Paprika Studios goes independent
January 22, 2024
An agreement has been reached between Viaplay Group and the current management of Paprika Studios, the Central and Eastern Europeanproduction company: the management team led by Ákos Erdős (CEO) will take over the ownership of Paprika Studios.
The producton group’s own-produced content is already available wildspread on the some of biggest media outlets of CEE such as Netflix, HBO Max, Czech Voyo, Channel 5 UK, Romanian Pro Tv, Pop Tv Slovenia, Czech Tv Nova , Lithuanian public broadcast television, Slovak Markiza, Hungarian RTL and TV2 Group and AXN, among others. In parallel to the changes, the dynamically growing company has already initiated negotiations to open new branches in addition to its eight-country operating footprint.
The current management team led by Erdős has successfully closed the acquisition of Paprika Studios from Viaplay Group as part of a management buyout. The Central and Eastern European market-leading production company is headquartered in Budapest and has its own branches in eight countries. The group will continue its successful business strategy and plans to further strengthen cooperation with international streaming providers in addition to its television collaborations.
Paprika Studios became part of the Modern Times Group in 2012 and then Viaplay Group, which decided last year to focus on its Nordic and Netherlands operations as part of a new business strategy and to refocus its content offering on premium sports, acquired films and series, and local non-scripted productions. After considering several options, Viaplay Group decided to accept a purchase offer for Paprika Studios from the latter’s management team. The offer was subject to approval by Viaplay Group’s shareholders, which was received on January 10th, and the transaction closed on January 19th.
“The change of ownership will open up new market opportunities for Paprika Studios. Furthermore, in addition to continuing our collaborations with several market-leading broadcasters, we will be able to deepen our partnerships with other international streaming providers. Our business strategy has always been based on the production of quality content, whether it is entertainment, fiction or reality productions, movie productions, or short films. This professionalism and commitment will be even stronger with the arrival of the management team as owners,” said Erdős.