AsiaPac Perspectives: ITV Studios’ Augustus Dulgaro

Augustus Dulgaro, executive VP of distribution for the Asia Pacific at ITV Studios, shares with World Screen Newsflash his views on content trends across the region.

ITV Studios is on the show floor at Asia TV Forum this week showcasing its extensive slate of non-scripted formats, factual offerings and drama series.

TV ASIA: Asia appears to have become the next significant battleground in the streaming wars. What has that meant for your AsiaPac business over the last 12 months?
DULGARO: The so-called “streaming wars” are a great way to keep everyone on their toes! The usual pearl-clutching aside, markets always settle into a rhythm of what content goes and works where. Fortunately, there is always enough content to go around. In Asia, where local content is the key driver for all channels and platforms, competition means that buyers will be more creative and open to finding new content to resonate with their audiences. It’s worth remembering that almost every partner is in effect a streamer as they pivot to a content anytime, anywhere strategy to meet the demands of audiences with their own catch-up, SVOD and AVOD offerings. Given the depth and breadth of ITV’s slate and business, we have the privilege of working with most clients in the region and are well placed to respond to the needs of the marketplace as it has changed and morphed over the last few years—and will in the future. The strength of our relationships is key, but so is the strength of our IP. Marquee brands like Love Island; My Mom, Your Dad; Hell’s Kitchen; and The Voice work as tape or format and sit comfortably on global and regional streamers like Disney, Netflix, Lionsgate (India), Pumpkin (China), PCCW (Hong Kong), MyVideo (Taiwan), Hulu (Japan) and Stan (Australia), alongside hugely popular scripted series like Vigil, Line of Duty, Snowpiercer and marquee natural history series A Year on Planet Earth, which have all sold widely across the region.

TV ASIA: Across the diverse ITVS slate, what’s driving your distribution business in the region today? Give us a sense of what’s shaping your formats, scripted and factual business across the region.
DULGARO: We are fortunate to have some of the best talent there is in the ITV Studios group, which means we have a broad church of content across all genres. Our scripted slate includes new shows such as Quay Street Productions’ Nolly, starring Helena Bonham-Carter and written by Russell T Davies; medical thriller Malpractice and the provocative new drama set in the world of elite tennis, Fifteen-Love, both produced by World Productions; while My Mom, Your Dad has joined our formats catalog, which includes some of the most popular shows across the world such as Love Island and The Voice. Our natural history offering has grown considerably over the past few years, with landmark series A Year on Planet Earth, for which Tencent China is on board as co-producer, and Mother Nature among our newer shows in the genre, with other exciting shows launching on our factual slate including Murder in the Pacific, which tells the story of the fatal bombing of Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior.

TV ASIA: Given macroeconomic concerns, what are you hearing from your clients about how they are approaching their acquisition remits for the year ahead? Are they becoming more risk averse given the current environment?
DULGARO: Yes and no. Our buyers have always been discerning. Of course, buyers are looking for IP that will work for their existing audiences, but they’re always looking for something left of field that will expand their audience and grow their reach. It’s worth remembering that buyers are now buying across many routes to market and not all of them have the same demographic. ITV Studios has seen this with Love Island, a brand that works perfectly well in a linear environment but absolutely explodes in key demos in the on-demand space. Audiences also need to be surprised, and buyers are looking for new and different content that will pop in the schedule and on an on-demand carousel.

TV ASIA: Are you seeing differences in the needs of “traditional” linear clients vs. the streamers?  What about the global streamers vs the ever-expanding local and regional players?
DULGARO: Right now everyone can be considered a streamer or publisher with their own on-demand offering, and we cater to all clients in the region, be that Netflix or Disney+, Mola TV, TVNZ+ or 7plus. We’re seeing buyers being more expansive in what they will consider, given the different requirements of each audience and the need to keep the on-demand beast fed. For example, we’re seeing an uptick in sales on non-English-language content like Chorus Girls from Apple Tree Productions and the French dramas Piste Noire and Balthazar. Across the board, what we are definitely seeing is a greater rights ask, with a more complex set of holdbacks and windowing for each market.

TV ASIA: Are there markets in particular you’re exploring for new opportunities?
DULGARO: We’re focused on meeting the demand for FAST channels across the region—that sits nicely with our existing business. We are also putting in place partnerships with global AVOD/FAST services such as Pluto and Freevee, as well as hardware providers such as Roku, Samsung and LG, who are now key players in this space alongside more local services such as 7plus in Australia or Tubi in the U.S. To date, we have focused on key brands that we know will work well in this space such as Hell’s Kitchen and River Monsters but we also have Storylands, a channel that’s our home for European drama; ITV Choice, a general entertainment channel; and more planned around our extensive drama library and additional genre-based non-scripted channels.

In addition, the demand for scripted formats continues across the region, particularly from India and South Korea. ITV Studios has recently partnered with JTBC/Studio LuluLala on a South Korean version of Cleaning Up as well as with BBC Studios and Applause Entertainment on an Indian version of 35 Days.

TV ASIA: What are your goals for your distribution business in AsiaPac in 2023?
DULGARO: There’s always opportunities for us to drive both existing and new revenue streams across the board, and we plan to spend more time in market in 2023 now that Covid restrictions are lifting. As a distribution business we are building on existing tape and scripted format revenues and building new streams by smart windowing and monetization of rights, alongside a more direct approach to distribution via FAST channels and YouTube channels for example.