‘The bedrock of our business is amazing talent’

At MIPTV, ITV Studios’ Ruth Berry will deliver a keynote during which she will explain the company’s recently announced new structure — and will also focus on broad trends in the global content market. She spoke to Andy Fry

EARLIER this year, Ruth Berry, managing director of ITV Studios Global Distribution, was handed additional responsibility for sister division ITV Studios Global Entertainment. She now oversees a sales operation that encompasses a 90,000-hour catalogue of scripted and non-scripted programming and more than 250 formats including The Voice and Love Island. Speaking ahead of her session, Berry said the primary rationale for the move is “to super-serve clients. The scripted series such as the upcoming Fifteen-Love — not to mention our natural-history productions like A Year On Planet Earth.”

In addition to streamlining client-facing relationships, Berry said the new structure will help ITV Studios to “respond more quickly and effectively to emerging opportunities like AVOD and FAST. We also have a fantastic set of production labels around the world and this clearer leadership structure will be useful in terms of building constructive conversations with them.” content market has changed dramatically in recent years and a lot of our bigger customers have moved towards a single-buying-point mentality. In the new set up, we can raise our game on selling content, offering clients an incredible range of shows from formats like Project Icon to

Berry is not anticipating a massive structural overhaul: “There will be some massaging to make sure we are as focused as possible. But what I really see is an opportunity to harness skillsets we already have across the group in new ways. For example, we have a brand team that does great work around formats like The Voice — which could be doing a similar job in scripted or natural history. And we have amazing digital capabilities that have been built around our YouTube channels. These could, perhaps, be utilised in new areas.”

Aside from discussing the re-organisation, Berry’s keynote will be an opportunity to talk about new shows including hotly anticipated formats Scared Of The Dark, My

Mum Your Dad, Maryland and Essex County. “One of the key points I’ll emphasise is talent relationships. The bedrock of our business is amazing talent, because it gives us a strong pipeline of content and a recurring track record that make us a meaningful partner for clients.” The session will also be a chance to touch on key industry themes and trends. “I know there has been a different tone to industry conversations recently, including a sense of retrenchment among global streamers. But I remain really optimistic. Buyers are still spending a lot of money for the right content. The challenge for us, with such a large portfolio of quality shows, is finding the right opportunities and building on them. We have to be really aware of the fact that audiences are not just watching TV — they’re migrating to YouTube, gaming, the metaverse. So what do those environments mean for monetising our brands?”

Outside the keynote, Berry said MIPTV is an opportunity “to talk frankly about how we solve challenges. The kind of topics I expect to be thinking about include cost inflation and deficits, how to reach audiences and the growing role of data in our industry. Data has its value, but I think we have to be careful it isn’t allowed to quash our creative gut instincts. On the formats side, for example, I wonder whether we are always giving new shows enough time to breathe.”