Sales Talk: Fremantle’s Jens Richter on AVOD growth & ‘digital first’

Buyers, hungry for new content, are in the UK capital for meetings, presentations and drinks – or logging on from across the globe – for London TV Screenings all this week.

With so many new productions being showcased, TBI has been checking in with execs from international distributors of all sizes as they share the best new shows on their slates, along with the top trends to watch out for in 2022.

Crossfire

JENS RICHTER, CEO OF INTERNATIONAL, FREMANTLE

What’s your standout show for London Screenings and why?

Following on from the huge success of The Responder, the authentic and gripping crime drama starring Martin Freeman as audiences have never seen him before, we are excited to be launching another major BBC One miniseries Crossfire, starring Keeley Hawes which we hope will also have a real impact in the global market.

What show are you most looking forward to in 2022 (not including your own)?

The new season of Peaky Blinders.

What single distribution trend will define the next 12 months?

There is a lot of growth with platforms entering more markets in the SVOD space, there will also be huge growth in the AVOD space, like IMDb TV expanding into more territories and other AVOD players coming to market.

Peaky Blinders

Three words to describe the global distribution industry right now are

Competitive. Agile. Innovative.

Which country’s programming will boom this year & why?

In Europe we are seeing a lot of production activity due to the local demand and in Latin America and Israel we expect to see more incredible premium dramas being produced there that then travel internationally

Rewind to this time in 2018. You have the same knowledge as you do now – what would be the first thing you’d do?

Invest in digital first, given the speed at which the market has changed and continues to change from linear, to digital, to streaming 24/7 and most recently the growth of FAST channels.

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