Bavaria Media’s Helge Köhnen on the Appeal of Long-Running Series

Bavaria Media International offers broadcasters and streamers a rich catalog of feature films and TV shows, formats and documentaries. Among its biggest recent successes are two scripted series that have garnered loyal fans: Storm of Love and Coast Guard: Lake Constance. Helge Köhnen, the company’s head of content sales, explains the ongoing appeal of long-running series and introduces the recent Mozart Mozart, which offers a new perspective on real historical events.

TV DRAMA: Storm of Love recently marked its 20th anniversary. Coast Guard: Lake Constance also hit a milestone, its 100th episode, which drew record market share. What factors have contributed to the ongoing success of these shows?
KÖHNEN: Although Storm of Love runs continuously, each year the focus shifts to a new couple, providing an easy entry point into the expansive world of the daily telenovela. That shift happens seamlessly, keeping loyal viewers engaged while generating new ones. One of its strongest appeals is its grounded fairy-tale DNA: the show is extravagant enough to serve escapism while dealing with topics that are personally relevant to viewers. To keep everyone on their toes—especially in its home market, Germany—the show regularly features guest stars and welcomes returning fan favorites from earlier seasons.

Coast Guard: Lake Constance [CGLC], on the other hand, is a genuine “fish out of water” compared with typical urban crime series. While a vast majority of these stories are set in cities, CGLC not only quenches the audience’s appetite for crime content, it also relocates the action to a distinctive lakeside setting. Paired with its light, daytime-friendly procedural tone, this makes the series highly attractive in lots of territories. And importantly, German crime is a proven, trusted brand internationally.

TV DRAMA: What has made these shows so popular with German and international audiences?
KÖHNEN: The large ensemble of characters in Storm of Love offers identification for lots of different target groups. And these characters experience pure drama; it isn’t called “Storm” for nothing. In addition, the sheer volume of content (five 50-minute episodes per week) and highly emotional scenes forge a strong bond between viewers and characters, creating a deeply invested fan base. You see such variety in CGLC’s investigative team, as well. In our experience, complex main characters resonate with German audiences more than infallible super-cops.

Both shows have a “secret character” that adds extra appeal: the alpine backdrop—be it the mountain ranges seen from a distance over Lake Constance or the breathtaking nature surrounding the Fürstenhof. At the same time, a key factor in well-traveling content from Germany is avoiding over-localization, enabling international viewers to identify it.

TV DRAMA: Given that so many buyers are risk averse, what are the advantages of long-running series?
KÖHNEN: Consistency in volume and quality is a real asset for schedulers. For more than 20 years, the heads behind Storm of Love have fulfilled and often exceeded expectations of our partners all over Europe and beyond. The golden rule applies: success begets success. Buyers can build on results from markets with similar demographics, tastes or cultural influences.

Audiences benefit, too. Each new season further defines a storytelling framework that can be expected from a certain series; occasionally, breaking out of this frame keeps the audience engaged, but the foundations remain clear.

Einstein High, the world’s longest-running children’s drama series, is a strong example. While the setting of children at a private school navigating through their day-to-day issues has stayed consistent for more than 1,100 episodes, each season challenges and refreshes the formula. One year, we lean into treasure hunt adventure; in another, we explore sports drama.

TV DRAMA: On the other hand, what does a new show, like Mozart Mozart, need to attract buyers?
KÖHNEN: Showrunner Andreas Gutzeit convinced us with the almost fantastical elements of Mozart Mozart. It is not a biopic, reenactment, reboot, remake or history lesson. It’s a what-if story about a never-before-seen perspective on real historical events. It’s dramatized and carefully reshaped to reveal the story of Maria Anna Mozart in its emotional truth. That’s what makes it fresh, distinctive and compelling. Recognizable IP like Mozart helps global launches, generating attention right from the start and giving a boost to your marketing, but ultimately buyers judge on one thing: does the story attract and retain audiences? As distributors (in this project, joined by Beta Film), our job is to meticulously pinpoint why our program is the right fit at the right time for a certain audience in a certain territory.

TV DRAMA: What are the main challenges currently facing the drama market?
KÖHNEN: The earlier mentioned risk aversion leads to buyers looking for volume. Take Italy, for example. Not only is German-produced Storm of Love among Italy’s most successful daily telenovelas (on Mediaset), our medical weekly Young Doctors has just been renewed (on Rai). Both titles deliver a steady stream of new episodes in consistent quality. Not meeting this need is often a deal breaker. A short season one may be harder to place than two seasons at a time. This is a challenge for producers who need to finance one season after another.

TV DRAMA: How is Bavaria Media International navigating the headwinds and helping linear and nonlinear buyers fill their schedules?

KÖHNEN: We know that not every platform or broadcaster can program every slot with high-priced, brand-new premium content, which is why we are opening our vault further to showcase standout gems of our back catalog. And while we are scouting for new content, we are happy to announce new episodes of Dr. Dog, Cold Valleys and Inspector Wannabe ahead of Berlinale and MIP LONDON. Paradoxically, in times of rapid change, consistency is a virtue.