“It is my belief that there is a lot of potential revenue in digital business,” says Hofmann. UFA is also focused on further digital channels, producing podcasts and video content for TikTok and publishers. Upcoming titles from UFA include Disney+ series Sam - Ein Sachse, about East Germany’s first Black police officer, Robert Schwentke’s dystopian series Helgoland 513 for Sky and Amazon original Save Me, a thriller based on Mona Kasten’s trilogy of the same name. UFA has also pushed into the streaming and pay-TV market in the past three years. “Keeping these flagships alive requires a lot of energy - you have to innovate permanently,” says Hofmann. More than 50% of its revenue comes from producing long-running series and soaps for German TV, many of which are backbones of the schedule for leading commercial broadcaster RTL. “We are flexible and open for different models of partnership to create and produce the most attractive content, but partners have to fit in with the DNA of UFA,” he adds.įounded in 1917, UFA is one of the oldest entertainment brands in the world. UFA CEO Nico Hofmann says he is focusing on “younger companies” as well as more established firms within Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and is currently talking to a number of companies in the market already. German production powerhouse UFA is in buying mode - reflecting the expansion ambitions of its parent company, RTL-owned Fremantle, which is aiming to double revenues to $3.3bn (€3bn) by 2025. Several are more conservative, arguing now is not the time to make acquisitions as prices for production companies have not fallen yet despite signs of a slowdown in the TV and film market. Others are looking outwards, for deals beyond Germany. Some are focused on expanding further within their home market through M&A activity. Many of the leading German producers have very different strategies for growth. It is unclear how much consolidation in Germany will continue though. Among the biggest players are independents such as Constantin Film, Leonine Studios, Beta Film and Studio Hamburg, broadcaster-backed outfits such as ZDF Studios, Bavaria Film, RTL/Fremantle’s UFA and ProSiebenSat.1’s Seven.One Studios, as well as global groups such as Banijay, ITV Studios, All3Media and Warner Bros Discovery. Will consolidation continue?ĭespite ongoing consolidation, however, the German production market remains fragmented. Elsewhere, Banijay Germany acquired Sony Pictures Television Germany last year, while in 2021 Newen bought a majority stake in Paradiso producer Flare Film, and Bavaria Film snapped up unscripted producer Story House Group. Its most recent acquisition was doc outfit Gebrueder Beetz, which has a high-end series on former Spanish king Juan Carlos debuting in the Berlinale Series Market. The Munich-based firm has become one of the country’s leading entertainment groups in the past five years thanks to acquisitions such as film and TV powerhouse Tele München Group, film distributor Universum, Dark producers Wiedemann & Berg and non-fiction specialists I&U TV. The dealmaking has been led by Leonine Studios, which is backed by New York private equity group KKR. Germany is an attractive place to invest: it is the continent’s largest media and entertainment market (although PwC says it will be overtaken by the UK this year), there are some 100 million German speakers in Europe, and it has a very generous content subsidy system. In common with countries including the UK, France and the US, the rise of the streamers has also led to a wave of consolidation in Germany’s film and TV market, as investors looked to capitalise on the content production boom. Many say that the arrival of the global streamers, notably Amazon, Netflix and Disney+, has caused local players - the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, commercial groups RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 and pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland - to raise their game. They helped to shift international attention on to a production sector that previously had been focused primarily on creating content for local audiences. The Netflix hit builds on the worldwide success Germany has had with series such as Deutschland 83 in 2015, and Babylon Berlin and Dark in 2017. Multiple Oscar nominations and Bafta wins for All Quiet On The Western Front have pushed the German production industry firmly into the spotlight. Source: Prime Video © 2022 Amazon / Stephan Rabold
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