Exclusive: Dori Media’s CEO Nadav Palti on why business matters amid Israeli conflict

Amia (Source: Dori Media)

Sitting in the Dori Media booth at MIPCOM ten days ago, the business of selling TV shows could have felt far removed from the conflict in Israel following the 7 October attack.

But then the phone of Dori Media’s CEO, Nadav Palti, sparked up a warning that a rocket had been launched into his country.

Nadav Palti

It was a stark reminder, not that one was needed, that Palti’s attendance in Cannes had come against a tragedy occurring in his country, following the Hamas-led attack.

Yet despite the challenges, reaching Cannes and MIPCOM was important to Palti, a former commander in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who also has a son in the service.

“It’s a very tough situation, it’s a very sad situation,” said the Dori Media chief who took up the top job at the Israeli firm in 2004.

Since then, Dori has grown into a global company, with offices in Spain and Switzerland as well as Latin America and Singapore.

It also operates local broadcast channels and a catalogue that stretches upward of 7,000 hours ranging from hit scripted format Be Tipul (aka In Treatment) and Shtisel to new launches such as Amia.

Fight back

And while the war in Israel dominated our conversation in Cannes, discussing the specifics of Dori’s current business was important to Palti, because it shows his company is fighting back.

“If you’re close to the border, when the alarm goes you have perhaps 30, 60 or 90 seconds to get to a shelter.

“And so even here, when I’m sitting in Cannes, I get the alarms on my phone – because this is part of our life.”

For Dori’s team in Israel, work continues, reflecting Palti’s ethos and belief as the war continues. “Our employees can come into work, it depends on them, but we are very efficient working from home too and we learned this skill through the pandemic.

“We still have our six TV channels that are 24/7 and work perfectly, then of course we have production – in Israel there is not a lot now but we’ve just finished shooting in Mexico, just finished shooting in Argentina and we are doing all the editing and post production.

“We’re also planning to shoot two big shows [next year], those might need to be postponed but there is so much looking ahead.”

Financing & funding

Certainly, Dori has been embracing the shifting sands of the global content market, arguably best underlined by shows such as Amia. The drama is set in 1992 and was filmed in Uruguay, telling the story of attacks on the Israeli embassy.

“This was a really interesting [project], because we commissioned it ourselves. We took a risk, we decided to get into it, invest in it and develop it.”

Dori put their share in, supplemented with financing from “private investors” – who Palti declines to name – and the show is now being sold to buyers around the world.

“We cover the budget to production and we still have all the rights. If you really believe in your product, you have to put your money in. And you have to work it.”

Other shows Dori is currently rolling out include Indal, a drama that tracks the kidnapping of a cop who abused a group of Ethiopian Israeli youths, and Lalola.

The latter is being produced for Spanish-language streamer ViX and follows a man who ends up in a woman’s body, underlining the range across both geography and genre that Dori is embracing.

Despite its global growth, the challenges facing the company and the wider Israeli content industry are immense. But Palti is clear that pushing his company’s business forward is key amid the ongoing tragic events in his country.

And Palti is also clear that our industry, in particular, has a vital role to play. “TV has a big role to play right now and shoulders a huge responsibility.”