NATPE Budapest Spotlight: Eyes on Eastern Europe

June 21, 2012 World Screen
ADVERTISEMENT

NEW YORK: While linear channels across Central and Eastern Europe remain guarded about acquisitions, new business opportunities are opening up for distributors on digital and VOD platforms.

 

Europe’s economic problems persist, leaving a lack of ad dollars to flow across stations in Central and Eastern Europe and putting a squeeze on the acquisitions spending of many networks. However, this is nothing new for those doing business in the region. Having dealt with such challenges over the past two years, distributors have become increasingly savvy in the ways they go about shopping their wares. Sellers have been taking a territory-by-territory approach to push their most cost-effective, high-quality programming that fits local market needs.
 
“The economic situation has impacted the different territories in several [ways],” says Elena Antonini, the VP of sales at Dori Media Distribution. “While some of them are suffering a [major] recession, which started in 2010, other territories have grown stronger. Both scenarios are reflected in their content-acquisition behavior. On one hand, some territories are taking more time to make decisions or are more conservative when selecting a title. On the other hand, some other territories significantly increased their investments in local productions, opening up alternatives for new platforms and other genres that are being demanded by the local audience, such as non-scripted entertainment formats.”
 
For this reason, says Antonini, it is important to be aware of the conditions in each territory to “be able to offer them what is in accordance with their present economic situation.”
 
Karen Connell, who handles sales for CEE at Beyond Distribution, has also noticed that buyers have been taking a more conservative approach to acquisitions. “Current trends see buyers acquiring less often and only as they need content,” she says. “There is also a preference to buy in bulk, as part of volume deals, in an effort to keep prices down.”
 
Others in the industry, such as A+E Networks, have noticed a flight to quality in terms of what sells. “The local economy can present challenges at times, but there is a strong demand for our high-quality content in the CEE region and, as a result, our business has seen year-on-year growth,” says Jo Lovell, A+E Networks’ director of content sales for Europe.
 
BBC Worldwide has felt an impact in certain parts of CEE with its sales and distribution business, according to Heike Renner, the territory manager for Eastern and Central Europe and CIS. “But, thankfully, we can continue to offer high-end programs and established brands that help broadcasters achieve strong ratings,” she says.
 
Renner lists Russia and Poland as BBC Worldwide’s biggest markets in the region. “Russia in particular is experiencing continued growth across TV and digital platforms. In other territories—for example, Hungary and Ukraine—the cable and satellite market is getting more and more competitive, which opens new opportunities for distributors.”
 
Russia and Poland have also been key for SevenOne International, according to regional sales director Axel Böhm. The Czech Republic is another lead area, he notes. “In the last couple of years Serbia and Croatia have developed a strong appetite for new content as well. The same applies to Ukraine: it is usually one of the first countries—not only in CEE but also worldwide—to adapt new formats.”
 
He continues, “Hungary went through a rough time, but seems to be recovering lately. We also noticed a slight decline in the Romanian market. Still, we are confident both markets will regain their old strength soon.”
 
 

THE BIG GUNS

 

 

Economically, Poland and Russia have both stood out for a number of years, says Stephen Driscoll, the senior VP of international sales at ALL3MEDIA International. “Czech Republic, Ukraine and Hungary have also been very active this year,” he adds. “The Balkans generally are not as active [now] as in previous years and we shall focus our efforts this NATPE Budapest to introduce new shows to buyers from those countries.”
 
Drama remains the key genre for ALL3MEDIA, Driscoll says, noting that Midsomer Murders, George Gently, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteriesand Skinshave all been performing well across the region. “In format sales, our reconstructed-reality programming—Cases of Doubt, Families at the Crossroads, X-Diaries—and our quiz-show format Cash Cab have been stand-out sellers across CEE,” Driscoll adds.
 
Dori Media Distribution has also been successful in the region with its formats, including the titles The Money Pump, Wrong Numbers, First Love and Simon, among others. Dori will be at NATPE Budapest with another slate of formats to push for local adaptation.
 
“We believe our entertainment formats will be appealing for our European buyers, especially since they are mostly based on low production budgets and are cost effective, generating good ratings at a reasonable [price],” says Antonini. “Regarding the scripted series, we are presenting very universal stories which can be easily adapted, dubbed or subtitled and work in all cultures and territories.”
 
Action-adventure and disaster movies have been a winning mix for Power in the CEE region. “They offer the spectacle and escapism that can set a channel’s schedule apart,” says Steve Turney, the VP of sales and acquisitions at the London-based outfit. “A prime example is Power’s own production Flood, which still commands a lot of buyer interest five years on.”
 
To continue reading, click here. [then put the rest online, but not behind premium]
 
Family-skewed content is also a best-seller, Turney says. “It’s easy to place in a schedule…. Crime thrillers are a regular staple as well. For instance, our recent record-breaking deal licensing 170 movies to HRT [in Croatia] was very heavy in both genres, including family titles such as the fantasy-adventure epic Adventures in Dinotopia and Charles Dickens’s seminal story A Christmas Carol and crime thrillers such as Sherlock Holmes’ The Hound of the Baskervilles and a number of films from the Murder 101 series.”
 
At BBC Worldwide, it’s the male-skewing entertainment titles that have been selling the best in CEE. “In Croatia, HRT 2 is broadcasting Top Gear for the first time and Prima TV has picked up Top Gear USA season two,” Renner cites as examples. “As ever, high-quality dramas such as literary adaptations are very popular. Sherlock season two, for instance, has gone to MTV Hungary and Fox International Channels in Russia, Ukraine and CIS.
 
“We continue to sell our more traditional programming such as blue-chip natural history like Frozen Planet, Earthflight and Natural World to free-to-air public broadcasters as well as niche cable channels. Newer, younger-skewing dramas like Misfits, Bedlam and Sinbad have helped us break into commercial free-to-air channels, and the pay cable and satellite channels are still buying across all genres.”
 
The majority of sales for SevenOne have been with the larger, free-TV channels in the region. “However, the pay-TV sector is growing,” says Böhm, “and due to digitization more and more thematic-oriented digital TV channels with a high demand for content impact the market.”
 
SevenOne’s “sciencetainment” magazine Galileohas been on the air in Russia on CTC and in Poland on TV4 for many years. The show has also been a hit on Serbia’s Prva and RTL Croatia. New local versions recently launched successfully in Estonia on Kanal 2, in Bulgaria on TV7 and on BTV in Lithuania.
 
Böhm adds, “On the fiction side, event movies, especially disaster, and family movies as well as romantic comedies are very popular with broadcasters in CEE.”
 
At A+E Networks, primary interest for its programs has been from the pay-TV arena, “where a lot of our titles fit perfectly with thematic channels,” Lovell says. “However, as the content from A+E Networks continues to diversify, we are able to meet the needs of all types of channels. One point to note is that free-TV channels are increasingly moving towards more character-driven programs: HRT Croatia, for example, is successfully broadcasting Pawn Stars in prime time.”
 
Flagship HISTORY titles like Pawn Starsand Ice Road Truckershave traditionally been very popular in the CEE region, Lovell says. “More recently, our Lifetime catalogue, which includes Dance Moms, 7 Days of Sexand The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, has attracted the attention of several buyers. And of course, our collection of original Lifetime movies is always successful with our partners.”
 
In addition to television licenses, there are great opportunities popping up for SVOD [subscription video on demand] deals, notes Beyond’s Connell. “As VOD becomes more widespread in CEE we anticipate opportunities for ad-VOD as well.”
 
SevenOne’s Böhm has also noticed this trend. “Alternative content distribution, especially VOD, has gained significance in recent years, and we are thrilled to be working with independent as well as broadcaster-associated VOD platforms,” he says.
 
ALL3MEDIA signed its first VOD deals in Russia, Poland and Bulgaria this year, across a range of dramas and factual series.
 
Power recently entered a shared-revenue deal with the Central European Media Enterprises–owned SVOD platform Voyo, “from which we have already seen a financial return,” says Turney.
 
A+E Networks has made a concentrated effort to target multiple digital platforms in the region, according to Lovell. Current partnerships include ivi.ru Media (formerly Digital Access) in Russia, Grupa Onet in Poland and On Demand Group, which spans multiple markets in the region. “We are actively in discussion with a number of key digital partners across the region to further leverage our content in the digital space,” says Lovell.
 
 

DIGITAL DAYS

 

 

Dori Media Distribution, too, has found many new business opportunities on digital platforms. Dori has sold Amanda O, which was produced entirely for the Internet and mobile platforms, in more than 20 countries within Europe. First Love, a docu-drama reality show for the Internet, mobile and linear television, has sold to more than 20 territories, including Bulgaria, France, Russia and Ukraine.
 
“The overall business in Central and Eastern Europe has gone through several changes in the last two years,” Antonini says. “Not only with the economic situation, but also with the new technologies that are becoming more relevant in the business, 4opening up new opportunities and new players in the industry.”