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BritBox International’s Diederick Santer on the streamer’s ambitions
Boxing clever
BritBox International’s Diederick Santer tells Jordan Pinto about the streamer’s plans to ramp up commissioning and become the go-to outlet for top UK talent.
It’s been almost five years since BritBox International, the streaming service backed by BBC Studios and ITV Studios, launched in the US.
Since then, the platform has expanded into Canada, Australia and, most recently, South Africa, amassing more than two million subscribers outside the UK in the process.
With a solid foundation in place, the company plans to put its foot to the floor in 2022 by launching in several new markets and increasing its commissioning output.
While BritBox International’s shelves are stacked with acquired content spanning crime, mystery, comedy, documentary and lifestyle, the service has also been directly involved in more than 30 UK-originated projects since its launch, including BBC series The Pembrokeshire Murders and There She Goes and ITV’s A Confession and Honour. Other strong performers this year on the North American version of the service have included the sixth season of Line of Duty and other long-running series such as Shetland and Vera.
The plan now is to build its reputation as a commissioner of must-see crime drama and grow its brand as a one-stop-shop for top-drawer British content amid a plethora of streaming options. “We’ve got the clearest USP of them all, which is that it’s British. It’s as simple as that,” says Diederick Santer, chief creative officer at BritBox International.
Santer, whose 25 years in the British production sector have included roles as CEO at Banijay-owned prodco Kudos and exec producer on British soap Eastenders, joined BritBox International in September with a mandate to expand its slate of original projects, particularly in the crime genre, and hone its commissioning strategy.
“There’s been great success in buying finished programmes but we want to be able to engineer more shows directly with producers, and be in from the beginning,” he says, adding that the service plans to roll out between 12 and 15 new scripted series each year.
It’s a strategy that has come more clearly into focus over the past year. In May, BritBox International greenlit Murder in Provence (3x90’), an adaptation of ML Longworth’s crime novels. The Monumental Television series represents the first full coproduction between BritBox International and BritBox UK, which has more than 500,000 subscribers. The UK version of the service, it is important to note, is distinct from the international iteration, with separate teams and content priorities. The two entities do, however, collaborate and have plans to partner more regularly in the future. In terms of how the licensing relationship works between BritBox International and BBC/ITV, Santer says the two companies “are not obliged to sell to us and we, in turn, are not bound to pick up shows from them.” He adds that the streamer is open for business with other distributors.
A key tenet of the content strategy is being selective with the volume of new shows, notes Santer. The first reason for that is so subscribers aren’t “bombarded with all kinds of everything.” The second is to lure top-tier creatives with the guarantee that their work will get pride of place on the platform. “From the producer perspective, when your show goes on BritBox [International], it doesn’t get lost in some huge system – it gets cherished. Our marketing team is all over it, and they work really hard to make it speak to the audience,” he says.
One market trend Santer has observed is what he calls the “Trojan horse crime show,” whereby writers use the familiarity of the crime genre as an entry point for telling different stories altogether. “It looks like a crime show but it’s not about cops or detective stuff – it’s really about what the writer wants to write about,” he says, citing Irvine Welsh’s Crime (BritBox UK).
Innovative storytelling like this is bolstering the popularity of British crime drama globally. But it’s a double-edged sword for BritBox International, as it means more international buyers are also hungry to snap up new shows – and pay big money to do so. As BritBox International expands its original commissioning operation, a primary challenge will be convincing talent that it is the best place for creators to reach their target audiences globally.
“Our message to the subscribers is that we’re the place for British content. And for the producing community in the UK, it’s that this is the place to take your shows.”
Diederick Santer
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Keeley Hawes in BritBox series Honour
Diederick Santer and BritBox International CEO Reemah Sakaan will be speaking in the Comissioning session today at 2pm in Hall 1.
