European Pubcasters Align as New8 in Drama Initiative

Eight public-service broadcasters from northwestern Europe—ZDF (Germany), NPO (the Netherlands), VRT (Belgium), SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), Yle (Finland), RÚV (Iceland) and NRK (Norway)—have come together to form New8, a collaboration that will see the pubcasters sharing drama series.

The collaboration was revealed at MIA—International Audiovisual Market. The partners in the collaboration will co-produce eight TV series annually from 2023, with an aim to ensure broad distribution of each other’s projects.

The selected series will be broadcast in German-speaking territories Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as in the Netherlands, Belgium (Flemish-speaking), Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

The partners have entered into an agreement that will initially last for three years. The first series will be greenlit in 2023 and available for publication in all participating territories from 2024.

Hans-Jørgen Osnes, head of international financing drama at NRK, said: “New8 is a unique achievement for European public-service broadcasters and their audiences. New8, with the strong drama partners attached, will be the largest drama collaboration in Europe. It will be extremely exciting to see it come to life and evolve.”

Simone Emmelius, senior VP of international fiction at ZDF, added: “New8 will strengthen the public-service broadcasters throughout Europe and give their audiences unique access to bold, modern and innovative high-end drama from all the partners. With ZDF on board, New8 gains one of the most experienced international co-production partners for its network. Hopefully, New8 will also unite the audience and strengthen bonds between Europeans.”

“By exchanging content that is built on the partners’ public-service ambitions, we can strengthen our offer to our local audiences and create a bigger impact in the international media sector,” said Elly Vervloet, international drama expert at VRT. “We are proud that we have come to a great collaboration between eight very strong public broadcasters that will use their creative talent and expertise for this mission. We cannot wait to launch our very first drama series in all these territories and see what comes to us the other way around.”

Anna Croneman, head of drama at SVT, commented: “The Nordic public-service companies have a long history of successful collaborations, and in these turbulent times, we want to take this way of working to the next level. At SVT, we are incredibly happy to join forces with such powerful partners as ZDF, VRT and NPO to be able to offer our audience even more high-end drama.”