BossaNova’s Claire Runham Talks Factual Trends

BossaNova Media continues to find success with its annual Development Day, started by CEO Paul Heaney to connect broadcasters and streamers with producers who have compelling ideas. Pitched at the event in 2024 by BriteSpark Films, Days that Shocked the World was unveiled to BossaNova’s clients ahead of MIPCOM and has presold to SBS in Australia, Channel 4 in the U.K. and TV2 Denmark. Claire Runham, head of acquisitions at BossaNova Media, shares her thoughts on the state of affairs in the factual business with TV Real.

TV REAL: How do you see the overall health of the factual distribution business, against the backdrop of trends in other sectors?
RUNHAM: As partnerships and diversification have become almost fundamental for both producers and broadcasters, distributors have also needed to adapt by tapping into non-traditional methods of monetizing content. It has helped to work in ways that eliminate the need to rely on new content coming fully funded from a single broadcaster, whether that’s by preselling and/or maximizing the potential of deep libraries. With a fairly consistent global demand for unscripted programming, it has also helped that factual content can be produced on manageable budgets and can be turned around quickly by comparison to most scripted projects.

TV REAL: What are the biggest pressure points in the business right now? And how are you tackling them?
RUNHAM: The biggest pressure point for us is ensuring that we have enough new and relevant content for traditional linear broadcasters. We tackle that by commissioning our own, by providing broadcaster briefs to producers we know can deliver and by getting involved in projects early on so that we can help to shape the idea for international buyers. It’s something that we’ve been doing for many, many years now, so while the industry is becoming more reliant on models that rely on partnerships, we’ve already got something established that works well.

TV REAL: What’s been your approach to aligning with producers? How early do you need to board projects?
RUNHAM: We work incredibly collaboratively with producers; ultimately, we want to find and create scenarios where everyone walks away with a balloon! We like to board projects early, but it’s not essential. We need a mixed economy of commercial models to sustain the business, so if a project already has a partner attached and a budget deficit, for example, this is also something we’ll consider. We treat everything on a case-by-case basis.

TV REAL: What opportunities have AVOD platforms provided in terms of your library content?
RUNHAM: BossaNova is about to turn 5 years old, and as a result, a lot of the content we represent isn’t that old either. We’re careful not to exploit via AVOD too soon because it may not be the most lucrative path to take in the first years, depending on the project. There are certain tick boxes that make a show a success story for AVOD. High volume is one of the key asks, and as a young company, we haven’t had the time yet to build much volume from a single IP. There are some examples to mention (Borderforce USA, Paramedics: On the Frontline, Caught on Dashcam), but my initial point about it being too soon in the lifespan of the programs comes back into play. Some of our library content is starting to be exploited on AVOD platforms, and we’re beginning to acquire older content with volume in order to tap into this revenue stream.

TV REAL: What’s your approach to FAST?
RUNHAM: FAST channels also rely on a high volume of single IPs being available. Out of the two, our focus is mostly on working with AVOD platforms because research shows that AVOD is more lucrative at a global scale than FAST.

TV REAL: What’s your sense of what buyers and commissioners are looking for?
RUNHAM: We work with the acquisitions teams within broadcasters, rather than commissioners. The license fees we get for presale or acquisition are relative to the rights that they will take, versus a commission. Individually, they have less skin in the game than the commissioners, so while they still need content that meets their briefs and delivers production quality at a level one would expect, no less, they trust us to manage the production via a distributor-led model. As such, we’re looking for projects that suit the needs of multiple international broadcasters all at one time.

TV REAL: How do you see AI impacting your business?
RUNHAM: We need to follow the lead of the broadcasters for obvious reasons. For some, it will work, and for others it won’t (at the moment at least), so we need to be careful that if we are acquiring content with an AI element, the programs will need to work for the broadcasters who we know won’t have a problem with it.