As the content business convenes for the inaugural MIP London, World Screen checks in with a range of distribution executives about expanding revenue opportunities, the role of AI and adjusting to a world post-peak TV.
At press time, some 2,000 content executives from 60-plus territories have confirmed their participation at MIP London, RX’s new event taking place at the same time as the London TV Screenings. The multi-genre market and conference was unveiled last year as the company pulled the plug on the long-running MIPTV, with that event having seen its attendance erode amid seismic shifts in the business.
“We felt it was time to make a rapid change,” RX’s Lucy Smith tells me. “Let’s face it, London in February has become the biggest week in content in the first quarter. We believe that beyond the existing screenings, there’s so much more potential business that can be done during that week to help get a head start on 2025.”
The jury is still out on RX’s London experiment, with the 800-plus registered buyers also having a wealth of other events to attend via the neighboring London TV Screenings, but amid the game-changing developments still roiling the content business, the distributors surveyed here are feeling cautiously optimistic about the year ahead.
“We are still navigating a recessive market environment, largely driven by an oversupply of completed productions and development projects initiated during the boom years leading up to 2024,” says Dr. Markus Schäfer, president and CEO of ZDF Studios. “These legacy projects need to cycle out of the market to create space for new content, which will likely be produced at a reduced pace as part of the ongoing market correction. At the same time, buyers are reassessing their spending habits and reevaluating the volume of content required to remain competitive. While 2024 was characterized by considerable ambiguity around budgets, there are signs of improvement in the distribution outlook as we move into 2025.”
Tim Gerhartz, managing director of Seven.One Studios International, also points to buyers being more selective, favoring “high-quality, standout projects over mid-level content,” he says. “There is a growing demand for content that performs well across multiple platforms. Successful formats like Married at First Sight offer compelling storytelling and universal appeal that translates effectively across different markets and viewing habits. As the industry adapts, distributors and content creators must prioritize innovation and originality to stay competitive in an evolving landscape.”
David Smyth, executive VP of content sales and partnerships at FOX Entertainment Global (FEG), sees the market as being in an “exciting phase of evolution.” Challenges notwithstanding, “there is a growing emphasis on efficiency, adaptability and partnerships. Linear TV is still a critical driver for global audiences, and the rise of AVOD and FAST has opened up new revenue streams, especially in specific verticals. The key is striking the right balance between high-value original programming and cost-effective distribution models that cater to a wide range of platforms and territories.”
“The film and TV business is coming out of a tough year,” observes Vanessa Shapiro, CEO and founder of Nicely Entertainment. “Add in the overall slowdown from international sales, and several companies were hit quite hard. Nicely performed quite well in 2024, and we’re optimistic as we ramp up in 2025.”
AVOD is helping to power that optimism for Nicely, Shapiro says, referring to it as an “important component” of the company’s overall distribution strategy. “The revenue from the U.S. has become significant,” Shapiro explains. “We’ve dramatically reworked our U.S. TV-to-AVOD windowing strategies. In some cases, we’ve opted for an AVOD-first premiere, as we did in Q4 with The Christmas Brew and A Heart for Christmas, as it was more financially advantageous. FAST is a different animal because it requires a lot of titles to start your own channel and make an impact. FAST is also a highly competitive space. We’re viewing FAST as a licensing opportunity; we’d rather license our titles to an existing FAST channel than get into the game of launching and managing our own from the ground up.”
For Albatross World Sales, “AVOD and FAST are now essential pillars of our revenue strategy and offer opportunities for well-loved library titles to gain recognition with new audiences again,” says Anne Olzmann, managing director of the specialist factual distributor. “While we are seeing consistent growth, it’s evident that achieving similar revenue levels to linear sales often depends on higher content volume. These platforms, however, offer exciting potential for documentaries with long-term appeal, such as natural history. But despite the sector’s expansion, the market is increasingly saturated with channels offering overlapping programming. Moving forward, we expect platforms to focus more on exclusive, premium-quality content to stand out.”
ZDF Studios’ Schäfer sees “significant growth potential” in AVOD and FAST, adding, “FAST has established itself as a surprisingly strong and viable new pillar of media consumption, and we believe that AVOD is likely to outperform it in the long run.”
Seven.One sealed a deal with Australia’s Nine Network covering all English-language versions of Married at First Sight for a FAST channel on 9Now. “In the AVOD landscape, long-running, high-volume series such as Married at First Sight perform exceptionally well, offering a wealth of episodes that drive sustained viewer engagement and maximize ad revenue opportunities,” Gerhartz says. “These big brand formats offer a strong foundation for building viewer loyalty and attracting consistent advertising interest.”
FEG’s Smyth sees AVOD and FAST as “transformative opportunities” for IP owners. “We’ve been proactive in curating content for these platforms, focusing on evergreen movies, specialist entertainment and factual strands that resonate across platforms. These opportunities provide new outlets for our library content and an ideal space for experimenting with niche programming and expanding our audience base.”
AI REVOLUTION
AI is proving to be the next business-altering development producers and distributors need to track. Understanding how to use it, and where, is an area of experimentation for many today. And it can’t be ignored.
“AI is one of those technologies that instantly sticks,” Nicely’s Shapiro says. “Other trends come and go, but they never truly take a foothold. I don’t think there’s a person on the planet who isn’t blown away by ChatGPT and the others. Like all new technologies, there are pros and cons. Internal workflows, data processing and organizational tasks are made extremely easy with such technology. Some of the film and TV applications that have been promised, such as seamless voice dubbing, still have a ways to go, but in time, they’ll be very efficient. Where AI can be very helpful is during production with advances in virtual production techniques, potential reduction of costs and better quality VFX. 2025 is likely to be a turning point as we see more companies creating entire movies with AI from script stage, including ‘deepfakes’ but also legitimate virtual actors. The next few years will be critical to see the effects on the industry, which is at the same time exciting and intriguing.”
“Currently, we see AI primarily impacting production processes rather than fundamentally changing the end product,” says Schäfer at ZDF Studios. “While models such as Sora promise the potential to create synthetic filmed entertainment, we do not yet see a significant disruption to the traditional business model. But we must be aware of the exponential growth of the capabilities of AI—thus, there is a very strong need to stay in close touch with the development of AI.”
For his part, Gerhartz at Seven.One sees strong interest in AI-focused content. “We recently launched the premium documentary If Pigs Could Talk, which follows an in-depth scientific investigation using AI technology to decode pig communication. The film has generated considerable buzz, and we are excited about its international potential. Additionally, we are exploring how AI can enhance our internal operations, such as improving efficiencies in subtitling international content and other workflows.”
FEG’s Smyth is of the perspective that AI will be a valuable tool in the content distribution game. “We’re using AI to analyze audience data, optimize licensing strategies and even package content more effectively for specific markets. Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, I see AI playing an even larger role in automating routine tasks, such as dubbing and subtitling, and enhancing personalization for end users. However, the human touch remains crucial, especially in building relationships and ensuring content aligns with cultural nuances.”
“AI is already impacting content distribution, particularly in automating workflows and analyzing market trends,” says Olzmann at Albatross. “Tools for audience data analysis, subtitling and dubbing are streamlining operations. In 2025, AI will continue to revolutionize content creation and personalization. However, storytelling and creativity will remain the cornerstone of factual content, ensuring the human element is irreplaceable.”
While producers and distributors mull the impact of AI as both a revenue-creating and cost-cutting tool, the business of trying to cobble together budgets and expand monetization opportunities continues. While acquisitions are trending up amid a weaker commissioning landscape, licensing fees are largely not.
BACK TO BASICS
“Buyers are increasingly focused on cost-effective acquisitions of library content due to tighter budgets,” says Gerhartz. “Networks are becoming more selective across all genres and business models, whether acquisitions or commissions. However, despite budget constraints, there’s still a strong willingness to invest when the right content aligns with their programming needs. High-quality, compelling content, like our dating format Stranded on Honeymoon Island, continues to attract substantial investment. It’s the perfect example of buyers prioritizing value over volume: strategic spending on the right content will always be a priority in the industry.”
Gerhartz adds, “In this evolving landscape, only the most compelling content will secure significant investment.”
Asked his view on trends in licensing fees, ZDF Studios’ Schäfer says: “Linear customers want to spend less money on content and at the same time want more rights and holdbacks to protect themselves from the competition from streamers, YouTube, FAST, etc. Taking the latter into account and given the general cost situation on the production side, fees should actually be increased. Negotiations will be tough, but we take pride in the fact that due to our long-standing and trustful relationships with our customers, we have always been able to find satisfying solutions for both sides. Overall, we anticipate linear revenues to remain more or less stable in the short term, but a long-term decline is likely as the market continues to shift toward nonlinear consumption. In the VOD sector, we expect significant growth in AVOD, which will drive our revenues in this business segment. In the SVOD sector, we think that the platforms have underspent recently and will have to make up for this. Thus, we also expect to see some growth.”
Smyth is optimistic that FEG can capitalize on the current market need for “tried-and-tested IPs and versatile formats that are adaptable to local tastes,” but notes that “licensing fees are under pressure as buyers carefully manage budgets. However, the appetite for premium, high-quality series remains strong. Global buyers continue to prioritize content with broad appeal and the ability to engage viewers across cultural boundaries. This demand for premium programming reinforces the value of well-crafted U.S. series as a cornerstone of licensing strategies, even in a cost-conscious market.”
Albatross has seen sales pick up since 2023, Olzmann explains, but the “process is now slower and has grown more demanding, with stricter guidelines and requirements. Many broadcasters are now prioritizing ‘online-first’ strategies, meaning content must truly stand out amid the vast selection available on FVOD and catch-up platforms. This has created a delicate balance for distributors—meeting the need for economical packages while still ensuring the premium quality of standout one-offs.”
Olzmann has seen pressure on licensing fees in the factual space, especially linear, but “AVOD and FAST platforms are gradually entering with licensing offers as they solidify their presence. While the fees remain modest, the higher volume of sales helps balance the equation to some extent.”
Nicely’s Shapiro adds, “License fees are a bit askew in a negative direction when compared to the costs required to produce original content. We’ve seen license fees stagnating with some clients and shrinking with others. This is true globally. On the domestic side, not only have license fees essentially hit a plateau, but the payment schedules have also been stretched. So, not only are several clients paying less, but they’re doing so over a longer period of time. On the international front, the overall number of clients a distributor can license content to has eroded. The win is that we’ve gotten creative with how we’re getting films financed. We’ve also been able to rework windowing strategies to boost our per-title ROI.”
FUNDING JIGSAW
Of course, no IP owner can rely solely on a back library of content, and to get shows made today, everyone is looking to get creative and tap into a newfound willingness to collaborate.
“Just think of initiatives like the European Alliance, New8 or Global Doc,” says ZDF Studios’ Schäfer. “Streamers are working with broadcasters, sometimes in the same territory, and we have production hubs in the entertainment sector to share costs and new financing models through sponsorship. Co-production opportunities are a natural market response in times of shrinking budgets, as they allow investment risk to be mitigated. In the linear space, we expect an increased openness to co-productions as a practical solution. The same goes for streamers, which benefit from adding exclusive programming to their platforms. In case local broadcasters and streamers enter into co-production talks on local projects, the questions of exclusivity and windowing become pivotal. We have already seen and been involved in smart solutions when the co-production partners believe in the idea of ‘co-opetition.’ While the demand for co-pros is likely to grow, identifying viable and relevant approaches for successful collaborations will become more complex.”
Smyth adds, “Co-productions and co-financing have become essential strategies in today’s market, enabling us to share risks and resources while producing content with greater global appeal. At FOX Entertainment Global, we’ve prioritized building partnerships with like-minded broadcasters, producers and platforms. These collaborations allow us to create culturally nuanced yet universally engaging content, making it easier to secure broad international distribution.”
“Co-productions and co-financing models are definitely a talking point we’re having with several firms and partners,” Shapiro says. “It makes sense—each partner gets to focus on content that will work for them while neither party has to foot the entire bill. Such deals only work if all parties are getting precisely what they need in the process.”
FUTURE FORECAST
Uncertainty notwithstanding, there are glimmers of hope that 2025 will be a better year for the industry than 2024.
“We expect 2025 to bring more growth opportunities and improvements compared to recent years, but the market as a whole will remain challenging,” Schäfer says. “Macroeconomic and political factors continue to pose significant hurdles and contribute to a high level of uncertainty. Nevertheless, we are optimistic that 2025 will be a positive year.”
Seven.One’s Gerhartz adds: “As the market continues to recalibrate and platforms refine their strategies, we can expect a steady resurgence of creativity and higher ambitions across the industry. The evolving landscape is demanding a more strategic, focused approach, but as platforms gain clarity on their long-term goals and audience demands, slowly but surely, we anticipate a renewed commitment to bold storytelling, innovative formats and high-quality production.”
“While challenges remain, the industry’s adaptability has been remarkable,” says Smyth. “I anticipate continued growth in AVOD and FAST alongside a resurgence in co-productions and licensing activity. The emphasis will be on delivering content that’s scalable, flexible and platform-agnostic. We’re well-positioned to thrive in this landscape by focusing on partnerships, innovation and a diversified content slate that caters to both emerging and established markets.”
Albatross’s Olzmann also highlights the sector’s ability to adapt. “Budget constraints will most likely persist. However, technology will continue to drive efficiencies, particularly in how we analyze and meet audience demand and streamline workflows. At the same time, the importance of libraries will continue to grow as platforms rely on evergreen content to retain viewers. The market will demand innovative, compelling stories that cater to both global and local audiences. Flexibility and collaboration will be the keys to navigating this evolving landscape.”
