Buy, Sell or Die: European TV M&A Outlook — and Americans' Role in it
As dealmaking heats up on both sides of the Atlantic, who's scaling up, who's getting out and how U.S. studios, producers and PE firms are sizing up the market
Manori Ravindran covers international TV from London for Series Business. She recently wrote about producers’ pivot to YouTube for money, how to get a TV buyer to yes (when budget is the problem) and why brands are now funding unscripted shows.
During a recent lunch with an L.A.-based financier who happened to be in London, he asked me whether covering the industry is going to be much fun when the whole biz is consolidated and we’re writing about the same five companies the entire time.
The cheeky comment captured the mood on both sides of the Atlantic as Americans brace for the M&A and dealmaking that everyone’s anticipating in the second Donald Trump administration — and that already seems to have kicked off with this week’s news of Comcast spinning off most of its cable channels. (Sky’s status within Comcast remains unchanged, but the spinoff of CNBC, which is widely distributed in the U.K. and airs a lot of NBC programming, may present some complications.)
But Europe is also expected to have its own M&A reckoning. “The climate calls for consolidation,” says François Godard, senior media and telecom analyst at Enders Analysis.
But whereas studios such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony and Lionsgate are expected to be active in one way or another in the United States, across the pond the production sector is likely ground zero. “These producers in Europe have enjoyed the Golden Age of the past 10 years,” says the Italy-based Godard. “But it’s over.”
Any new dealmaking would only continue the shakeup in the international market. The most significant deal of 2024 has been RedBird IMI’s $1.45 billion acquisition in May of The Traitors producer-distributor All3Media. (RedBird obviously had the bandwidth to ride shotgun on the Ellisons’ acquisition of Paramount announced in July.) The All3Media deal left in place its once pioneering “federal” structure — where it empowers enterprising producers such as Sam Mendes to run their businesses under its aegis — as well as its CEO Jane Turton.
With the private equity giant behind All3Media, Turton is on the prowl for her own acquisitions, though sources tell me that they’ve been surprised by how judiciously top brass is approaching potential investments; it’s far from the spending spree some internally thought it might be.
As everyone looks ahead to 2025, companies like All3Media could have their pick of a bumper crop. There will certainly be sellers out there (more on them below), but just how many buyers will there really be for what are ultimately traditional content businesses out of Europe? These businesses are vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of American studios and their content strategies — not to mention local inflationary pressures and distressed ad markets.
In this issue, you’ll learn:
Whether U.S. studios are going to be players in buying European TV producers
The U.S. producer best positioned to grow by acquisition in Europe and internationally
Why owning international production companies can give a producer leverage with global streamers like Netflix
The case for and against Americans owning international producers
Why RedBird IMI’s Jeff Zucker may be the most important buyer for producers to court
How private equity giants are shaping the M&A landscape
Two major European producers for sale
Where all this consolidation will leave independent TV producers
Why indie producers may need to pivot to digital platforms like YouTube and TikTok before it’s too late
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