Germany’s Leonine acquires political, pop culture prodco Hyperbole Media

German production and distribution group Leonine has acquired Berlin-based factual prodco Hyperbole Media.

Bastian Asdonk

Hyperbole is known for its mixture of political and pop culture content that targets generations Y and Z.

Its productions include the series Germania for German pubcaster ZDF, as well as acclaimed political entertainment format 13 Fragen for ZDFneo. Hyperbole also drives one of Germany’s widest-reaching political journalism  channels on YouTube, Die Da Oben.

Following the acquisition, Hyperbole will become part of Leonine’s production group but will operate independently. Bastian Asdonk will continue as the company’s managing director.

Christian Meinberger, Leonine’s chief digital officer, will join the Hyperbole management team on June 1. Meinberger manages digital format development within all prodcos belonging to Leonine Studios and realises synergies in the production area.

Leonine CEO Fred Kogel said: “Hyperbole’s development and formats have impressed us for some time now. The company is characterised by a clear profile, a feel for the zeitgeist and a successful mix of innovative and journalistically high-quality formats. Hyperbole’s creative team is an excellent fit for us. Together we will complement our existing IPs with new formats and expand the cross-media reach of our content. In this way, we’re broadening the growth potential for our digital production area for the long term.”

The Leonine production arm now includes the production brands Hyperbole, i&u TV, Madame Zheng Production, Odeon Fiction, SEO Entertainment, W&B Television and Wiedemann & Berg Film.