopards with Dan O’Neill. In some cases, we’re doing co-licensing arrangements with broadcasters, or strategically windowing with our own Love Nature channel.”

A new show Penn is excited about for APAC is Deep Dive North America: “Biologist host Lizzie Daly does a great job of bringing natural history to life in a contemporary and accessible way.”

EMEA also has varied tastes, particularly between Western Europe and other markets, says Blanksma, but there are standout shows that are popular across the region. “Specialist factual always performs well, specifically the natural history slate from Love Nature. Crime continues to be popular across all the markets, like long-running crime series See No Evil. We also launched The Killer You Know last Mipcom, which has several episodes available right out of the gate. After the incredibly enthusiastic response for Northwoods Survival when we launched at Mipcom, we’re thrilled to be bringing the second season (which is already in the throes of production) to the London TV Screenings.

Other subjects popular in EMEA are history and engineering, says Blanksma, highlighting documentary series Disaster Autopsy: “It’s a new way of bringing engineering science to the screen. We’ve seen the disasters before, but it tells them in a more forensic and visually engaging way. One of the most popular types of programming remains premium documentaries that are ripped from the headlines – recognisable stories with big-name access like the documentary about Matthew Perry. Another key driver is talent-led shows, whether it’s in history or adventure or food.”

Recognisable talent continues to drive sales in the US too, says Gabourie: “Having recognisable IP still really moves the needle in the US. We’re very driven by premium documentaries that are talent-forward or have unique and exclusive access. We have season one of Adam Richman Eats Britain with Food Network and we’re thrilled to be bringing Adam Richman Eats Football to the US as well. We’re also incredibly excited about Never Get Busted!, which is set in America, but with universal themes and global appeal! This is one of those unbelievably true tales that everyone will be talking to their friends, neighbours and coworkers about. It’s going to be very big for Blue Ant in the US and globally. The pedigree of the producer is also a real asset for us as we present projects like this one to platforms and buyers around the world. Two other big series in the US, Canada and Lat Am are The Killer You Know and A Killer’s Mistake.  Long-running factual and crime continue to work for us in the region as we broaden our partnerships with several platforms in this genre.”

A major trend that’s had an impact on the way the teams do business is the transformation of the world of media entertainment by online video. Penn explains: “In APAC, there are some countries that on average have younger populations than those in some other regions and they have been earlier adopters of online video.

“Both global and regional online video platforms have seen big growth, so we need to be across those new clients and new platforms.

“We’ve had to transform the way we work with online video partners, but that disruption has also caused us to be more flexible and agile in collaborating with all customers, including our traditional customer base of broadcasters and pay TV operators.”

Gabourie’s experience in the Americas has been similar: “There are new platforms emerging and, equally, our existing and long-time partners are looking at new ways to do business. It’s an opportunity to explore new deal models together and paths to expanding those partnerships. Strategically windowing and linking multiple opportunities together have proven to produce bigger outcomes for us while providing improved financials and packages for our partners.  We’re leveraging shared flexibility to benefit both sides of the table.

“We’re not just working closely with creatives; we’re also working closely with our channels team and finding partnerships between those two groups that better serve our partners. Sales has become much more creative as a result.”

Blanksma agrees: “Everyone’s having more open conversations about where the common ground is and asking how we can make things happen together. That’s where that flexibility and partnership work in our favour.”

But success still comes back to quality, says Penn: “I’ve been in the industry for 25 years or so and the industry has never changed as fast as it has in the last couple of years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the demand for great content.

“The content has never been better and audience demand has never been stronger. It’s how you get it to market that has fundamentally changed. We’ve got a great slate with great diversity, and we bring it to market in an efficient way.”

Gabourie adds: “We’re partnering with best-in-class producers and investing in top quality content, and that’s really helped us as we take that content out to partners. Love Nature’s Snow Leopards With Dan O’Neill, which we’re taking to market, is one that I’m really excited about for the Americas.

“With an incredibly strong catalogue of content in our back pocket we can lean into new ways of doing business and find success for all of our partners.