Analyst: “Endemol buy makes Banijay a global powerhouse”
July 30, 2020
Banijay Group’s £1.7 billion acquisition of Endemol Shine Group creates a global content powerhouse that will be the largest unscripted producer in the world and among the top five scripted producers globally, according to a report from Ampere Analysis.
Comprising 200 companies across 22 territories, the newly titled Banijay will be a powerful player in the production arena, rubbing shoulders with the major US studios in production scale. Perhaps best known for producing classic Entertainment formats, such as Fort Boyard and Survivor and Reality shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Banijay already has an extensive unscripted global slate.
This acquisition will boost its scripted output creating major growth in key markets, says Ampere Analysis, with Endemol’s scripted business in the UK being an important example.
Arise, the new king of unscripted
- Since the beginning of 2019, Endemol Shine Group had the greatest number of new first run unscripted commissions across the top 25 most active TV commissioning markets.
- The combined group will be by far the largest unscripted producer in the world. It outweighs its next closest rival, the UK’s BBC Studios, by nearly two productions to one.
- Ampere Analysis expects Banijay to add more muscle to its already strong Reality and Entertainment slate. Its unscripted content has seen a resurgence in interest recently, with Endemol Shine’s local labels launching new spin-offs from its Masterchef franchise in Australia, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
- The acquisition of Endemol Shine roughly doubles the scale of Banijay’s unscripted business in a number of key markets, including the UK, US, Italy and Sweden.
Fred Black, Senior Analyst at Ampere Analysis commented: “Banijay has received new first season commissions from 60 different major media companies in the top 25 markets since the beginning of 2019. Many of these clients have been moving towards keeping content production in-house as much as possible by commissioning shows from producers that they already own, or who are owned by a shared corporate parent. As a company with little to no platform or channel ownership, this puts Banijay in a unique market position as a major producer with no strings attached. This brings advantages of being able to play the field more than competitors, but also challenges, by not having a business base of ‘safe’ commissions from a corporate partner to rely on.”
Banijay’s scripted boost sees it overtake rival Comcast
- The newly created Banijay Group has broken into the top four companies for first-run scripted commissions, narrowly beating rival Comcast and its subsidiaries.
- Notable recent scripted commissions for Banijay include medical drama Cuori Coraggiosi from Aurora TV for RAI in Italy, Crime drama Viewpoint from Tiger Aspect for ITV in the UK, and Vinterviken 2021, a co-commissioned romantic drama for Netflix and SVT in Sweden, from Filmlance International.
- Buying Endemol Shine has given Banijay an entry point to markets including Mexico, Brazil, Netherlands, Norway and Poland. It’s also doubled Banijay’s scripted business in key markets such as India, France, Spain and Germany.
The UK market is the jewel in Endemol’s crown
A key gain for Banijay will be Endemol’s scripted business in the UK. Combined, the new Banijay has accounted for 10 per cent of new scripted commissions in the UK since the beginning of 2019, tying with the BBC as the largest producer of first run scripted commissions.
Black added: “The addition of Endemol to the Banijay wheelhouse offers the new production giant a quick route to expanding its global footprint. Multiple markets have opened up for the company to win new unscripted business. Overall, the new Banijay’s footprint in the top 25 markets extends to 2.4 per cent of first run scripted commissions, and 4.4 per cent of unscripted commissions.”