Matter of Fact

Reality shows, factual entertainment and high-end docs are finding slots across Central and Eastern Europe.

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), given their history and geopolitical significance, have been the subjects of countless academic docs retelling crises of the past and current-affairs specials about the social and economic problems of the day. But when it comes to what kinds of factual fare the residents of this part of the world want to consume themselves, it’s all true crime and animal close-ups, quirky personalities and dramatic real-life situations.

“We’ve seen a pickup [in the demand for] our big factual franchises, particularly the transactional franchises,” says Joel Denton, the managing director of international content sales and partnerships at A+E Networks, referencing properties like Storage Wars, Pawn Stars and American Pickers. “It’s those big factual juggernauts, if you like, the character-based shows [that are] selling and rating well.”

Natural history is also a hot commodity, as BBC Worldwide has seen with the rollout of its BBC Earth brand across the region. “We’re now in nine territories across CEE and in three local languages: Romanian, Hungarian and Slovenian,” says Grant Welland, the executive VP for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa at BBC Worldwide. “After an excellent first year, we’re looking to expand distribution and launch in new territories across the region in 2016 and 2017.”

GET WILD!
On the program-sales side, too, wildlife is proving to be a major seller for BBC Worldwide, with hits that include The Hunt, Shark and its Wild programming strand.

High-end wildlife tops the slate for ORF-Enterprise, which is showcasing the UNIVERSUM titles Turtle Hero: A Cold Blooded Passion and The Secret Life of Snakes at NATPE Budapest.

“With our passion for the production of high-quality wildlife and nature documentaries, we are ambitious to keep discovering more and more of the many secrets and wonders that our planet and its inhabitants still keep,” says Marion Camus-Oberdorfer, the head of international content sales at ORF-Enterprise, on the message the Austrian company is looking to get out to buyers in CEE.

Elsewhere on the factual spectrum, GRB Entertainment is letting viewers in on other kinds of secrets in Untold Stories of the ER, its best-selling series in CEE. The show is part of a wave of reenactment series that have become popular in the territory, according to Benn Watson, GRB’s VP of international sales.

Crime shows are also in demand, Watson notes, particularly investigative reporting. He also cites the popularity of the “over-the-shoulder” filming style used in series like GRB’s own FBI Takedowns.

Rive Gauche Television has also placed several crime series in the region, among them Homicide Hunter, Pretty Bad Girls and Happily Never After. Its best sellers, meanwhile, have been My Strange Addiction, about people battling obsessive behaviors, and Fix It & Finish It, fronted by TV personality Antonio Sabato, Jr.

In general, CEE buyers tend to prefer shows without presenters, “as that naturally gives them a better opportunity to either insert a voiceover or their own local host,” observes Marine Ksadzhikyan, the company’s senior VP of distribution and development.

“But with names such as Sir David Attenborough, Louis Theroux and Gordon Buchanan, this is not always the case,” adds BBC Worldwide’s Welland. “These presenters work really well for audiences across CEE.”

POLE POSITION
Nevertheless, Welland notes that the demand for local programming is on the rise. As such, BBC Worldwide is beginning to see interest in its factual formats, such as Junior Doctors, adapted by Poland’s TVP, and Maestro, remade for HRT in Croatia.

The factual-formats space is also a growth area for A+E Networks, which has clinched deals outside of the region on Pawn Stars, American Pickers and Dance Moms. Adaptations, Denton explains, “tend to rate better because you’ve got local talent and local stories. For us, it means those franchises get larger and we can then push those additional episodes to other clients around the world.”

GRB’s Watson reports that he’s starting to hear format requests, particularly from Ukraine. “That’s an exciting area for us,” Watson says. “They are always happy to look at paper formats, whereas other territories wait for something to become big in the U.S. and then follow suit.”

Poland, however, remains the region’s most lucrative territory. “Poland is by far the largest market in that region and it’s been great for us,” A+E’s Denton says. The Czech Republic and Hungary are slowly recovering from the economic turmoil of the last few years, says Denton, who adds that Croatia has also emerged as a key market.

Another emerging market is the digital space. “In the last 12 months, we’ve finalized various package deals for OTT platforms within CEE and expect to service these outlets even more going forward,” Rive Gauche’s Ksadzhikyan says. “This area is rapidly expanding and evolving, and broadcasters themselves are creating their own digital platforms. We’re seeing a big appetite when filling content for these types of slots.”

BBC Worldwide’s Welland, too, says that the OTT arena is “becoming increasingly significant.”

Indeed, even as drama and entertainment shows make the most noise, factual series remain a staple of the CEE media diet, and with an expanding universe of pay-TV and OTT platforms to service in the region, the prospects for distributors heading to NATPE Budapest look upbeat.

Pictured: A+E Networks’s Pawn Stars.