Banjay Entertainment was already the largest independent television producer in the world. So she decided to grow up.
Banijay’s mega merger with fellow independent giant All3Media was completed this week, creating a veritable TV giant. The new London-based production and distribution group brings together nearly 200 production companies and labels across 25 territories, including companies that make and sell such shows as Traitors, Big brother, Survivor, Master Chef, Peaky Blinders and Black mirrorhundreds of thousands of hours of programming, and combined revenue of $8.5 billion.
The Banijay-All3Media deal comes quickly on the heels of Comcast-owned Sky’s $2.1 billion bid to acquire British commercial network ITV, and is another sign that traditional TV is expanding in a bid to survive, and perhaps even thrive, in a rapidly changing digital market.
Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti is betting not only that the company can expand again, as it did with previous acquisitions – Zodiak Media in 2015 and Endemol Shine in 2019 – but also that it can maintain its still highly profitable TV business while expanding and expanding its reach into live events, sports and across social media. talking to Hollywood Reporter Shortly after the deal was completed, Bassetti outlined his plans to grow Banijay while adhering to the “entrepreneurial DNA” that has defined its success to date. “We have to maintain the flexibility that defines our company. Our industry is constantly changing. We have to continue to adapt.”
Banijay was already the world’s largest independent television producer. Why did you need to get bigger?
It was never about becoming the biggest. Our ambition is to create the best home for creative talent – a place where producers can best monetize their intellectual property, distribute it worldwide, stay independent, and feel supported. This has always been our goal.
All3Media was very complementary to Banjay. The UK is the largest TV market in Europe and we wanted to strengthen our presence. By bringing the two groups together, we can provide All3Media producers with access to a much larger international footprint and more opportunities to maximize the value of their intellectual property. This is the logic behind the deal.
Even if scale isn’t the primary goal, it’s clearly important. What advantages does scale bring in today’s market?
Scale is increasingly important as our industry remains fragmented. But it is important to understand what Banijay actually is. We do not operate as one central production company. We are an association of creative companies with tremendous autonomy. We don’t tell producers which broadcasters to work with or what genres to produce. They remain entrepreneurs. Our mission is to support them – with financing, market information, distribution and investment, and to help them retain ownership of their intellectual property.
Size allows us to provide those services. With our global distribution business and a catalog of over 260,000 watches, we can give shows a much longer life internationally. We can negotiate better deals, both for our own companies and for third parties that use our distribution arm. We can monetize content through digital platforms, FAST channels and social media, and we can invest in intellectual property that we believe has long-term value. The scope is not the goal in itself. This enables us to provide better service to creative talents.
Does this mean that it is becoming increasingly difficult for small independent producers to survive?
I think today it is more difficult to remain independent on your own than to be part of a group like ours. People who join Banjay usually stay because they retain their independence while gaining access to services they couldn’t build themselves. We support them through thick and thin.
Being part of a larger group also creates opportunities. Travel formats between countries. Producers share ideas and best practices. Successful formats generate royalties across the network. These advantages are difficult to achieve as a standalone product in today’s market.
One thing that stood out about the merger was how modest the expected cost synergies were. You expect to save “only” €50 million ($57 million) there. This suggests that this is not a deal driven by job cuts.
This is correct. The businesses are integrated, not overlapping. All3Media brings strengths we don’t have, including… [All3Media’s social media agency and digital production company] Little Dot Studios, giving us a much stronger digital and social media capability. The UK business also significantly strengthens our position in the English-speaking market.
The efficiencies we target come from the procurement, real estate, insurance and support functions – not from the producers or creative teams. The primary purpose of the merger is to bring together creative talent and preserve the intellectual property they have built. For this reason, the synergies reported are relatively modest.
Where do you see the biggest growth opportunities now that the merger is complete?
There can still be growth in our traditional production business if we become better at exploiting our intellectual property globally. But the biggest opportunities go beyond television production.
We are investing in expanding our brands to include live experiences, gaming and immersive entertainment. We launch theatrical shows, and we have developed Black mirror VR experience, we’re expanding Peaky Blinders To new formats, we are creating live events around brands like Traitors. We see significant opportunities where strong intellectual property can move beyond television.
Sports are another important growth area. Sports and entertainment increasingly overlap, and major sporting events need creative storytelling. Through Balich Wonder Studio, we produced the FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies in the United States and Mexico, just as we worked on the Milan Cortina Olympic ceremonies.
Digital monetization is another key focus. With our catalog, FAST channels and massive social media reach, we believe there is still great progress.
What about more acquisitions? With ITV Studios parting ways with the Sky-ITV deal, a new big target has just hit the market. Are you interested in adding them to your stable?
It is too early to talk about that. We completed this integration just hours ago. We must, as we say, understand this first, to implement this integration. But I think if there are new opportunities, we know that our shareholders support our strategy, and have confidence in us and our management team.
So, if there’s a good opportunity for us, we’ll take a look at it. But right now, there’s nothing on the table [regarding ITV Studios]So there is no plan there. Our immediate priority is to successfully integrate Banjay and All3Media.
Does strengthening your UK business and expanding further into English-language productions mean you will compete more directly with the major Hollywood studios?
Our model will not change. We have always followed what I call the European model. We develop projects, invest in ideas, pitch them, and once they are commissioned by broadcasters or platforms, we produce them. This gives us a balanced level of risk.
We’re not trying to be a studio, or a Warner Bros. company. Or other Universal. Our strength is television. We are the world’s largest producer of unscripted programming and one of the largest producers of scripted television. We will continue to expand into scripted series, unscripted entertainment and documentaries. But I think there will be more opportunities for us to take limited risks on projects that allow us to be more direct with consumers on the other side of the ocean.
So far, for example, we haven’t done a lot of theatrical film work. But now we have a movie like [Oscar-winner] Hamnetthe tastiest I was sitting in All3Media[[Hamnet Producer Neal Street Productions is an All3Media company. We could probably do more, but that wouldn’t be a priority. We will remain more where we are, as the world’s largest producer of unscripted films and one of the largest producers of scripts, but we write mostly as series, not as theatrical films.
What about newer formats like vertical dramas or mini-dramas?
We are experimenting in some markets because our production companies are free to pursue local opportunities. But strategically, it is not the main focus today. We are still evaluating the sustainability of these business models.
Now that you have completed this merger, what is the biggest challenge facing Banijay?
The first challenge is to successfully integrate, although we have done this before with Zodiak (in 2015), and with Endemol (in 2019), so we are confident that we will succeed.
The biggest challenge is the cultural challenge. We maintain the flexibility that defines our company. Our industry is constantly changing. Consumption habits evolve, distribution evolves, and new business models emerge. We have to continue to adapt.
I just read that [French broadcaster] TF1 has had a very successful couple of weeks with their new deal with Netflix. So maybe they will change their strategy. We need to be prepared to change our approach to adapt to this market. This means staying lean and average and focusing on what the market demands. And adjust our business model to suit.
Viewing continues to grow, but people are consuming entertainment in very different ways than they did even a few years ago. Our challenge is to make sure we create value wherever audiences see it.
Banijay has completed several major mergers while many media mergers have faced difficulties. What is your secret?
If I had the secret, I wouldn’t tell it, but there is no secret. From the beginning, we built a model that can accommodate new companies without changing what makes them successful. The producers in our “union” maintain their entrepreneurial identities and culture. The country directors support them and try to help them focus as much as possible on creativity only, not on bureaucratic reports.
As you know, our business is intellectual property and people. You need to work with people who feel comfortable working with you. We all, including myself, come from production. We all come from the set, from the stage. We share that common experience. We speak the same language, and we understand the challenges they face because we are all producers here.
