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TVEUROPE
WWW.TVEUROPE.WS
APRIL 2017
Top Buyers / David Lynn & Ben Frow on Channel 5’s 20th Anniversary ProSiebenSat.1’s Thomas Ebeling / ZDF’s Thomas Bellut / all3media’s Jane Turton
MIPTV EDITION
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CONTENTS FEATURES
Maintaining High Standards
8 QUEST FOR THE BEST Several top acquisitions executives share their wish lists for MIPTV.
Konrad Adenauer was West Germany’s first post-World War II chancellor. Recognized as one of the world’s great statesman, he helped pull Germany out of the devastation that resulted from the war. Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Joanna Padovano Tong Managing Editor Sara Alessi Associate Editor Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Nathalia Lopez Sales & Marketing Assistant Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager
Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Europe © 2017 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tveurope.ws
He forged ties with the U.S., France and Britain, brought West Germany into NATO and was one of the founders of the European Economic Community. Beyond these accomplishments, a number of his quotes have made it into history books. One, and I paraphrase, is: Given that God has put a limit on man’s intelligence, it’s unfair He did not also limit his stupidity. Truly a timeless saying, particularly apropos today with the raft of fake news we’re seeing—which involves stupidity and malice on the part of those perpetrating fake news, and stupidity, obduracy and arrogance on the part of those who put stock in these reports. One of the ills we are seeing taking hold in parts of Europe today is the distrust of experts. Who needs an expert, some ask, one who is connected to an organization that places its own needs, greed and self-aggrandizement ahead of the needs of the public? And who needs experts when the internet offers answers to everything? Who needs an established news organization anymore? Well, the need for impartial, vetted news is huge because today’s world is so complex. The issues facing us all are so complicated and interconnected that if we are to fulfill our duty when we step into the polling booth, we need to have the facts, not fake news. And only reporters and commentators from established news organizations can unpack subjects like globalization, automation, trade deficits, NATO, TPP, climate change and on and on. In this issue, we hear from ZDF’s Thomas Bellut, who emphasizes the critical importance of unbiased news. Of course, viewers don’t only want news and information, they also want to be entertained. They want their programming options available in multiple ways. ProSiebenSat.1’s Thomas Ebeling talks about keeping his company’s roots in broadcasting while diversifying into numerous digital businesses. all3media’s Jane Turton points to the importance of attracting the best talent possible in order to offer a range of drama and factual programming to worldwide buyers. David Lynn and Ben Frow reflect on 20 years of Channel 5. And we hear from European buyers who explain the importance of securing all the rights they need to serve today’s sophisticated viewers— viewers who must demand the same quality from news as they do from drama and entertainment. —Anna Carugati
8 20 CHANNEL 5 @ 20 Viacom International Media Networks’ David Lynn and Channel 5’s Ben Frow talk about the broadcaster’s success and evolution as it marks its landmark 20th anniversary.
INTERVIEWS
12 ProSiebenSat.1’s Thomas Ebeling
16 ZDF’s Thomas Bellut
28 all3media’s Jane Turton
30 Wounded Love’s Bergüzar Korel & Halit Ergenç
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ATRESMEDIA Television Money Heist / Lifeline / Plastic Sea A mysterious character called “the Professor” is planning to carry out the biggest robbery in history in the new drama Money Heist. Diana Borbón, sales manager at ATRESMEDIA Television, calls it an “entertaining action series with dramatic value.” The series is a central focus for ATRESMEDIA Television’s distribution team at MIPTV, where they will also be talking to buyers about the dramas Lifeline and Plastic Sea. Lifeline follows a man who receives a heart transplant and begins to have terrible nightmares related to the murder of the person who donated the vital organ. “The audience will sympathize with the torment of the main character, whose new heart will be a guide to the truth about the death of his donor,” says Borbón. Following a successful first season, Plastic Sea returns with a new murder plot.
“The intriguing plot of Money Heist guarantees a captive audience till the end.” —Diana Borbón Money Heist
Filmax International I Know Who You Are / The Tunnel Gang / The Chosen From the creators of the successful series The Red Band Society comes I Know Who You Are. The thriller premiered earlier this year in Spain and has “gained great recognition from both critics and audiences alike,” says Iván Díaz, the head of the international division at Filmax International. The series has also been licensed to a wide range of broadcasters, including deals in French- and German-speaking Europe, Poland, Israel, Romania and the U.K. Filmax International is already working with the same creative team as The Red Band Society and I Know Who You Are on new projects, which will be limited series. Another TV highlight is The Chosen, which presents a re-creation of Leon Trotsky’s assassination in Mexico. Regarding feature films, the focus is on the black comedy The Tunnel Gang.
“Filmax is expecting to have a boost in sales at MIPTV after the great ratings and recognition that I Know Who You Are is obtaining in Spain.” —Iván Díaz I Know Who You Are Kim Kong
FremantleMedia Man in an Orange Shirt / Kim Kong / Reformation A two-part love story from best-selling author Patrick Gale, Man in an Orange Shirt stars Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave. The series focuses on two generations of gay men; the first part is set in the 1940s, when homosexuality was illegal, and the second is in the present day. “It’s a beautiful, poignant, thoughtful, gorgeous bit of television,” says Sarah Doole, FremantleMedia’s director of global drama. “It will make you think, and it will make you sad and joyous at the same time. It’s of the moment.” Another European drama highlight is Kim Kong, which is from the makers of Baron Noir. The series follows as a restless film director is kidnapped and forced to make a movie against his wishes in a foreign country. Meanwhile, from the makers of Deutschland 83 and Generation War comes Reformation.
“At FremantleMedia, we want to be telling stories in a different, impactful, fresh way.” —Sarah Doole 130 WORLD SCREEN 4/17
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Imagina International Sales Lifeline / Night and Day / Crush The thriller Lifeline follows as a renowned surgeon, who receives a heart transplant after having a heart attack, begins to have strange nightmares related to the murder of his donor. The 13-episode series has “a really interesting twist that [straddles the] fine line between the supernatural and reality,” says Beatriz Setuain, the director of Imagina International Sales. The company also has in its catalog Night and Day, “a thriller in which everything and everyone has two faces,” Setuain says. The Barcelona-set series will debut in its second season in late April. The quiz show Crush sees teams of four answering questions in a way that forces them to decide who they would sacrifice to make it to the final jackpot. The series “combines tension and fun,” says Setuain.
“Our selection of series is constantly breaking new frontiers for Spanish content worldwide.” —Beatriz Setuain Night and Day
RTVE Queens / iFamily / Santiago: The Path’s End The rivalry between Mary Stuart of Scotland and Elizabeth I of England is on display in the drama Queens from RTVE. “These two women come face to face in their political, religious and personal lives, under the attentive eye of the most powerful monarch in Europe: Philip II of Spain,” explains Rafael Bardem, the company’s head of programs and licensing sales. Two feuding brothers are at the center of iFamily. Bardem describes the show as a family comedy that can bring everybody together around the TV set during prime time. RTVE is also offering the historical series Santiago: The Path’s End, which is set in Spain’s 11th century. It follows the adventures, love affairs and betrayals of three brothers who suffer at the hands of various historical figures.
“These are high-quality series in terms of both production and scripts.” —Rafael Bardem Queens
Series Mania Co-Production Forum April 18–21, 2017 The Series Mania Co-Production Forum, organized by Forum des images, has been extended from three days to four and will take place April 18 to 21. “For the last edition, we received 209 projects and selected 15,” says Laurence Herszberg, the director of Forum des images and founder of the Series Mania Festival. “This year, with the reputation of the Series Mania Co-Production Forum getting bigger, and with the announcement of a €50,000 prize going to the producer of the best project, we are expecting even more entries.” A total of 16 series in development will be presented to an audience of 400 international industry executives. A jury will select the best project, and the producer will be awarded prize money for development.
“This Co-Production Forum...is now becoming the event for networking, discussing projects and having time in a friendly environment to do some business.” —Laurence Herszberg Series Mania 4/17 WORLD SCREEN 131
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The German version of I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! on RTL.
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Steve Clarke checks in with some of Europe’s top acquisition executives about their programming needs. uropean broadcasters headed to MIPTV have a lot on their minds this spring. A volatile exreality TV star addicted to Twitter is the new resident of America’s most famous address, and he is threatening to end decades of global free trade. Meanwhile, the U.K. vote for Brexit and forthcoming elections in France and Germany are leading some commentators to think the unthinkable: could the European Union implode if more populist leaders in the mold of Trump are elected? For some, the end of a European single market is the stuff of nightmares. But as TV buyers consider the prospect of international disruption, closer to home they know their ondemand rivals have gained further ground during the past year. Broadcasters hope to future-proof themselves by strengthening the appeal of their own nonlinear services and keeping core channels healthy. A lot of today’s audiences expect to binge-watch their favorite shows at their convenience and view them on any device. The upshot for buyers is they are increasingly looking to acquire catch-up rights and licenses that enable them to series-stack shows. Series stacking is becoming something of a battlefield between TV acquisitions executives and distributors.
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Anette Romer, the head of acquisitions and formats for TV2 Denmark, speaks for many of her peers when she identifies the problem of securing certain nonlinear rights. “The distributors are listening and are aware of our demands, but it is still difficult to get sufficient catch-up and especially stacking rights.”
STACK ATTACK “When the rights are available, they are sometimes way too expensive,” agrees Sofie Schütt, the head of acquisitions at Sweden’s TV4 Group. “We need to monetize catch-up and series stacking rights,” says Katie Keenan, the head of acquisitions at the U.K.’s Channel 5. “If we aren’t granted the rights, it becomes an issue. We acquire a lot of content and spend a lot of money with the U.S. studios. They know that functionality is changing. It’s a huge sea change. If Netflix and Amazon do a global deal on a show, it makes it very challenging for us.” Her view is repeated by other European broadcasters, including Channel 5’s free-to-air rival ITV. Sasha Breslau, head of acquired series, stresses that ITV now exists across multiple platforms. The online ITV Hub is a vital part of how the broadcaster attracts and maintains its viewers. Therefore it 4/17 WORLD SCREEN 133
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With originals like Fortitude and output deals in place with HBO and Showtime, there isn’t much room for acquired product on Sky Atlantic, but sister services Sky 1 and Sky Arts are both in the market for top-end drama.
is important that ITV secures the best possible licensing package when it purchases a program. “It can be difficult when distributors are keen to hold back catch-up and series stacking rights so they can exploit them across multiple windows,” says Breslau. “Across the board, we often don’t get the rights we’d like to allow us to offer our viewers box sets. In the U.S., a lot of the commercial broadcasters are now insisting that they get full series stacking rights—an entire series available to view at any time. We would love the same thing to happen in the U.K.” Breslau predicts, “With everyone now aggressively pursuing catch-up rights, the negotiations with distributors are only going to get more tenacious and involved.”
FOLLOWING THE MONEY Jakob Mejlhede Andersen, the executive VP of programming and content development at MTG, explains that concluding a comprehensive rights deal is only half the story for broadcasters keen to earn extra revenue from streaming services. “Buying catch-up and series stacking rights is not a problem, although they carry a hefty price tag. The question is, How can I monetize them?” He continues, “You can buy all the windows, but if you don’t have a proper SVOD service to use the extended rights, then you are paying a higher price for the same content that you used to network before, plus a bit of extended catch-up. If your business model can follow, then it’s fine.” He adds: “We can’t use a show if we don’t have series stacking rights.” For pay giants like Sky (whose service encompasses Germany, the U.K., Italy and Northern Ireland) acquiring a versatile licensing package is a lot easier than it is for the free-to-air channels. “We’ve always been ahead of the curve by offering our customers the flexibility to watch when they want to and on any device,” says Sarah Wright, Sky’s director of acquisitions. At Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, Jörg Graf, COO of program affairs, takes a similar view. “For us, linear and nonlinear go hand in hand. We will not purchase programs or formats which are limited to linear only. We don’t define ourselves as linear broadcasters but as a media and video service. Our audience will decide whether they want to see a big, shinyfloor show live or a drama series on our VOD services.” As negotiating a deal has become more complicated, buyers’ needs have grown exponentially.
On the main network, Keenan is scouting shows likely to pull in big audiences, such as the reboot of The X-Files, a success for Channel 5 last year. Broad-appeal drama and event shows are a priority. Movies are always needed for Channel 5. Alongside entertainment and drama, Keenan and her buying team need more factual one-offs and series. “We want factual pieces that can cut through—broad, popular history subjects like JFK’s assassination, or another take on something like the Bermuda Triangle or 9/11,” says Keenan. In Scandinavia, British drama series are much sought after by Denmark’s TV2 and Sweden’s TV4. For the former, highquality U.K. scripted shows are needed for TV2 Charlie. “U.K. drama is a vital part of the schedules for prime time on our linear channels,” says TV4’s Schütt. “Broadchurch still plays well for us and we’ve just bought Apple Tree Yard and Loch Ness. We’re doing a huge push on our locally co-produced drama, which we are putting more money into. On New Year’s Day, we had a big success with Missing [Saknad, not the British drama of the same name] on C More. Six months later we’ll give it a window on TV4.” This approach has been adopted partly because the emergence of the streaming giants has made acquiring high-end drama very costly. “To counteract this, we try and find new partners to work with and acquire rights early on,” says Schütt. Factual entertainment is on TV2’s radar—“ideas that will sit well in our weekday schedule,” says Romer. On the weekends, entertainment shows, including versions of Strictly Come Dancing, The Voice Kids and Got Talent, continue to perform. However, “there is a renewed focus on Sunday evening where, given the budget, we could do much more,” Romer adds. For MTG’s Mejlhede Andersen, the market priorities are ideas that can be developed for scripted co-productions—onehour noirish dramas, and comedies with female leads. Of late, MTG’s successful shows have included several original thrillers such as Black Lake and Black Widows and the comedy Swedish Dicks. At RTL, Graf’s MIPTV requirements are headed by nonscripted formats that can be adapted locally. “It is more important than ever to adapt formats and make them unique in our market,” he says. On RTL, Idols, Let’s Dance and the return of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! have all been recent hits. VOX, meanwhile, made a splash with Dragons’ Den, The Best Singers and Red Bracelets, the German adaptation of The Red
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Band Society. Graf is also targeting “ready-made factual programs for our smaller channels.” Rüdiger Böss, executive VP of group programming acquisitions at rival ProSiebenSat.1 Media, is hoping to find some fresh, high-volume comedy. “One of our biggest shows is The Big Bang Theory, but it’s been on air for ten years,” he says. Böss is thrilled with the success of FOX’s The Mick but needs more shows like it that can be established in the schedules and then return for multiple seasons. The international drama glut shows no sign of ending, but Böss thinks it is becoming increasingly difficult to get viewers to regularly watch new drama series because of competition from streaming services. Nevertheless, he is on the lookout for long-running drama shows that have self-contained weekly stories. “Audiences on free-to-air channels are tired of serialized drama,” he says. “All these shows want to be the next House of Cards, which is fine but it doesn’t work for free TV.” Warner Bros.’s cop show Lethal Weapon made an impressive debut for FOX in the fall, but will it work for ITV, the British network that rarely buys acquired shows for its main channel? That is a question Breslau will have the answer to as she arrives at MIPTV, following the show’s March launch on the channel.
SEEKING VARIETY At the market, Breslau will be buying predominantly for ITV’s secondary channels, ITV2, 3 and 4, and ITVBe. ITV2 is seeking big volume drama, comedy and reality, aimed at 16- to 35year-olds. Also on ITV2’s shopping list are one-off specials and live events. Female-skewed ITVBe hopes to add to its stock of glossy reality shows aimed at women. The channel also wants to bake up more cake shows. ITV3’s wish list includes shows tied into this August’s 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. Breslau would like to find something “positive, warm and celebratory rather than salacious.” Male-focused ITV4, meanwhile, is seeking transactional shows, sports, especially darts or snooker-related competition shows, and “anything that falls under the banner of dangerous jobs for men.” For Sky, MIPTV is an opportunity to collect intelligence on what the U.S. studios are likely to unveil at the L.A. Screenings and scout for shows to play on Sky Arts. “Arts embraces a very broad range of shows, from performance, pure documentary and foreign-language drama if we can find the right content,” says Wright. “We’ve even been running comedy on Sky Arts, with our Urban Myths series, which is an original commission. We’re casting our net pretty wide.” Sky Atlantic is “full,” says Wright—the channel benefits from Sky’s exclusive deals with HBO and Showtime. But “there is always room for big, strong mainstream network powerhouses on Sky 1,” and “big procedurals” for Sky Living. In the U.K., Sky is the biggest spender on acquired shows. That is unlikely to change in the future. This is despite a recent dip in the company’s operating profit due to the inflated cost of English Premier League soccer. “We’re commissioning a lot, but we’re not buying less and we’re spending the same,” says Wright. The fall in sterling against the dollar and euro following the Brexit vote will not help British buyers at MIPTV, but across Europe (including, for the time being, the U.K.) budgets appear to be holding up. “Our budgets remain stable,” says TV2’s Romer. “Some of the money is eaten up by write-offs of U.S. returning series from our old output deals, which we are still struggling with.”
Sweden’s TV4 has diverted money from buying American shows to developing local drama and acquiring U.K. scripted series.
MINDING THE BUDGET The finance is being moved around at MTG too. “The budget is constantly changing,” says Mejlhede Andersen. “It is moving between platforms.... Overall, the acquisition budget is flattish or decreasing slightly in favor of the co-production budget.” At ProSiebenSat.1, Böss says his spending plans remain broadly in line with last year: “We are not cutting back, but we need to be careful how we spend.” In any case, financial considerations seem less of a concern to European buyers than the complexities of today’s acquisitions market. In the days before multiplatform TV, finding, buying, scheduling and marketing shows was relatively straightforward. That is no longer so in today’s ubercompetitive environment. “Years ago we purchased formats and were able to bring them to air immediately,” says RTL’s Graf. “Formats have to be changed and adapted, while the international supply of drama is difficult. Today we don’t see any ‘no brainers’ anymore.” At Sweden’s TV4, Schütt strikes a similar note. “It is hard to think of anything that is missing from MIPTV. More than anything else, the challenge we face is competition. There’s a lot of good stuff out there, but the challenge is securing it. It’s a very, very competitive market. Ten years ago it was us and a few other broadcasters. Today there are all these extra SVOD platforms and there’s piracy. We’re even facing the challenge of getting people to sit down and watch the television.”
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Entertainment One’s crime series Cardinal was acquired by TV4 Group for the C More pay-TV platform.
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ProSiebenSat.1 Media is one of the leading media conglomerates in Europe. The group’s seven free-TV stations cumulatively capture the greatest share of the advertising market and viewing audience in Germany. While television was the group’s core focus when it was founded in 2000, Thomas Ebeling, the CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media, has spearheaded the diversification of the company’s businesses away from ad-supported TV stations to digital platforms and e-commerce, in addition to the production and international distribution of programming through the Red Arrow Entertainment Group. As Ebeling tells TV Europe, the group’s growth opportunities lie in its ability to continue to connect its TV assets with digiBy Anna Carugati tal businesses. TV EUROPE: What strategic decisions enabled ProSiebenSat.1 Media to successfully move into digital businesses? EBELING: Since 2009, our main focus has been developing our business from a classic TV broadcaster to a digital media group. We have transformed ProSiebenSat.1 by identifying new growth areas in all of our business segments and rapidly diversifying our portfolio. For example, we launched new free-TV stations as well as our HD distribution business, founded Red Arrow Entertainment, and, of course, established a portfolio of e-commerce companies. Two innovative business models have been central to our growth: with “media-for-revenue-share” and “mediafor-equity,” we have been able to offer advertising space on our free-TV stations to promising startup companies in exchange for a share of revenues and/or equity, which allowed us to grow our digital business considerably. And we have also made investments in established and successful digital companies. Above all, we have always concentrated on connecting our TV unit with the digital business. We are proud to say that no other European media company finds and uses synergies between these two types of businesses as consistently as we do. TV EUROPE: What factors drove the group’s financial performance in 2016? EBELING: Our financial performance is directly related to this strategy of combining TV and commerce. Since March 2016, we rank among the 30 most valuable traded companies in Germany. In 2016 all four of our business segments contributed to our group’s revenue increase, with the Digital Ventures & Commerce segment being the biggest growth driver. Our price comparison portal Verivox and the online travel agency Etraveli have grown dynamically since we acquired them in 2015. Last year, we also invested in the online dating company Parship Elite Group and the fast-growing and TV-friendly health and well-being market. Our commerce portfolio is now clustered around four thematic verticals: online travel, online price comparison, online dating and
lifestyle commerce. With all that, we continue to use the reach and advertising power of our successful TV stations in order to accelerate further growth in these business areas. TV EUROPE: What is your acquisition strategy and do you have plans to acquire more companies? If so, what type of company would be a good fit for the group? EBELING: We are always exploring the market and monitoring new developments. Our M&A strategy focuses on acquisitions that add value, especially in the digital space. If we make an investment in a company, we have strong criteria to follow: it is essential that the company’s business model is robust, highly TV-responsive and synergistic with our existing business. And, of course, we need to see clear growth potential. This strategy has strengthened the group’s profit growth sustainably; e-commerce investments made in the past five years have increased their revenue level by around 80 percent on average since their integration into our group. At the same time, the earnings contribution of these acquisitions to the group’s recurring EBITDA went up by around 120 percent. TV EUROPE: How was the advertising market in Germany in 2016 and what are the forecasts for 2017? EBELING: The German net TV advertising market saw continued solid growth last year. We are anticipating that the market grew slightly more than 2 percent in 2016. For 2017, we estimate that the ad market will increase by 2 to 3 percent. TV EUROPE: How have the group’s stations and channels been working with advertisers in innovative ways? EBELING: Our advertising clients appreciate the unique strength of TV advertising—building large reach in a short time. They also appreciate our ability to make TV ads ever more effective. For example, we are developing 360-degree concepts that are customized to consumers, and we are pushing innovative advertising forms like addressable TV, which combines the reach of mass-medium TV with the targeting options of the online world. ProSiebenSat.1 was the first German TV broadcaster to launch addressable TV,
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recently started a strategic partnership between Studio71 and both the TF1 Group in France and Mediaset in Italy. This gives us access to key European markets where the online video market is starting to pick up momentum and is promising significant potential. TV EUROPE: How do some of the digital businesses tie in with other segments of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group? EBELING: Developing synergies between our businesses has always been the core focus of our strategy. We are constantly looking for ways to interlink different business units to create something unique. This is our competitive advantage. I have talked about increasing awareness of our e-commerce brands by using our TV ad inventory, but we also seek opportunities to link digital businesses among each other to create synergies, especially regarding marketing, data and user preferences. And the increasing collaboration between Red Arrow and our TV stations is another great example. We are convinced that we will continue to create further growth by consistently connecting all of our activities.
Homegrown entertainment is a key element on ProSieben, which has featured a slew of shows fronted by the comedy duo Joko & Klaas.
rolling out TV ad campaigns tailored to specific target audiences or weather conditions. This way, TV advertising is becoming even more relevant for viewers and clients. In 2016 we ran nearly 100 addressable TV campaigns. TV EUROPE: What percentage of the group’s revenues comes from advertising and what percentage comes from nonadvertising-supported businesses? EBELING: The group already generates 47 percent of consolidated revenues outside of the TV advertising business; this share is expected to rise to over 50 percent by 2018. At the same time, ProSiebenSat.1’s TV advertising revenues are rising. TV EUROPE: Tell us about the Digital Entertainment division. Which businesses are proving to be the most successful and popular? EBELING: Our Digital Entertainment segment includes our online video business with the video-on-demand service maxdome, the MCN Studio71, as well as our ad-VOD and ad-tech business. maxdome is developing quite positively while the ad-tech area and Studio71 are contributing the biggest growth. Studio71 is the number one multichannel network in Germany and the fourth biggest worldwide. We
TV EUROPE: Looking ahead 12 to 24 months, what opportunities and what challenges do you see for the group? EBELING: The challenges are the same for all of our competitors: the fragmentation of the media landscape will continue, media usage habits will further change within the young target groups, and global digital giants, like Google and Facebook, will increase their efforts to dominate the media industry. But facing such challenges has always made us stronger, and over the years ProSiebenSat.1 has proven again and again how capable we are, of setting ambitious targets and also achieving them. I am very optimistic that this will continue in the future, especially because our business is made up of a wealth of talented people based in Germany and around the world. The aim for the end of 2018 is to hit group revenues of €4.5 billion, with more than €1.7 billion in revenues coming out of the digital businesses alone. To achieve this further growth, we will continue to push the intelligent combination of our high-reach TV stations with digital offerings and to look for strong, innovative business models. One major new focus is the implementation of our so-called omnichannel strategy. This means that next to our e-commerce business, we will also develop the retail distribution of physical lifestyle goods and extend our marketing efforts from TV and digital to also include point-of-sale. I am convinced that with this strategy, ProSiebenSat.1 will continue its path of sustainable and profitable growth.
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As Germany’s national public-service broadcaster, ZDF has an obligation to offer programming to all segments of the audience. Its efforts have been rewarded as ZDF was once again market leader in 2016 with a 13-percent share of the total viewing audience, ahead of a slew of rival commercial channels. In January of this year, ZDF saw that share climb to 13.9 percent. Viewers come to ZDF for its high-end drama series, entertainment shows and sports coverage, but equally for its news and information programming. ZDF Director-General Thomas Bellut began his career as a journalist and is keenly aware of ZDF’s responsibilities when providing comprehensive and impartial news, especially By Anna Carugati in today’s complex world. TV EUROPE: With so much upheaval going on in Europe— refugees and immigrants, terrorism, the rise of populism, the crisis of the Eurozone—do audiences want to see some of these stories told in series and TV movies? Or does the German audience want to “escape” from serious issues when it watches drama? BELLUT: Major events and developments in recent history tend to start appearing in fiction once a certain amount of time has passed. Over the New Year period, the first motion picture covering the integration of refugees premiered in German cinemas. Back in autumn 2016, we showed the first TV movie on this topic, Der Andere (The Other), but viewing figures were below average. First and foremost, the subjects you mentioned are all things that our audience wants to learn more about. At more than 40 percent, our proportion of informational content is the highest among all general-interest broadcasters in Germany. We recognize that demand for our news and information-based programs is increasing, especially in turbulent times such as these. TV EUROPE: In what ways and on what platforms is ZDF providing news and programming in addition to the linear channels? BELLUT: We use every distribution channel to present our content to our audience in a meaningful and efficient way. That said, it is still the case that classic linear TV services exhibit by far the greatest usage figures. Every German watches on average more than 200 minutes of TV every day. This high level has been quite stable for years. Nonlinear use via smart TVs and mobile devices is a supplementary channel that is yet to replace linear consumption. Our most important platform for nonlinear distribution is ZDFmediathek, our online media library. It was completely relaunched a couple of months ago. We receive 1.8 million visits a day; in addition to live streams of our TV stations we also offer a broad selection of videos on demand for all common stationary and mobile receivers. TV EUROPE: How are ZDF’s digital channels serving different segments of the audience? BELLUT: We had to close down a digital channel last year: ZDFkultur. In media policy terms, that was the price that had to be paid for the new youth-focused offering, funk. But I am delighted that the other two channels, ZDFneo and ZDFinfo, continue to do very well. ZDFneo, which is directed at
an audience aged between 25 and 50, gained half a percentage point in its market share in 2016. No private broadcaster in Germany achieved anything on that level. ZDFneo is now at 2.1 percent and is about to move up into the top ten most successful channels in Germany. That is a huge success. ZDFinfo is a pure information channel with lots of documentaries. Here we achieve the same market share of 1.2 percent among viewers aged between 14 and 49 as among the general audience. That’s also a tremendous performance. TV EUROPE: In some countries, established news organizations are losing credibility. What is ZDF’s connection with its audience when it comes to news and information programming? BELLUT: There has been a debate going on in Germany about the general credibility of the media for about two years now. This has its origins in social groups that tend to be rather on the right of the political spectrum. Catchphrases like “Lügenpress” (lying press) or “MainstreamMedien” (mainstream media) sow great mistrust. It is an attempt to discredit established media sources. I wanted to know whether that is really the case, so I commissioned a representative study back in the summer of 2015. We’ve conducted it three times since—the most recent one being in November 2016. The results are clear. People’s confidence in the traditional media is stable and at a high level. The news programs of Germany’s public broadcasters, ZDF and ARD, are at the top. These are followed by regional and national daily newspapers, and then by weekly journals. Then there’s a big gap before you come to the tabloids, and right at the very end you find social media. It is interesting that even with all the crises you mentioned, the results have stayed the same. Whenever anything happens, people turn to the public broadcasters, because they know that’s where they’ll find reliable information. TV EUROPE: Bundestag elections are coming up; what type of coverage will ZDF provide? BELLUT: 2017 will be a year of politics. In September, the elections to our federal parliament, the Bundestag, will decide whether Chancellor Merkel remains in power. In addition to this, we will have three elections to regional state parliaments. Germany’s new Federal President was elected in February. It is our job to provide people with independent information so that they can form their own
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ZDF’s flagship news magazine, heute journal, has been on the air for almost 40 years.
opinion on politics and the positions held by the various parties. We will cover all topics extensively in our regular magazine programs, documentaries and reports. We will discuss matters with politicians, experts, stakeholders and the audience in talk shows and discussion panels. We will include even more of this in our prime-time coverage than in previous years. TV EUROPE: How can an established news organization like ZDF guide its viewers through the election season and help them understand the difference between real news and fake news? BELLUT: By explaining what’s happening. We should not simply ignore fake news; we need to counter it with facts. The media are facing a challenge. We are all observing an increasing brutalization in social media, in the form of the conscious spreading of lies and the mental isolation of the echo chambers and filter bubbles created by our social networks. We work against this by providing true and factbased reporting. This must not be dictated from above but shared with the audience on equal footing. This also includes more transparency. We must make more effort to explain how we work and be transparent about our own mistakes. TV EUROPE: ZDF and ARD decided not to acquire the rights to the Olympics for the next several years, I believe from 2018 to 2024. How did that decision come about? BELLUT: That is correct. The decision wasn’t an easy one. But the price Discovery Communications [the rights holder for Europe] asked was much too high. It was well above the maximum we would be prepared to pay, even at a push. We regret this because live broadcasting of 142 WORLD SCREEN 4/17
the Olympic Games would have been a perfect fit for our profile as a public broadcaster. We have invested a lot of work into these broadcasts. We also dedicated a lot of time in our program schedule to the Olympic sports between the games. Of course, we had a strong focus on German athletes. We brought our viewers closer to the countries where the games were taking place with documentaries and reports. And, last but not least, we have also consistently been critical of negative developments in the world of sport. It remains to be seen whether Discovery/Eurosport will cover these things in a comparable manner. TV EUROPE: What are the biggest issues impacting the German TV market in general? What challenges and opportunities will ZDF face in the next 12 to 24 months? BELLUT: 2016 was a year that put journalism in general to the test, and also at ZDF: New Year’s Eve in Cologne, the media’s actions in response to the shooting in Munich, and the extensive coverage and speculation surrounding the Berlin Christmas market attack. Care, prudence, transparency and an open attitude to mistakes are more important than ever before. The viewers need to understand why we are reporting on certain things. They must also be able to understand a given situation, even if we don’t yet know all the facts. We must try hard to reach all groups in society, even those who have a certain level of general skepticism regarding our reporting. The TV market as a whole is quite stable here in Germany. The public broadcasters are successful. At the same time, commercial broadcasters are generating considerable profits. Television continues to be an extremely popular advertising platform.
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DAVID LYNN @20
TV EUROPE: Would you give us some background to the Channel 5 acquisition? What potential did you see in Channel 5 and its digital channels 5STAR and 5USA? LYNN: Even before the Channel 5 acquisition, we had embarked on a strategy to increase our production of original content. That was a great driver of the Viacom business in the U.K. leading up to Channel 5. That changed our whole model of operating in the U.K.; it helped our ad-sales partnership with Sky and led to strong revenue growth. Channel 5 has been an acceleration of the strategy that had already been successful for us. I like to say Viacom has transformed Channel 5’s business and equally Channel 5 has transformed the Viacom business in the U.K. Channel 5 is now on a sustainably profitable path. Channel 5 had record profits last year of £58 million. We feel the acquisition has been a major success.
By Anna Carugati
To grab viewers’ attention in a free-TV market that already offers some of the best programming in the world is no easy feat. But that’s exactly what Channel 5 in the U.K. did when it launched in 1997. The channel was noisy and boisterous, using movies, football matches and more to attract an audience used to watching BBC One, BBC Two, ITV and Channel 4. Through the years, Channel 5’s programming evolved and settled on a schedule that was strong in factual entertainment, factual and imported programming. Channel 5 changed ownership twice: first, in 2005, when RTL Group upped its stake and acquired the whole company, which had rebranded the channel’s name to Five, and then again in 2010, when the RTL Group sold Five to Richard Desmond, owner of the publishing concern Northern & Shell. The management team under Desmond changed the name back to Channel 5, and the names of its sister channels to 5STAR and 5USA. In May 2014, Viacom acquired Channel 5. David Lynn, who today is the president and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), was instrumental in the acquisition. He saw the free-TV channel’s potential to complement VIMN’s pay-TV services in the U.K., a portfolio that includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. Lynn was already boosting the amount of programming that was coming out of VIMN’s U.K. hub, and he saw Channel 5 as a valuable addition to original production and the portfolio’s advertising revenues. As Lynn explains, the acquisition has been a success. Channel 5’s ratings, particularly among younger viewers, have increased significantly; so has profitability. And both Channel 5 and the VIMN pay networks have benefited from sharing programming. 144 WORLD SCREEN 4/17
TV EUROPE: How did the acquisition benefit your strategy to increase original productions? LYNN: We were already originating content in the U.K., but this brought us to a whole new level. We have increased five-fold the amount we are spending on origination out of the U.K. as a result of acquiring Channel 5. We’ve also increased Channel 5’s annual content spend by 20 percent since we bought the business. Channel 5 was already undergoing a process of creative transformation under the programming leadership of Ben Frow, and we gave Ben the extra resources to accelerate that transformation. He has been broadening the factual output of the channel and bringing in new genres like sports and more entertainment, investing in factual entertainment, and that has driven a lot of the success that Channel 5 has had in the last three or four years. In addition to that, we then started sharing content between Channel 5 and our pay networks in the U.K. and also internationally. We shared more than 300 hours of content last year between Channel 5 and the other Viacom brands. The fantastic news is that it has been driving ratings success on Channel 5. Its ratings were up in the younger demos by 11 percent last year, but we had record ratings and shares for the pay brands as well. So the acquisition has lifted the success of both sides of the business—Channel 5 and the Viacom pay channels. That was the strategy on the content side. On the business model side, we also changed our Channel 5 business. We extended our partnership with Sky to include Channel 5 as well. [Sky not only carries Channel 5, 5STAR and 5USA on its pay-TV platform, it also sells commercial airtime for all these services.] That led to a significant increase in our performance financially as well. Channel 5’s ad revenues were up 18 percent last year on the back of Viacom’s new relationship with Sky. TV EUROPE: Has Channel 5’s popular children’s block, Milkshake!, helped Nickelodeon? Have the two services been working together?
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While Channel 5’s schedule is largely built on British content, it does make room for some U.S. acquisitions, among them the Warner Bros. hit Gotham.
LYNN: Yes, there has been content sharing between Channel 5 and Milkshake! Among the big Viacom properties that have gone to Milkshake! are titles like PAW Patrol. That helps Milkshake!’s ratings but it equally lets our top franchises become bigger franchises in the market, and that has helped our consumer-products business. Digby Dragon and Wissper are other titles that we have shared. We are sharing expertise between the channels as well, and that has been driving success. Alison Bakunowich, who is the head of Nickelodeon U.K., also has strategic oversight of Milkshake! and is tapping into Nickelodeon expertise to help drive the success of Milkshake! On the back of that, we’ve had our best results on both channels. Milkshake! had its highest ever share of viewing in 2016 and Nickelodeon was the number one kids’ pay-TV network in the U.K. for the first time in ten years. TV EUROPE: How has Channel 5 helped other channels in the Viacom U.K. portfolio? LYNN: In several ways. First of all, through the sharing of content that has driven our ratings across the other networks. Spike was a true partnership between both sides of the business, and we were able to launch Spike quickly in the U.K. because of Channel 5. We used the Spike international pipeline, of course, but we also tapped into Channel 5 programming to make a really strong, compelling channel. Spike has been on the air now [since April 2015] and it has continued to grow rapidly and is doing extremely well. TV EUROPE: Can the Channel 5 acquisition be used as a model for growth for other areas of the Viacom businesses? LYNN: We acquired Telefe, which is the largest free-to-air broadcaster in Argentina. That deal was done on the back of the success of Channel 5. Telefe gives us a scale position in the market in Argentina and on top of that it’s going to be another content engine for our Latin American business.
TV EUROPE: Do you see best practices or programming from the U.K. market that can be used in other areas of Viacom’s international footprint? LYNN: We were already using the U.K. as a content hub for the international pay services, whether it’s Geordie Shore on MTV, I Live with Models on Comedy Central or a number of Nickelodeon titles. Channel 5 gives us the opportunity to do even more in that area and offers greater potential to share U.K. content across our international businesses. A couple of examples would be Nella the Princess Knight, our first co-production between Milkshake! and Nickelodeon U.K., which will air across all the Nick international channels and the U.S. channel. We’ve also aired a number of other Channel 5 titles across the Viacom portfolio internationally, Police Interceptors, Lip Sync Battle UK and Tattoo Disasters: U.K., for example. So yes, there is already a good amount of sharing happening with the international networks. TV EUROPE: The U.K. market is a very important part of VIMN’s business. No one can know what the impact of Brexit will be, but at this point, what is your view of the U.K. market and what are the advertising forecasts for this year? LYNN: We have experienced some softness in the ad market in this quarter, and this continued a trend we saw from the last quarter of 2016. Most forecasters are downgrading the full year and forecasts for 2017. However, given what I mentioned earlier, I do think that Channel 5 and Viacom are in a unique position and I still see a lot of growth opportunities, and we’re seeing that this year. Our ratings continue to climb. I do think that our business is in a very healthy position despite some short-term softening. The U.K. has been a very successful market for us, and I’m optimistic about the future as well. The integration of Channel 5 into the Viacom family really has been transformative for our business and for Channel 5.
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BEN FROW @20
I wanted big shows and what we found is that we were having huge success with shows like Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away!, GPs: Behind Closed Doors, The Dog Rescuers, Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild and Eamonn & Ruth: How the Other Half Lives. These were getting between 1 million to 2 million viewers week in and week out—very big numbers for Channel 5, in fact, for any broadcaster in this day and age. We were getting in those volumes a lot of 16- to 34-year-olds as well as a great share. The second part of the strategy was that Viacom asked us where we would like to invest money if we could have extra money. The first place we identified was 10 p.m., when there was news on BBC One, BBC Two and on ITV, and Channel 5 played repeats. There was an opportunity to bring in young viewers. So we got extra money for 10 p.m. and we commissioned programs with a double target in mind. First, to bring a broad audience but with a younger feel to Channel 5, and second, to make programs that could also play either on MTV or Comedy Central. This was our first dip into the water to try to make programs that could be on Channel 5 and play on the other Viacom pay channels in the U.K. We did that with shows like My Mum’s Hotter Than Me! and In Therapy and various others. These were shows that would get between 600,000 and 1 million viewers in consolidation, had a lovely young skew to them but also had a life beyond Channel 5.
By Anna Carugati
For years, Channel 5’s prime-time lineup relied heavily on American imported programs, but Ben Frow, director of programming, started to change that in 2013 when he broadened the channel’s range of acquisitions and set his sights on increasing the number of original productions and revamping sister channels 5STAR and 5USA. TV EUROPE: In May 2014, when Viacom acquired Channel 5, did you see an opportunity to get into new genres? FROW: What I felt almost immediately was that there would be a real enthusiasm for content. Viacom is a content-driven company, so I knew they would support my ambition for new programming. I knew that I would probably fast-track my way to comedy and entertainment given MTV and Comedy Central. I saw there was going to be a very obvious directive to skew young. The big challenge for most broadcasters are those fabulous young demographics, and it’s been interesting for Channel 5, which has had an incredible strike rate with the 16-to-34 age group. We were way ahead of any other broadcaster last year. Something in the Viacom DNA has come through to Channel 5. We haven’t even tried to target 16 to 34s, but we have attracted an awful lot of them. TV EUROPE: Fast-forward to today, what were some of the programming strategies that helped bring such success? FROW: I had a double strategy; the first is that I believe in volume. I don’t believe in commissioning programming just for young viewers. I believe in commissioning great ideas. I have always been idea-driven, and I’ve never been driven by demos.
TV EUROPE: What is the role of Channel 5 as a commercial public-service broadcaster (PSB)? FROW: I think the role of any television channel is to entertain its viewers. The gift of being a PSB is that we are number five on the EPG, which puts us in a prominent position and we make certain commitments in return for that. We commit to children’s television. We commit to current affairs and news. We commit to a certain amount of origination. This puts us in a very prominent position. It makes us one of the big five. For me, it also brings a certain sense of responsibility. We are a commercial channel—we have to sell adverts, we have to make money, that’s the job. But I also think that being a PSB, we have a social responsibility. So even though they may not rate, I believe that we should commission programs that are important, whether they are about members of Parliament or about people donating their bodies to science or about homelessness in Britain or about a woman who is accused of child cruelty. I can give myself permission to commission and make those programs only when I am delivering the commercial impact. So for me, it’s about making sure that I give Viacom the numbers they need to make the money they need to make—that’s my fundamental job. And when I know I am doing that and the big audience shows are rating well, I also give myself permission to make statements about Viacom’s commitment to important issues. It is very important for me to be able to do those kinds of programs so that people think Channel 5 is an important channel, not just a commercially successful channel.
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everything, and I never knew what it stood for. 5USA was very clear—it was American drama. When we launched Spike two years ago, it tended to skew younger male. It was a very clear opportunity for us to make 5STAR skew younger and female. We decided to commission for 5STAR rather than just air leftovers. We have targeted acquisitions, like Heroes Reborn, The Magicians, The Shannara Chronicles, that played very well on 5STAR, but we also do its own unique programming. And that commissioned programming has been so successful that we are now migrating some of that onto Channel 5. They all have a very clear identity. They are all sold on a certain demographic, and they are all able to compensate for any weaknesses on the main channel, which happens now and again.
Tapping into synergies with its parent company, Viacom, Channel 5 has found success with a local version of Lip Sync Battle, which originated on Spike in the U.S.
TV EUROPE: What is your strategy for acquisitions? FROW: Just four years ago, we were a very heavy acquisitionsled channel. NCIS, CSI, The Mentalist, Person of Interest; these played at 9 o’clock every night throughout the week. And we had movies on throughout the weekend. We were 50-percent acquisitions, 50-percent commissions. Now we are 66-percent commissions. But we have migrated the older, female viewers very successfully to 5USA. That has enabled us to broaden our audience on Channel 5. I want a big, broad audience and I want as many viewers as possible. TV EUROPE: What acquired product are you looking to place on Channel 5? FROW: We have daytime movies and we still have a few films on the weekend. What we like now are event pieces. The X-Files was our most successful drama ever. There were only six episodes and that was perfect for us. The days when 22-week dramas played on Channel 5 are over. The way people watch television is so different. We look at 6-, 8-, 10-episode series, stunts. We have commissioned quite a bit of docudrama and we will move into more originated drama this year. There will always be a place for acquisitions, but I can’t rely on acquisitions anymore. And the way the studios work, we have to do a two-season deal, and if that doesn’t work, that can be very problematic for us. The great thing about commissioning is that you can commission six episodes, try them, and if they work, you can commission ten episodes. TV EUROPE: How are you seeing 5STAR or 5USA evolving? FROW: When I arrived, 5STAR played second runs and repeats from Channel 5. It had a bit of
TV EUROPE: Has the Brexit vote provided new storytelling ideas? FROW: My key job is figuring out what viewers will want to watch in nine months’ time. Before the Brexit vote, I felt very strongly that there was a move toward aspirational programming, programming about people who take control of their lives. People who own their own destiny and don’t want to be wage slaves anymore. When the Brexit vote happened and the vote was to leave the EU, I felt, wow, it’s what the people want, they want to control their own destiny. Now, as we talk about Brexit and the Trump effect, which is this disgusting negativity and racism that is coming out of people, this lack of respect for people, I think we are crying out for feel good. We are crying out for programs about good, kind people who want a simple life. About people who are not greedy, who are not f**king other people over. We have our successful returning shows, but as a channel controller, you need to always think about evolving the channel. You cannot rely on what has gone before being as successful as it was. You go through highs and you go through lows and [we have taken] a new direction for Channel 5, which is much more celebratory, much more feel good, much more aspirational, much more life-affirming.
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Operationally and strategically, they are interested in working with us as content producers for their various platforms and that is helpful. For example, we have a scripted development project with Liberty Global where we are making content for Virgin and Liberty’s other cable companies around Europe. We’re also working closely with Discovery and developing content for their various channels. We also do quite a lot in distribution with them. So the relationship is more than shareholder to subsidiary, it’s one of real strategic partnership as well.
By Anna Carugati
With 25 production companies in its network, of which 11 are in the U.S., all3media has established itself as a super-indie that supplies the global market with scripted and unscripted programming. Among its production labels are Company Pictures, producer of The White Queen; Bentley Productions, Midsomer Murders; Optomen, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Studio Lambert, Undercover Boss. The company’s co-owners, Liberty Global and Discovery Communications, have backed corporate expansion, including the acquisitions of New Pictures, The Missing, and Neal Street Productions, Call the Midwife. As CEO Jane Turton explains, having the best talent, properly incentivized and supported by a skilled distribution arm that helps finance shows, yields the best results creatively and commercially. TV EUROPE: What benefits has all3media derived from its shareholders, Discovery Communications and Liberty Global? TURTON: The support from them in corporate development has been exceptional. You need a supportive shareholder to allow you to do these types of deals and they have been fantastic. They believe in content and they put their financial and strategic resources behind us as we go to them with these proposals. That is an enormous benefit. They have a very long-term view, which is hugely helpful in any sort of IP-generating business, because, as you can imagine, these businesses take time to develop.
TV EUROPE: How is all3media filling the demand for drama? TURTON: Drama has always been really important for us. We maintain a roughly fifty-fifty balance between scripted and unscripted programming. If you add in the secondary exploitation, we exceed 50 percent scripted. So scripted is huge for us, and a lot of the acquisitions and start-up activity [we have done recently] have been to make sure we’ve got the strongest scripted talent. What is interesting is that our American experience with scripted to date has tended to be more with co-production and presales, rather than original made-in-America for American broadcasters. We are beginning to look at that and consider bigger deficit-funded deals in America. As well as looking at indigenous scripted development for the American market, we continue to invest in the IP-creating British and German businesses that develop and produce such a strong slate of drama. Drama is a hugely valuable asset in sales terms. It’s talked-about television. It’s the staple of so many broadcasters’ schedules. It’s super important strategically and from a profile perspective. We’ve got new players like the streamers and the OTTs coming into the market; that’s even more exciting because suddenly there is incremental revenue coming from them, too. We are making a scripted series, Free Rein, for Netflix through Lime Pictures in the north of England that we are very excited about. We are talking to Amazon and Netflix and these new streaming platforms and are very keen to grow our business with them. TV EUROPE: Are you also seeing steady demand for factual and factual-entertainment programming? TURTON: Yes, factual and factual entertainment is most of the other half of our business. And yes, we see great demand for strong ideas and well-produced shows. It is a lovely model. If you can invent a format, own the format, and then sell it around the world, that is something that satisfies on many levels. Gogglebox is a great example, as is Undercover Boss, both from Studio Lambert. We’re excited about forthcoming shows such as Escape and Ultimate Shopping List from Maverick having that same appeal. Through our partnership with Gordon Ramsay, we produce series like The F Word and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares that travel extremely well around the world. Our venture with Gordon is something that we are proud of, with its new commissions on FOX and the new commissions on ITV. These shows on ITV can potentially work well in the U.S. and elsewhere. Factual entertainment is very important for all3media.
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TV EUROPE: Is all3media also looking for short-form content? TURTON: We’ve got a production company called Little Dot Studios, which is our principal producer of short-form content for branded partners. Some of our other production companies also produce short form, but it’s predominantly Little Dot. Little Dot runs a lot of digital channels, with up to 2 billion monthly views. Now’s the time to put more investment into the business, particularly in the development of original IP. Some of the shows are up to the 22- to 26-minute mark, and they are relatively long [for short form]. And some are being commissioned by conventional platforms, some by new entrants like branded partners. TV EUROPE: It’s fascinating how quickly everything evolves. TURTON: It is, but it goes back to some very long-standing principles about content: ultimately it must be quality, entertaining, well made, innovative and original. Those were always the rules, weren’t they? So our short form may be on different distribution platforms or viewed on different handheld devices, but the point is it still has to tick those boxes or people don’t watch it. TV EUROPE: In this ever-changing market, how do you measure success? TURTON: It’s an interesting question, and I think the answer comes in many different forms. Ratings and audience size matter hugely for us. Still, every single day we look at those and we think, Wow, that’s brilliant! Call the Midwife, from Neal Street, one of our drama companies, recently got 8.8 million viewers on BBC One, with peaks of 10 million
per series. That is huge in audience terms. We also look at the bottom line. We’re a commercial operation, so, like most businesses, I’m happy to admit that in part we measure success based on economics. Most important, we look at the quality of our talent and the productivity of our talent and the new ideas coming through. And returning series, when one of your programs is recommissioned, that has to be one of the biggest accolades, isn’t it? That means that the idea was good, you produced it well, the audience liked it, so someone’s recommissioned it. We do more laps of honor on a recommission or a program’s success than anything because it’s the thing that makes your business work and makes us happy! TV EUROPE: As you look to grow all3media, rather than simply achieving scale, it’s about finding the best talent? TURTON: I think that’s principally what it’s about and everything else follows. If you’ve got the best people and they are motivated, incentivized and in the right structures, they will produce the best programs and that will produce the best outcome on every level. It’s a people business, and people are just as important in the commercial roles as they are in the creative ones. Our distribution business becomes very important in the world of complex funding. The funding models have become very, very complicated and the distribution team at all3media International are super important for making sure we’ve got shows properly funded and properly exploited. The secondary value becomes very important. We’re very passionate and proud producers of programs, and our distribution business is integral to that.
Launching at MIPTV, Clique is from the same team that made Skins and is set to air on BBC Three.
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30 TV EUROPE
By Mansha Daswani
In the pantheon of Turkish drama stars, Bergüzar Korel and Halit Ergenç are akin to royalty. The couple first worked opposite each other in 1001 Nights and married soon after the series ended its run in 2009. Ergenç went on to play Ottoman Sultan Süleyman is the megahit Magnificent Century, and Korel spent three years in ATV’s successful Karadayi. In the new Kanal D series Wounded Love Korel and Ergenç are back on screen together. They tell TV Europe about why they initially resisted being co-stars and how the story in Wounded Love, about Cevdet and Azize, a couple torn apart by war, changed their minds. TV EUROPE: It’s been almost ten years since you last appeared together on screen in a TV series. Why this show? ERGENÇ: Because we like the story. It’s happened before, people asking us if we could act together, and we rejected them. But this story took us. I was already involved, but she has her own story about this TV series. KOREL: Mine is a little bit different. He said yes to the series and was reading the script and everybody [involved in the show] started to say, Bergüzar [you should join him]. I said, This year, I don’t want to work, I want to be at home. I was so tired after Karadayi. They said, Bergüzar, did you read the story? For Halit, please read it. We want to know your opinion! They said, There’s a character, Azize, and she’s you. The script was on the table in our dining room. I’d be going to the kitchen and saying, I’m not reading it. It was on the table for maybe one month, or something like that, and one day… ERGENÇ: Instead, I was reading it from time to time. KOREL: And OK, I read it! Then I said, do you have a second episode? I want to read that. [Laughs] And I fell in love with Azize. She’s totally different. And then I called my agents. We were thinking about how it would be because we are together at home, husband and wife. We never thought to work together in a serial. We discussed it with the crew, our
agents, our directors. And I said OK, let’s sleep on it and tomorrow we’re going to talk again. ERGENÇ: We had a hard time deciding. And then one day I told her, let’s forget about everything and let’s do this—whatever happens. And she said yes. KOREL: Did you like the story? Yes. Did you like the character? Yes. OK, let’s try it. TV EUROPE: What was it about the story that had such a strong appeal for you? ERGENÇ: It’s a universal love story. It’s set during World War I, in the Ottoman Empire, between Smyrna, what the Greeks call Izmir, and Selanik [Thessaloniki]. These characters were born in Selanik. Cevdet is a soldier. He has been in the Balkan War. His beloved wife Azize is a nurse. They have three kids. The situations in those war days can sometimes force people to become separated. Cevdet and Azize have this kind of story, but they are connected to each other in their minds and their hearts. As soon as they feel like they have lost everything, a new story starts. It’s a huge love story in the shadow of conflict and war. TV EUROPE: How do you keep up with the very hectic production schedules, making these two-hour episodes and so many of them? ERGENÇ: It’s at least two hours. Sometimes it can extend to 150 minutes. It takes too much time from your private life. KOREL: It’s taking our lives, actually. ERGENÇ: It collapses your whole life. It’s 39 episodes per year, and each of them at least two hours. And you have to shoot two hours in six days. And you have to keep the quality high. So that means too much time working, no private life. It is hard. Also for the crew, for the directors, the writers especially— writing a two-hour script for each episode is crazy.
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