Mediapro pumps $225m into studio arm

Mediapro was behind Amazon’s All or Nothing: Manchester City

Spanish giant Mediapro is spending €200m (US$225m) to bolster its international operations and expand its global production slate as part of its Mediapro Studio initiative.

The Barcelona-based studio division, made up of 10 creative offices around the world, will use the money to strengthen its content output across all genres, including drama.

Series, films, short formats and documentaries will all receive investment through the studio operation, which has bases in Italy, Portugal, the UK, Finland, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, the US and the Middle East.

Mediapro Studio already produces around 5,000 hours of programming, including formats such as El Intermedio and Los Reyes de la Comedia for Netflix and Amazon doc All or Nothing: Manchester City.

The company said it was “growing into an active protagonist on the international stage by driving productions designed for the global market” and would invest across development, creation, production, audiovisual services, artistic direction and distribution.

Mediapro added that it wanted to create “large franchises, fund projects and control distribution and intellectual property rights in association with large international partners,” building on existing relationships with companies such as HBO, Viacom, Netflix, Amazon and Disney.

Jaume Roures, managing partner at Mediapro Group, said: “For 25 years, we have produced hundreds of great-quality projects all around the world, with the ability to develop global content, all the way from the concept to broadcasting, including executive production and artistic direction. Because of this, we feel we are ready to go one step further and create unique content.”

Tatxo Benet, also a managing partner at the group, said he wanted Mediapro “to be a global company, a key player in the international content industry, strengthening our presence around the world as a part of our growth. We are very excited about this step, which will enable us to increase our audience and production capacity.”

Javier Méndez Zori, Javier Pons and Laura Fernández Espeso will oversee the studio’s productions in all territories, including its New York-based office launched three years ago.