Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti has criticized the global streamers’ approach to rights and data sharing, as he predicts “in five-to-10 years time IP and talent will be the most important way of creating value.”
Banijay has placed intense focus on developing talent and IP since the acquisition of Endemol Shine Group in 2020 – which he said had happened “faster than we thought” – and Bassetti used his Mipcom keynote to talk down the SvoD’s approach to retaining the majority of rights, although he conceded “they give us fantastic opportunities and challenge us.”
“It’s not fair to ask talent for everything and then when they are a huge success, they don’t get anything,” he added. “When you give producers the opportunity to invest and retain part of the rights, they will do a better job. For us it’s simple – in the medium or long term we are happy to give away some margin but want to retain rights.”
The criticism is not a new one and while the streamers have become more flexible as they have delved deeper into local production markets, deals still tend to be far less favorable than traditional broadcaster contracts.
While Bassetti said “the financial market has decided this is a golden age for content,” he countered that “this is not the golden age of revenue sharing.”
He implied that Banijay is better at utilizing its rights than some buyers.
“Sometimes we see these rights sitting in one place owned by our client and they are not at all monetized,” said Bassetti.
He predicted that “in five-to-10 years time IP and talent will be the most important way of creating value” and also urged the global behemoths to share more data with producers in the same vein as broadcasters.
“When you work with a traditional channel the data drives you in a direction but with [streamers] you don’t know this. They are sharing more data because they understand how important it is to know which kind of subscriber they can attract.”
Bassetti also set out Banijay’s approach to navigating the looming cost-of-living crisis, a major talking point at Mipcom.
He said the super indie’s labels are “squeezing the time it takes to produce, finding the best place to take advantage of tax credits and filming in countries where costs are lower.”
“Being part of a large group means you have the intelligence and opportunity to share with the whole company,” he added.