SURVEY
PRODUCTION 100 SUPER INDIES
the super indies
T
here’s been plenty of mergers and acquisition activity in the TV
production sector in 2022,
despite challenging economic headwinds. The UK might be grappling with the cost of living crisis, war in Ukraine, post-Covid supply chain problems and high inflation, but dealmaking has continued nonetheless. The UK’s biggest deal of the year has been ITV’s agreement in June to pay approximately £103.5 million for a 79.5% stake in Plimsoll, valuing the producer of Apple TV+’s Tiny World, Channel 4’s Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker and Nat Geo’s Hostile Planet at a cool £131 million. ITV saw off a reported 17 bidders for Plimsoll, highlighting the level of demand for top quality producers.
For ITV, the deal was an
opportunity to further build its ITV Studios production division and diversify further from its reliance on advertising. With Plimsoll, it has a highly regarded producer that can tap into growing demand for international premium unscripted content.
Explaining the deal, Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV, said: “Growing ITV Studios with an exciting pipeline of premium programmes is core to our strategy as we further diversify the business by genre, by geography, by customer and grow ahead of the market.”
Another major deal was
Fremantle’s acquisition of a majority stake in Element Pictures – the hit making independent production company behind Normal People, Conversations With Friends and Academy Award winning films The
Despite worries of economic woes approaching, there has been a series of major indie acquisitions over the past year. Tim Dams reports.
Favourite and Room. Fremantle announced last year
it was embarking an M&A drive in a bid double its revenues to £2.6bn by 2025. In the past 12 months, it has also converted its minority stake in Dancing Ledge Productions (The Salisbury Poisonings, The Responder) into a majority stake. Outside the UK, it has invested in Fabel Entertainment (Bosch), scripted Italian production company Lux Vide (Devils, Leonardo), Australian- American outfit Eureka Productions (Parental Guidance, Finding Magic Mike), and 12 production labels in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark from Nordic Entertainment Group (This is Nice Group). In December, Sony Pictures
Television acquired a majority stake in Bad Wolf, the Cardiff-based production company behind HBO/ BBC’s His Dark Materials, Sky’s A
Bad Wolf: His Dark Materials
House Productions: Sherwood
Autumn 2022
P17
televisual.com
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