CEE networks eye local partnerships over Netflix deals

Broad Peak (Source: Netflix)

Central & Eastern European (CEE) broadcasters should focus on regional partnerships rather than partnering with Netflix to increase their shows’ international exposure, execs here at NEM Zagreb have argued.

Netflix has been producing originals in Poland, the region’s biggest market, since 2016 and set up a hub in Warsaw last year.

Lenka Szanto

It unveiled its latest raft of originals last year with movies such as Broad Peak and series including The Hive, Detective Forst and Freestyle, but there has been little activity elsewhere in CEE.

‘We don’t need Netflix’

“Netflix are a direct competitor for us, because we have our own streamer so we compete with local series but also on acquiring content,” said Lenka Szántó, creative producer at CME’s Czech Republic broadcaster TV Nova, which operates streamer Voyo.

“It is complicated, we don’t sell anything to Netflix and we have different strategies. In our case, it’s about cooperation between countries, we don’t need Netflix.”

Branko Čakarmiš, strategic adviser to CME Adria, added that Voyo’s growth in his region had been due to its local programming content, arguing that selling content to Netflix “would be like shooting yourself in your knee.”

Instead, CEE companies need to “prove ourselves and be good partners for each other, to show there is trust and to succeed with sales,” Szántó said.

“International players will then come in and will trust us too, just like they trust those in Scandinavia. They know they can do it and within two or three years, they will know they can trust us too.”

Čakarmiš added: “The big streamers have a different strategy [to CME], they are in their reuse, recycle, reuse phase,” which he said were “devil words for creative industry.”

He added that the focus on ad tiers would also fuel more unscripted commissions in the region, which may be “good for local operators as it creates a clearer path for scripted.”

Unlike others in the region, Polish broadcaster TVP has been coproducing with Netflix and Marek Solon-Lipiński, director of international relations, said it had created virtuous circle.

Branko Cakarmis

“Our market is different to many in CEE as it is bigger, so Netflix was doing originals five or six years ago,” he said.

“We’ve had period of more and less cooperation – now there is more and of course it is controversial because selling your content to Netflix is potentially creating a problem for your own VOD platform.

“But it is also increasing your audience. Our shows [on Netflix] are still branded as TVP and we see viewers reacting to that,” he added, with audiences who may not watch TVP becoming more aware of its output through watching on the streamer.

Solon-Lipiński also highlighted the recently revealed adaptation of popular Polish movie Znachor (Forgotten Love) as an inidicaiotn that Netflix is now looking to attract an older audience.

“It is very popular with traditional TV viewers so it is a clear move to attract an older audience, which wasn’t their base until now. That is a threat for traditional broadcasters.”