Banijay CEO: We Need Scale to Compete With Big Tech

Banijay Entertainment CEO Marco Bassetti fittingly discussed creating an even bigger indie production and distribution colossus in once-imperial Rome on Monday.

“We want to define ourselves as an entertainment company,” after adding distribution and sports assets to an established production powerhouse, UK-based Bassetti said on stage at the Westin Excelsior Hotel as he addressed a global business upended by consolidation and technological disruption.

But while describing the super indie as “big,” Bassetti added that, against Silicon Valley competitors like Alphabet and Meta as they grow exponentially, Banijay has had to get bigger still. The move by Banijay to scale up follows earlier acquisitions, like Zodiak Media in 2015 and Endemol Shine in 2019 .

Banijay, while enabling All3Media producers a bigger international footprint, has also extended and expanded its own reach into live events, sports and across social media with Little Dot Studios. “We are producers on a global scale, we have to be big. But if we want to define the market everywhere, we’re small,” Bassetti said of the paradox of a growing European entertainment giant still being dwarfed in a fast-changing global entertainment and media business driven by Silicon Valley innovations.

His comments follow the international production giant completing mega-merger with fellow indie giant All3Media to create a new $8.5 billion super indie. Not surprisingly, Bassetti during his informal conversation discussed the benefits of scale in today’s international TV business.

“Every time we have a tranformational deal, it’s much better to buy a company with proven success, instead of starting from scratch. Getting to market as short as possible is crucial to our strategy,” he argued. The new London-based production and distribution group brings together nearly 200 production companies and labels across 25 territories, including the companies that make and sell such shows as The Traitors, Big Brother, Survivor, MasterChef, Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror, some hundreds of thousands of hours of programming, and combined revenues of $8.5 billion.

The enlarged giant amid continuing industry consolidation is seen as beneficial as broadcasters and streamers need hit TV content and original IP as production budgets shrink after the end fo the Peak TV era. Speaking of scale, Bassetti talked about the recent Paramount takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery and as a combined company is set to produce 30 feature films each year and 80 series of all types on some 20 different networks and streamers.

“The latest one is the biggest one of all — $111 million billion dollars,” he said of the combined studio led by CEO David Ellison, who he considers a friend. “You have to look at how much you invest, and the return on investment,” Bassetti said of his mergers and acquisitions strategy. “if you’re good, it’s an advantage.”