The return of properties like Big Brother and Survivor reinforces the overwhelming success of Banijay in the region, which in addition to linear TV and streaming, explores the business of branded content for advertisers.
2022 is about to be crowned as another great year for Banijay Rights in Latin America and US Hispanic with the company having, up until November, more than 60 shows on the air in the region, also adding renewed classics like Big Brother or Survivor, which returned with unusual force.
The figure is commented on by Michelle Wasserman, responsible for all format and scripted work in the region, including the US Hispanic and Brazil, who, with her experience, has been able to position the company’s properties at the top of mind in the television industry, and no longer just traditional broadcasters or Pay TV, but also platforms and now also the universe of brands.
“It was a great year,” Michelle Wasserman, SVP of Banijay Rights for Latin America, Hispanic USA and Brazil, sums up to ttvnews. “In terms of entertainment we ended up throughout the region with the presence of very powerful formats, in several cases with renewals and in many with new formats and formats that returned.”
The presence of shows in the main markets of the region is overwhelming and accounts for the quality of Banijay Rights catalog, as well as the preferences of the programmers.
“In the case of Argentina, for example, we are going to have done eleven entertainment shows in the prime time of America, El Trece and Telefe within a year,” the executive continues.
“In Colombia we also occupy the prime time between Caracol and RCN, where we have the main shows,” says Wasserman.
“In Mexico, where we also have our production house, in addition to having formats, we have original shows,” she adds. “The truth is that it is an incredible balance in terms of entertainment.”
And, as if that were not enough, in Brazil Banijay’s properties reach a whopping eleven shows: “December does not come into this balance, because we have a couple of shows that I don’t know if they are going to be launched in December,” she points out.
Return of the classics, multi-window presence and branded content
This great moment for Banijay in the region stands out, in addition to the presence of his shows in the region, for the return of classics such as Big Brother and Survivor.
“Big Brother came back last year in the US Hispanic and this year in Argentina and there are new territories to be confirmed soon. One is Uruguay, and two more that are to be confirmed soon”, explains Wasserman
“And after more than 20 years there is the return of Survivor in Argentina and after ten years in Colombia. Other countries are also being talked about,” she adds.
But in addition to the presence of shows on linear TV, formats for streaming platforms have now been added.
“Entertainment occupies a very important space on screens and especially after the pandemic. Many spaces that were fictional, especially on open TV, relied on training. Not to mention the streamers. Now they began to produce entertaining, not only originals, but they also began to buy formats”, she analyzes.
“The entertainment grew a lot. Perhaps the composition changed, before talent was the king of genres and today perhaps reality is displacing talent a bit. Today the reality show is being crowned. The large properties are the ones that are being prioritized ”, she complements.
And in the case of Big Brother or Survivor, they are formats that have been in existence for more than 20 years, but have returned renewed. “The essence is the same, but the technological impact or the trends and tastes of the consumer means that it is formatted in a more up-to-date way”.
To all this, it is worth highlighting the exploration in the region of a new line of business, which in addition to spin offs or new content that takes on a life of its own in the digital ecosystem, has the development of branded content for advertisers at the center of the story.
“We are working on new brand association projects, working a lot on branded content, which is a new business area that we have already been doing. We are giving value to our catalog with the brands and that makes our market grow, as a distributor it is a new territory to explore”, she maintains.
Finally, the executive highlights that there are new formats such as Identity, Are You for Real or Celebrity School.
“I hope they become sagas like many of our IPs that are already installed,” she concludes.
