RCM 17: strategic partnerships, digital business up

Aisles are full mostly of young and independent producers who, according to Paulo Schmidt, President of the Brazilian Association of Audiovisual Arts (APRO in Portuguese) this is a ‘result of the investment policies and the development of the audiovisual as a profitable industry that today represents a GDP of 3% of the local economy’.

Even when in Brazil content production has more than 50 years, as industry it only has 5 or 6 years. ‘We are following a model that in USA worked decades ago, but which undoubtedly was necessary to empower the independent producers through incentives and the presence of the Government’, concludes Schmidt.

Manoel Rangel, president of Ancine, added on his presentation: ‘In 2016, 87,902 hours of Brazilian independent content were broadcast on Pay TV networks, representing a 10.9% of the total programming. In addition, through the Fundo Setorial Audiovisual (FSA), last year were invested R$ 286 million (USD 90,4M) in 485 projects, vs. R$5 millions (USD1, 5M) invested in 2009’.

Following this strategy, the Agency signed during RCM a cooperation and development agreement with the Centre National du Cinéma (France), in which both entities will work under four topics: 1) exchange of officials, 2) training; 3) sharing strategic plans and 4) the fight against piracy. Frédérique Bredin, president of the CNC, explained it’s the second agreement with a focus on the audiovisual sector as a whole and not only cinema (the other one was signed with the Canada Media Fund).

Regarding digital, Rangel remarked: ‘It's one of the most complex challenges. There are 32 digital platforms in the market, and YouTube, Netflix and Globo Play are the top three. Netlfix has nearly 7 million subscribers in Brazil, which is close to NET, the leading Pay TV operator. It’s all about capitalizing our independent producers’.

On the other hand, for many international buyers consulted by Prensario, the panorama is different. One of them remarked: ‘There’s a lot of products, but many of them are not available because they were produced in partnership with local broadcaster or Pay TV channel, overriding screens’.

Others like Marie Jacobson, EVP, programming and production, Sony Pictures Television, sees business opportunities. ‘Landscape is changing; content is everything and the walls between territories are falling, and we, as an acquisitions driver company, want to be where the killer content is’

What are buyers searching at RCM? Segey Moldovan, acquisition manager, First HDTV (Russia): ‘We handle 12 channels in 12 territories between Russia and CIS, but near 90% of our programming is acquisition. We search everything related to lifestyle but mostly kids’ content’.

Alicia Park, licensing manager, CJ E&M/Tooniverse (Korea): ‘In Korea we can just have a 10% of western content to cover the fee imposed by the law. That’s why we focus in strong characters and popular shows for 7-12 years old kids’. While Hyunwoo Kim, commissioning editor, EBS (Korea), searches educational and edutainment shows.

Sarah Legg, acquisitions, Cbeebies (UK): ‘We pre-buy 30% of our programming and acquire content for 0-6 years old, that helps to educate and what works especially with us are humour, great design, strong characters and adventure-based shows’.

Rodrigo Cantisano, from Rio de Janeiro