Top Buyers Honored with Trendsetter Awards

RTÉ’s Dermot Horan, SBS Broadcasting’s Rozan Hamaker, Global Series Network’s Jason Thorp and AMC Networks Global’s Aurelie de Troyer discussed acquisition and programming trends at a MIPCOM panel today before each receiving a World Screen Trendsetter Award.

The Acquisition Superpanel—What Do Programmers Want? was moderated by World Screen’s Anna Carugati in the Grand Auditorium at MIPCOM today. The session covered a broad range of topics, including wish lists and the rising importance of prebuys and co-productions. The four executives represent a cross-section of the media landscape, with Horan serving the needs of a public broadcaster in Ireland, Hamaker delivering content for a commercial broadcasting group in the Netherlands, Thorp overseeing the highly curated Walter Presents platform and de Troyer buying for AMC Networks’ streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder.

Horan, director of acquisitions and co-productions at RTÉ, noted that the Irish pubcaster is at the forefront of digital technology as it evolves with media consumption habits. As the country was hit with its first hurricane since 1961, “we had enormous audiences for live linear television, huge audiences for radio, huge audiences for our news app, and huge audiences for our web services. That shows how a public broadcaster can move with the times. You need to be relevant, you need be local and national, and in Ireland where you can receive hundreds of U.K. channels, how do you remain different to the U.K.? One of the things [you need] is a well of resources, and a forward-thinking public broadcaster that can offer the Irish content that Irish viewers want, on whatever platform they want to watch on.”

Hamaker serves as head of acquisitions at SBS Broadcasting, which operates four services: SBS6, which is family-oriented with a diverse mix of local content; Net5, which is more female-skewing with feel-good movies and series; Veronica, which is more male-targeted with European football and blockbuster movies; and SBS9, the niche channel with “little gems we’ve found, purely acquisition driven.”

Thorp is CEO of Global Series Network, which operates the Walter Presents on-demand service, delivering scripted programming from outside of the U.S. and the U.K. The service launched two years ago in the U.K. as a free-to-air ad-supported on-demand service within Channel 4’s All4 platform. This year it launched as an SVOD platform in the U.S. and it will soon expand to Australia via a partnership with Foxtel.

At AMC Networks Global, de Troyer, VP of global acquisitions and co-productions, works on two subscription streaming services, Sundance NOW and Shudder.

Asked about their programming needs, RTÉ’s Horan noted that local programming tends to resonate most with Irish audiences, so formats are a key focus for the broadcaster’s acquisitions team. Hits have included Strictly Come Dancing and First Dates, as well as Who Do You Think You Are? “We’ve just commissioned a new season of the genealogy show,” Horan said. “We did a couple of series and then ran out of interesting stories—we’re a small country. Interestingly, I was able to keep the brand going by buying the British and American versions of that show. And now we’re commissioning a new season. Formats are really key to what we do.” Finished-tape acquisitions should complement the local lineup. “We can’t afford to produce the volume of drama that [we] would like to, it’s very expensive. So we’re trying to fill those slots where the audience, particularly between 9 and 11 p.m., when they put the kids to bed, want to have something challenging. That’s one key area. There’s still an audience, particularly for strong library feature films that are familiar to people. So if you’re running a major sports event, after it a James Bond movie or a Braveheart or Gladiator will do a job. Sometimes those library movies are better performing than newer movies.”

Horan also oversees co-productions. “We are increasingly looking to co-fund programming with like-minded partners.” Last year, for example, RTE did a deal ARTE for arts and cultural documentaries.

At SBS, Hamaker has her eye out for movies that can be marketed well. “We have franchises on Mondays—Fast & the Furious, Harry Potter, Jason Bourne. With the older movies, we package them. We always need to think, when we buy something, how can we package it so it’s fresh and new, and not put them randomly in the schedule.”

Formats “that give us relevance” are also important, but they should be fun as well. She cited Rich House, Poor House and Around the World with 80 Year Olds, as successful examples.

Hamaker noted that U.S. dramas are less important for her channels these days, with sports, live events, news and big entertainment shows being the main audience drivers.”

Thorp said that Walter Presents has licensed about 1,200 hours of content since launch. “We have a huge appetite. Northern European crime drama is our stock in trade, but it’s not about the algorithm, it’s about what we love. We cut across all different genres. We’re looking for great stories, at any stage in the process. It’s about those filters we apply in terms of quality, execution and storytelling.”

The majority of the members of Sundance NOW and Shudder have one, sometimes two, other streaming services they subscribe to, de Troyer noted. “We’re trying to do something very specific very well. It’s genre for Shudder—thrillers, mysteries, suspense, sci-fi, horror, and high-end [drama] for Sundance NOW. It’s taste-driven, it’s what we react to.” She later added that Sundance NOW is in need of 10 to 20 titles for next year and Shudder 25 to 30.

Carugati asked the panelists about the importance of pre-buys, especially in this competitive environment.

“You take a risk in doing that because sometimes a great script isn’t realized well,” Horan said. “But it’s worth the while. If you wait too long, other people will get in. Sometimes getting in early is really important for a producer. It’s not just the money you pay, it’s the advocacy.”

Thorp said that Walter Presents also likes being involved early. “We’re reading scripts way in advance. We’re still relatively small in terms of our scale in the economics, but we’re prepared to be flexible around financing and working with multiple partners. Importantly, unless Netflix, dare I say it, there’s a real appetite for us to get involved at script stage and contribute to the process. There are other things we can bring, including a shop window on Channel 4.”

It’s a similar situation for de Troyer. “The Q4 slate on Sundance NOW in the U.S., out of five shows, two are co-productions and we’re planning to ramp up next year.”

The panelists also discussed the impact of Netflix in the markets. Horan noted that at the L.A. Screenings this year, some shows weren’t shown because they had been pre-sold to Netflix. He added that RTÉ is used to competition, with Sky having been present in the market and now buying for multiple European markets, and now Netflix too. “We’re cohabiting with Netflix and somewhat the sleeping giant Amazon. That’s why creative partnerships are so important.”

Hamaker said, “Netflix is huge in the Netherlands, and comparatively we have a tiny budget and we cannot compete with them, so we need to be creative. We try to close deals in different ways—shorter period of time, one run. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

“Shows have gone before we can even look at them,” Thorp said. “That is frustrating. Shows do tend to disappear into the ether with Netflix. We often describe ourselves as a cute little deli sat next to the market that is Netflix. Those two models can coexist.”

“We have been winning bids successfully,” de Troyer said on the competition with Netflix, “based on marketing planning, how much we’re trying to showcase the shows, etc.”

On episode counts, Hamaker said six-parters are problematic for marketing reasons. Horan, meanwhile, said six- or even four-episode series are easier to launch. “They are very powerful.” Top-performing acquisitions, he noted, include the British series Doctor Foster and Happy Valley, as well as the shorter-run U.S. import The People v. O.J. Simpson. The shorter-run series also provide marketability as they generally star bigger-name talent. “A 22-parter is more of a challenge. We’re finding a combination of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, max 13, is suiting us best.”

On multiplatform exploitation, Hamaker said catch-up rights are more and more important.

Thorp said Walter Presents aims to distribute as widely as possible, with the first episode of shows often airing on linear on Channel 4 before the entire run is made available on-demand.

Horan said that RTÉ Player is relaunching as more of a VOD platform than catch-up. He says RTÉ has seen tremendous gains in live streaming. “The conundrum for us is that our government hasn’t gotten around to creating a media charge,” so those who don’t own a TV set are not paying the public license fee but are still accessing RTÉ services online. “That needs to be addressed. That numbers of homes not buying a telly is increasing.”

Carugati wrapped the discussion by asking the panelists about the major issues facing the markets they operate in. Hamaker identified a “decline in viewing time. And it’s massive. We hope it will stabilize. The decline is especially in linear, but people are in general spending less time with screens of all kinds,” she said.

“That’s happening worldwide,” Horan added. “Particularly with linear. That being said, if you have big entertainment shows, big sports, big documentary stories, you can get very large audiences. What you’re not getting is that audience watching from 6 o’clock to 11 o’clock. They’re coming and going.”

Brexit is also a major concern for Horan. “We’ve seen a significant challenge in advertising. There’s a huge economic potential problem.”

Carugati and Laurine Garaude, director of the television division at Reed MIDEM, then presented each of the panelists with a World Screen Trendsetter Award.