Programming Profile

Lisa Schelhas, sales director at Albatross World Sales, showcases the Leipzig-based distributor’s new MipTV slate and offers her view on the state of the market and her priorities for the year.

What are the highlights of the new programming on your slate?
We are coming to MipTV with a strong slate of high-quality documentaries in the genres Nature & Wildlife, Science, History, Mission Earth and Destinations.

Buffalo Bill – The Inventor of the Wild West (1×52’ HD) is about the 19th century adventurer and showman who invented and staged the romanticised version of the Wild West as we know it. A man who skillfully blurred the boundaries between truth and fiction became the first superstar, the founder of modern show business and is considered to be the most famous American of his time.

Parents in the Wild (2×52’ 4K), meanwhile, takes viewers on a mesmerising journey into the realm of wildlife parenting. The two-parter explores the universal instinct of nurturing offspring and showcases the diverse mating and nesting rituals across mammals, insects and birds while also focusing on the remarkable strategies parents use to ensure the welfare of their offspring.

Another new documentary, The Secret Knowledge of Animals (1×52’ 4K) follows research projects all around the world to reveal the secrets that shape animals’ lives and behaviour. Scientists are bringing to light the invisible network of animals while gathering fascinating insights into how migratory animals interact with and rely on complex ecosystems to navigate vast distances and ensure their survival – and what this signifies for us humans in a shared habitat.

Does your new slate reflect any changes in strategy at Albatross?
We’re going back to very defined genres. Genre mixes don’t seem to sit well with TV broadcasters when it comes to the acquisition of finished films, since the requirements of their slots don’t leave a lot of room for experiments.

We’re also branching out into history even more than before. As well as Buffalo Bill – The Inventor of the Wild West, we currently added The Kennedys – The Story of an American Dynasty (1×52’ or 1×90’ HD) and Crimes That Changed the World (3×45’ HD).

Apart from that we still bring the best premium natural history one-offs and series to MipTV. More examples of that are Nature’s Magic Moments (1×52’ 4K), Wild Argentina (3×52’ or 1×90’ 4K) and Nature’s Leading Ladies (1×52’ 4K).

We’re also very much looking for engaging science documentaries like The Remarkable Hand – From Touch to Triumph (1×52’ 4K) about the newest scientific research on our own personal multitool, or Scandinavia (2×52’ 4K) about the impact of light and darkness on humans and animals alike.

How has the global downturn in commissioning impacted your content supply lines?
We’re not noticing much of a change yet, as we see ourselves as a boutique distributor with full focus on each title and individual sales strategies. So we work with a lot of producers who don’t have a huge output per year.

But at the same time, we’re well aware that going into 2025 we may have to deal with even less content. When it comes to commissions (but not acquisitions), the current content strategy of many buyers seems to be shifting towards ‘less is more’.

I don’t see this necessarily as just a challenge, but as an opportunity to promote the programmes we have in an even better way. If there is less content, buyers hopefully will go back to cherry-picking their programmes from a number of different distributors, instead of bulk-buying. We believe there will always be room for strong one-offs and limited series in the market.

How is the global demand for factual changing, given the impact of the economy?
There are budget cuts across the board for most broadcasters and commissioning platforms. With the market in a turmoil, many of our contacts have been let go and/or teams were reduced, so the remaining buyers now have an even bigger workload. Therefore, the commissioning and acquisition processes have become much slower all over the world, which is quite frustrating for all parties involved.

Natural history programmes usually have higher production costs and we’re noticing the trend to commission less in this field, which is why we’re also actively bolstering other genres such as history, science and travel in our slate. Nevertheless, the demand is there, and people are watching documentaries.

There does seem to be a major shift from commissioning to acquiring more. This can be good for distributors in the short term, but it also means less programmes available in the long run. We have to observe the market constantly and carefully and be ready to re-evaluate our strategy if needed.

With all the changes at the streamers, how is the market for premium natural history changing?
Monitoring the big streamers has become a big part of my morning routine! I’m waiting for the next merger to happen and we’re tracking closely what the VoD world wants. Some of the big streamers seem to go more for local productions while others are looking for the next highlight production.

Natural history commissions have been less sought after by the big streamers unless they’re tied to a personal story, A-Listers or have a more creative cinematographic approach. But smaller streamers and channels are loving premium natural history, which gives these timeless documentaries an even longer shelf-life after they’ve had their runs with TV broadcasters. Some of our docs that are 10 years or older are still generating strong revenues now. So natural history is still a very loved genre – we’re just finding new niches for it.

Are you finding your clients are acquiring more content as local production gets more costly?
Albatross has sold more hours in 2023 than ever before – 30% more than 2022 and double compared to 2021. Nonetheless, licence fees have been reduced and we noticed that especially our TV clients take a longer time to move forward with titles and sometimes prefer to go for quantity. We believe this is due to the reduced workforce that broadcasters have to deal with.

Of course, that’s challenging for a boutique distributor like us, but our AVoD and FAST clients are becoming an important addition to our revenues and we’re constantly developing our digital strategy. Additionally, we noticed an increase in acquisitions since the beginning of 2024.

With MipTV on the horizon, how is the importance of the event changing for Albatross?
MipTV has always been a set date in our calendars. Together with MipDoc it has been one of the most important events for us and our buyers, but this has changed since the pandemic. We noticed less interest from buyers to come to Cannes in April in recent years and MipDoc hasn’t been nearly as successful as before the pandemic. Nonetheless, MipTV is still an important market and we’re looking forward to meeting our buyers and colleagues this year. With the changes lurking for next year, we want this MipTV in Cannes to be a blast!

Where are the biggest markets for content and what are some recent sales for your company?
Our biggest markets have always been the linear broadcasters around the world and this hasn’t changed. Recently, especially our sales in Italy and the DACH region have grown and, of course, the worldwide VoD platforms and channels.

Last year, our absolute flagship title Cactus Hotel (1×52’ 4K) sold around the world and won many awards. We’re very proud of this title. Other gems are Save the Wild (3×52’ 4K) which was filmed all over the world and is looking at strategies of how we can preserve the last invaluable areas of wilderness and with it the diversity of different species.

Good News From Planet Earth (6×52’ HD) is a series that gives hope in a time of constant crises and a world in turmoil. Instead of being another doomsday doc about climate change, war and the pandemic, each episode looks at cases of accomplishments and positive environmental projects around the world. Our buyers seemed to agree with us, so we made some successful sales for these beautiful titles.

What are your plans, priorities and developments for 2024?
Albatross has always had a strong and recognisable profile – we are independent and we specialise in delivering award-winning and high-quality documentaries. It is our priority to not only find more good stories to bring to a big audience, but also foster the strong connections with our partners. We’re committed to nurturing and supporting talented new voices in filmmaking and offer guidance and resources throughout the production and distribution process. We also remain on the lookout for documentaries with a strong narrative, capturing images, great camerawork and impactful stories, for example Steppe Pumas (4×48’ 4K), Webs & Wings – Nature’s Tiny Ballet (3×52’) and Wild Argentina (3×52’ 4K).

What will be the biggest challenges and opportunities for the TV industry in 2024?
I believe we’re currently at a turning point in the TV industry. FAST channels are growing, but they are also starting to look very similar in each genre. Many decision makers are currently bulk-buying non-exclusive rights, so one programme can basically be on 20 different channels. We’re probably going to see streaming platforms become more selective of the FAST channels they take on.

On the other hand, the linear broadcasters will need to decide where their acquisition strategy is going – do they want to be the same as all the other broadcasters and bulk-buy or will they go back to cherry-picking their programmes? It is going to be an exciting year.