C21Fall

international Everything about content

Fall 2026

Will France run short of content as exports slide?

Kate Phillips’ plan for a battling BBC

21 shows you can’t afford to miss at Mipcom

PLUS: Mexico Special Edition | YouTube strategies | Disney+ trebling int’l originals | Is social media killing creativity?

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CONTENTS

Channel21 International | Fall 2026 | Issue #329

U PFR O N T

Broadcasters: fewer, bigger... better?

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his year’ s M ipcom arriv es as the fog of uncertainty that has gathered ov er the industry for years begins to disperse. Deals prev iously couched with terms like ‘ set to’ and ‘ potentially’ can now be discussed with conv iction: Paramount Skydance is buying Warner Bros Discov ery; Banij ay and A ll3 M edia hav e come together; I TV has agreed to sell its media and entertainment arm to Sky. That’ s enough consolidation for now, thank you – I ’ m still getting good use out of my Z odiak M edia tote bag. But wait, that’ s not more fog on the horiz on, is it? A recent forecast by industry v eteran Sir Peter Bazalgette, who believes the days of four or five domestic broadcasters in each European country are numbered, would suggest so. The ‘ fewer, bigger, better’ commissioning mantra that buyers hav e been so keen on of late might soon apply to the broadcasters themselv es. Scan the

continent and, yes, there are plenty of v ulnerable broadcasters whose best chance of surv iv al may lie in teaming up with a riv al. I n the U K , a streaming partnership between Channel 4 and the BBC feels inev itable. I n France, TF1 and M 6 hav e reportedly resumed discussions about combining operations after their initial attempt four years ago was abandoned ov er regulatory concerns. Y ou’ d ex pect, giv en how much the market is changing and how industry stasis has played into the hands of the fast- mov ing tech giants, regulatory bodies would be minded to greenlight such deals as we enter ‘ last chance saloon’ territory. Fewer buyers is nev er a good thing. But desperate times, desperate measures. Shoring up the traditional broadcast sector may be a necessary price to pay to give the old guard a chance against not just Net ix and A maz on but, most pressingly, TikTok and Y ouTube, whose business models present an ex istential threat

to the funding of reliable news and high- end scripted content for adults and children alike. M ov es are being made elsewhere in Europe to present a united front against global streamers. The Berlusconi family’ s M ediaForEurope, for ex ample, is embarking on ambitious plans to launch a single cross- border streaming platform in 20 27. The past year has also seen the pendulum swing against the tech giants in sev eral landmark court cases, as the penny drops that perhaps these billionaire megalomaniacs do not hav e society’ s best interests at heart. A s courts increasingly challenge the market power and practices of massive tech firms, and fresh leadership atop the BBC offers radical proposals to modernise public serv ice broadcasting in response to Y ouTube’ s growing dominance, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic that the fog on the horiz on j ust might be the kind that burns off pretty q uickly. Nico Frank s

CO N TEN TS

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: BBC Content chief Kate Phillips talks strategy as the BBC fights on several fronts, including looming budget cuts and a major rethink of its funding system.

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C21INVESTIGATES: Launching on YouTube Broadcasters are rushing to put original content on YouTube, but digital natives have some stark warnings about what works for the platform’s young audience.

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: Disney+ EMEA Disney+ hopes to treble its local originals within three years. Content chief Angela Jain and her team explain how. COUNTRYFILE: French export woes French distributors have reacted strongly to a sharp drop in audiovisual exports, as fears grow of a shortage of new programming. NEXT BIG THINGS: 21 on 21 C21’s selection of the 21 trend-setting new Mipcom shows you can’t afford to miss.

DRAMA

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: Rai Fiction New windowing opportunities with major streamers, international copros and a hunt for original contemporary series are on the cards for the Italian broadcaster.

OF THE CURVE: Microdrama 52 AHEAD As the vertical video format spreads

globally, new platforms are attempting to redefine the microdrama and elevate it from its low-budget, salacious roots.

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: Filmin The Spanish streamer needs originals that appeal to younger movie and series lovers as well as acquisitions.

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: A+E Global Media Elaine Frontain Bryant wants both longform and shortform content for A+E’s Lifetime, A&E and LMN.

6 0 PARTNER CONTENT: Spain

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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Faith programming From Prime Video and Wonder Project to ITV Studios, new and established players are betting on faith-and-values content.

MEXICO SPECIAL EDITION

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CONTENTS & UPFRONT FUNDAMENTALS: Mexican tax credit A new federal incentive is set to help the country attract big-budget productions.

OF THE CURVE: Mexican M12 AHEAD production

The pros and cons of growth as Lat Am producers set up shop in the country.

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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Melodrama How Mexican producers are setting out to reinvent melodrama.

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FACTUAL

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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: True crime True crime is the most commissioned doc subgenre worldwide, but broadcasters and streamers are moving beyond murder mysteries.

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: WBD Italy As PSKY’s takeover of Warner Bros Discovery edges closer, the latter’s five Italian linear channels remain a priority.

LEADERSHIP: Steve 14 5 THOUGHT MacDonald

The A+E Global Media exec on Hearst’s big buyout and attracting Hollywood stars to factual.

OF THE CURVE: 24/7 formats M21 AHEAD A boom in 24/7 reality is turning Mexico into a testing ground for innovation.

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ANALYTICS: Mexico in numbers Recovery in the streaming market.

M29 CONTENT STRATEGIES: TelevisaUnivision M3 3 CONTENT STRATEGIES: TV Azteca M3 7 CONTENT STRATEGIES: Prime Video M4 0 CONTENT STRATEGIES: Netflix M4 4 DEVELOPMENT SLATE: TIS Studios M4 6 DEVELOPMENT SLATE: Máquina Vega M50 DEVELOPMENT SLATE: THR3 Media M55 DEVELOPMENT SLATE: Punta Fina Studios M57 NEXT BIG THINGS: Mexico Fernando Rovzar M6 2 PERSPECTIVE: The Lemon Studios exec discusses how Mexican content rediscovered quality.

CONTENT STRATEGIES: 5 PSKY has a three-year investment plan for its UK broadcaster, according to its boss Ben Frow. What is he after now he has a bit of cash to throw around?

FORMATS

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Marco Bassetti The Banijay exec is urging European industry leaders to join him in pushing back against global streamers to protect the region’s formats industry.

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NEXT BIG THINGS: Treasure Box Japan Japan’s leading broadcasters have once again come together to show off their wildest and most promising formats at Mipcom.

STRATEGIES: ITV 155 CONTENT The forthcoming merger of Sky and ITV is making its way through regulatory approval, but in the meantime the latter’s long-serving controller Kevin Lygo says it’s business as usual for commissioning.

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PRESENT IMPERFECT FUTURE TENSE Producer and journalist Malak Aldean on how the pursuit of virality has led us into a cultural black hole and why she fears most of us won’t be able to crawl out.

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: BBC

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

BBC battles on While its legal scrap with President Trump makes headlines, the BBC is fighting on many other fronts at home, facing looming budget cuts and a major rethink of its funding system. So what’s content chief Kate Phillips’ strategy? By Clive Whittingham

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hese are testing times for the BBC. I t remains mired in a U S$ 1 0 bn legal battle in Florida ov er a clumsy edit of President Donald Trump’ s infamous J anuary 6 speech. I ts licence fee funding model appears to be approaching collapse – new director- general M att Brittin has branded it “unfit” and oated a household levy as an alternativ e. A mol R aj an, a former host of BBC R adio 4’ s agship Today programme, has warned it is “screwed” if it can’t find an alternative, as the number of licence fee refuseniks in a div ided population grows, and has suggested turning the broadcaster into a public serv ice mutual organisation. Former G oogle ex ec Brittin has said ev en the corporation’s agship iPlayer on-demand service has fallen behind its riv als and wants to change it into “iPlayer . ,” a sort of sovereign ouTube carrying user-generated content under BBC guidelines curated by a “public serv ice algorithm.” As for the real ouTube, the pubcaster plans to launch 5 0 - plus channels on the platform as it continues to fight for prominence. M eanwhile, 1 0 % of the corporation’ s workforce will hav e to go amid plans to cut £ 5 0 0 m ( U S$ 6 74m) from its budget, while sev eral popular and long- running shows hav e been ax ed. G ood luck to K ate Phillips, then, who replaced Charlotte Moore as chief content officer last summer. Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festiv al in A ugust, Phillips reiterated that as part of the £ 5 0 0 m worth of sav ings that would hav e to be made ov er the nex t three years she has been personally charged with shav ing £ 1 0 0 m off the content bill in the nex t year. “We do hav e to make sav ings; we’ re being v ery transparent about that,” Phillips said. “The BBC has got to sav e £ 5 0 0 m ov er the nex t three years. I n content, I ’ v e been charged with £ 1 0 0 m in the nex t year, which is tough. “U nlike some other departments in the BBC, our internal headcount is a v ery small part of our spend; the maj ority of our spend is with the indies in this room

and beyond. We are working v ery hard to minimise that impact, but there will be fewer hours and we will be looking v ery carefully at what we commission and what it does for the audience.” N ev ertheless, BBC O ne is still capable of pulling big numbers – 8 .7 million v iewers for the return of The N ig ht M anag er in scripted, 1 5 .4 million for the Celebrity Traitors finale and, of course, 24 million to watch England’ s latest Fifa World Cup disappointment at the hands of A rgentina. Phillips also pointed out that the corporation remains the U K ’ s biggest commissioner of original content and is in the market for new ideas and to work with new companies. “We are still the biggest commissioner in the U K by  Recent B B C sitcom success A nn D roid

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Reinvention happens all the time in our industry and never has it moved at a faster pace than it is at the moment, so we absolutely need not just to survive but to thrive.

Kate Phillips BBC

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: BBC

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

Matt B rittin – mulling alternatives to the B B C licence fee

B B C sp y drama The Night Manager brought in an imp ressive audience

Picture: Des Willie

a country mile,” Phillips said. “We commissioned more than 3 0 0 indies last year, 5 6 of them new indies. We spent £ 1 .5 bn on original content. The numbers will change a bit, but we are still open for business. I ’ m ex cited about what’ s coming and I do genuinely think there is a lot of opportunity across all genres and at all lev els.” M eanwhile, the BBC is mov ing ahead with an ambitious Y ouTube strategy that is seeing it commission original content for the platform for the first time. Rolling commissioning briefs are in the field for documentary channel Deepwatch as well as a channel for more light- hearted formats fare, with the working title Showground. Six indies are being sought to go into paid dev elopment ahead of a M arch 20 27 launch, while a head of multiplatform commissioning is also being sought. “Reinvention happens all the time in our industry and nev er has it mov ed at a faster pace than it is at the moment, so we absolutely need not j ust to surv iv e but to thriv e,” Phillips said. “The BBC has been on Y ouTube for 20 - odd years, but it has been more of a marketing tool and now it is about making specific commissions for that platform. “I t’ s a great platform but it is only one platform that we use – the BBC has this great ecosystem of linear driv ing iPlayer, iPlayer driv ing linear, digital driv es iPlayer and back and forth. “We want to be on Y ouTube because we need to go to where the audience is. I t’ s simpler for us to be on Y ouTube as a non- commercial broadcaster, but what I am conscious about is what it means for indies and their business models. For us, it’ s a great chance to reach younger audiences but also getting attribution that it is BBC content, because Y ouTube is a platform not a commissioner and we want to bring people back to our platforms as well.” Phillips believ es the public broadcaster is still “too

Northern I rish p olice drama B lue Lights

London- centric” and wants to push more decision making out of the capital to build on the success of shows like N orthern I rish police drama Blue L ig hts. G enre commissioners will be placed in each nation and spend will be concentrated on “high- impact portrayal.” “We’ v e got a great heritage of brilliant shows from the nations and regions, but we want to actually hav e nations commissioners sitting with the local teams and network commissioners going to the nations more, so people don’ t hav e to keep coming to London,” Phillips said. “I know people are wary of the changes and hav e q uestions, but I honestly believ e it’ s the way we’ re going to get bigger shows and make bigger impact. I don’ t ex pect those indies to j ust tell local stories. Why couldn’ t the nex t Traitors come from Scotland? ” Former N BCU niv ersal ex ec Ed H av ard has been hired as director of entertainment and Belfast- based Fiona Campbell was promoted to director of factual as part of a restructure of the unscripted business. Poppy Dixon is mov ing across from Sky to head documentaries, while N ev ine M abro is the new Storyv ille editor, as the acclaimed feature doc strand prepares to celebrate 3 0 years on air in 20 27. H av ard, who j oined Phillips on stage in Edinburgh, has inherited a slate of 1 3 0 titles and 2,0 0 0 hours across the entertainment portfolio, with a reboot of Top G ear soon to be added. “There’ s real momentum there and it prov ides a great opportunity to launch new shows,” he said. “I would lov e to see what we can do with realtime reality, maybe a big relationship show in that space, or what we can do with ev ents and liv e, which is a superpower of the BBC. We’ re also looking at what we can do with Saturday night. I t might feel like we’ re well set but the opportunities are there and we’ ll be talking to indies about a new iPlayer strategy.” There has been limited recent success in dating – Stranded on H oneym oon I sland was dropped – but H av ard said the focus remains on “finding a big new dating series” despite duty- of- care concerns elsewhere, notably around Channel 4’ s M arried at F irst Sig ht. ht “Real-time dating reality would be a great thing for us to find,” he reiterated. “O ur welfare and duty of care are best in class and coming to the BBC I ’ v e seen how high those standards are. We’ v e j ust done four seasons of I 

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: BBC

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

K issed A… and that was testament to our protocols on dating shows, so I hav e no concerns in that regard. Don’ t think we’ re not open for business with dating. I t would be great for us to try and crack something. “Coming from the U S – where I was part of a team that brought L ov e I sland to N BCU niv ersal, which is now the number one show in the U S across streaming platforms – I ’ m v ery aware of what a dating show can do for a broadcaster.” Campbell, like Phillips, was also keen to point out the BBC has a content budget in ex cess of £ 1 bn a year despite the cuts. “A udience behav iours are changing so we want to be efficient in how we spend that money,” she said. “We’ re still commissioning a huge amount of content and there are opportunities on our slate for 20 27/ 28 , 20 28 / 29 and beyond.” She said her arts team is in the market for shows that “celebrate creativ ity and community, but v ery much across the U K , probably one grounded in one of the nations” alongside societal fears. “The tricky thing is figuring out what those are going to be in three years’ time,” Salt added. creating a liv e arts ev ent. “We also really want to find shows with iconic central I n religion, there’ s an appetite for strong singles that can get deep inside specific faiths and provoke debate. heroes and antiheroes; shows you name after the central Elsewhere in factual, six - part blue- chip documentary series character. They’ v e nailed that in comedy with shows like The Story of the M onarchy from 72 Films was greenlit as L udw ig and Ann D roid – shows with iconic leads who you remember as well as the show.” part of a driv e for history pieces that are “gripping, dramaWhat terms those commissions may be on has also like and of real scale, with impact beyond the U K .” “We’ re always open to new conv ersations about history been up for debate this year. Brittin sparked alarm when he suggested a rev iew of the country’ s terms of trade is formats,” Campbell added. “We hav e W ho D o Y ou Think Y ou Are? , which is phenomenally successful. H istory is ov erdue, with Ex pectation’ s Tim H incks saying changes would driv e smaller indies to the broader than you think. These shows I would love to see wall and producers’ association Pact do v ery well on iPlayer. Factual content pushing back against any meddling. has gone up 20 % on the serv ice and we what we can do The BBC has since sought to hav e a billion v iewing hours on there.” with real-time reality, reassure producers it is not seeking I n natural history, ov erseen by J ack maybe a big relationship radical changes to the terms, which Bootle, there is a lot of thought being guarantee I P stays with its creator giv en to new talent pipelines and “the show in that space, or and hav e helped build the country’ s broadest shows we can use to ex cite what we can do with production industry since their people about natural history, animals events and introduction in 20 0 3 . and the env ironment,” said Campbell. live, which is a Brittin said: “I t’ s not a priority for me “Talk to J ack’ s team about new formats superpower of in the near term to do anything rather and storytelling dev ices.” the BBC. different from where we are today.” Scripted commissioning is led by H owev er, the mega- merger between director of drama Lindsay Salt, who has Ed Havard Banij ay and A ll3 M edia has created seen shows such as crime family drama BBC an organisation that qualifies as an This City I s O urs enj oy success of late independent producer under the terms and is keen to keep the momentum going. “We’d love to find a really epic, juicy, contemporary while posting larger rev enues than the BBC itself. “Matt has come into the BBC and quite rightly looked at family saga,” Salt said. “It’s difficult to get right. We have read quite a few and ev erything we do, and the terms of trade were set a long they often start with the father dying, with an inheritance time ago,” Phillips added. “We’ re in early discussions, but we are v ery committed story and the siblings scrapping. It would be lovely to find another story engine. There’ s often a big ending for one to the principles of the terms of trade. Producers should of the characters, but for these to work you need rich own their I P, and the BBC allows that, so we’ re still the best character-led storytelling for all the characters. Specificity is place to come to. But there is a wider conv ersation to be our superpower. What is the world? Where is it set? M ake had about a definition of indies that is very old-fashioned and outdated now. The principles of the terms of trade, I ’ m that really specific.” M ore broadly, Salt wants stories that confront shared pretty sure, will remain.”

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A bove: 15. 4 million view ers w atched the Cele rit Traitors nale eft Crime drama This City I s O urs

C21INVESTIGATES: Launching on YouTube

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

Race to the Top follow s the tak eover of D agenham & Redbridge Football Club by Y ouTuber K SI

The algorithm method I

f I had a dollar for every time YouTube has been mentioned at a TV conference this year, I’d probably have enough to buy the platform from Google and rig its algorithm to show you only videos of Trevor Sinclair’s bicycle kick (look it up). In answer to the question, “Where did all our audience and advertisers go?” the unanimous conclusion seems to be, “Over there.” Consequently, a platform that was once considered something of a parasite is now a darling of the event scene. Be it Mipcom hosting the platform’s 20th anniversary celebrations last year, or Edinburgh TV Festival this year affording it a commissioner spotlight session despite it not commissioning anything, YouTube has dominated discussions at Sheffield Doc/Fest, Sunny Side of the Doc and everywhere else in between in 2026. Research from Digital i found YouTube has overtaken Netflix in average daily viewing time across 20 international markets, with average daily viewing for each YouTube account increasing from 87.2 minutes in 2024 to 99.1 minutes in 2025. Meanwhile, Netflix’s fell from 100.5 minutes to 93.4 minutes. Legacy UK broadcasters such as Channel 4 and Sky Sports have long been moving in its direction with ventures like

Broadcasters are rushing to put original content on YouTube, but digital natives have some stark warnings about what does and doesn’t work for the platform’s young audience. By Clive Whittingham Channel 4.0 or series like Scenes. They’re now being joined by the BBC, which has an ambition to launch more than 50 YouTube channels by early 2027. The smaller budgets and quicker turnaround of factual and unscripted make them a natural starting point for YouTube content. The BBC now has a rolling commissioning brief out for Deepwatch, a documentary channel aimed at 16-24s exploring the people, communities and experiences shaping the UK. Films should be at least 25 minutes long with an indicative tariff of £50,000 (US$68,000) and look at online culture/digital worlds, hidden systems and underworlds and/or coming-of-age stories. Deepwatch has since been joined by Showground (working title), a channel for unscripted comedy entertainment formats. Natives of the video-sharing platform say this approach, however overdue, could miss the mark. Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, UK digital-first prodco After Party Studios’ CEO Joshua Barnett and creator James Duncan (better

known as one half of podcasting duo ShxtsnGigs) both sounded notes of caution about the UK pubcaster’s strategy. “It’s a move they have to make. Better late than never,” Barnett said. “The biggest fear with the BBC on YouTube is they approach it like TV commissioning. With 50 channels they’ve got to work hard and get the right people in place with the right skillset and really think about the audience first. If they commission like TV, you worry they’re going to miss the audience while creating vanilla, middle-of-theroad content that doesn’t reach an audience. For me, they have to double down on the audience they’re trying to reach to have the best chance of success.” Duncan added: “It’s all about the strategy. Channel 4 takes the strategy of getting everyday creators, not topof-their-game creators. Amazon has Beast Games with MrBeast, who is the biggest creator on the planet. For traditional broadcasters to move into the YouTube space, the talent 

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The biggest fear with the BBC on YouTube is they approach it like TV commissioning. With 50 channels they’ve got to work hard and get the right people in place with the right skillset and really think about the audience first. Joshua Barnett After Party Studios

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C21INVESTIGATES: Launching on YouTube

they need to be working with to make an impact has to be impactful creators.” There’s also been a certain amount of bewilderment online that the indepth and on-point brief the BBC supplied for Deepwatch stipulates that to produce for the channel, a producer requires a BBC TV commission, or a commission from another major UK broadcaster or streamer, in the past three years – ruling out plenty of digital-first startups. Start-ups and individual digital creators are also eligible to pitch, but only if they partner with an established production company that can meet the BBC’s production, compliance, duty-of-care and delivery requirements. At Sunny Side of the Doc in June, documentary maker Ben Zand gave a keynote address that explored the differences between storytelling on TV and online. Zand became frustrated with the traditional commissioning process while working in factual at the BBC and has gone on to set up his own indie, Zandland. The London- and Liverpool-based company is rolling out stranger-than-fiction-style docs under a strand called Human on a Zandland YouTube channel launched at the end of last year. It has also made current affairs docs for UK broadcaster ITV, such as Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War and Inside Iran: War & Revolution. Speaking to C21 in La Rochelle, Zand said traditional television shouldn’t think that simply bunging all its content on YouTube will solve its problems. It’s the development process, as much as anything, that needs fixing, and by becoming a selfpublisher on video-sharing platforms producers can avoid this costly part of the old model. He said: “If you can sum up the issues with the industry, it’s the development process. Running a development team is the least productive aspect of the business. It costs the most money and it’s pure overheads. You’re generating ideas for somebody else and most of the time they’re stalling. You have no capacity to determine your own future. It’s not like Apple saying, ‘We’ll produce X number of iPhones and make this margin.’ You can’t do that at all; you’re at the mercy of people with

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

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If you can sum up the issues with the industry, it’s the development process. Running a development team is the least productive aspect of the business. It costs the most money and it’s pure overheads. Ben Zand Zandland

their own priorities. The biggest flip with Zandland is getting rid of that process.” After Party, like Zandland, has done very well for itself as a conduit between the old world and the new. Its reward for the success of projects like sports-focused docuseries Scenes for Sky Sports and Channel 4.0 series Don’t Get Catfished and Hear Me Out came in April when Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone’s Sister Group acquired a majority stake in the business. Established a decade ago by YouTuber Callum McGinley (aka Callux), CEO Barnett, Base79 founder Richard Mansell and director Ben Doyle, the company specialises in digital-first, creatorled football entertainment and docuseries. Its projects include Inside Neymar Jr’s World, Red Bull Ultimate Football Challenge and documentary series Race to the Top, following the takeover of Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club by YouTuber KSI (Olajide Olatunji). At SXSW London in June, McGinley was at pains to point out that the importance of production values has dropped through the floor. Meanwhile, Doyle said many brands and

channels still giving it the “like and subscribe” chat haven’t clocked subtle changes in YouTube’s algorithm, where homepage discovery is now more important than a chunky subscriber number. McGinley said: “Quality content used to mean, ‘What did you shoot on? What studio were you in? What talent were you using?’ Now it’s more, ‘How are you engaging the audience? How are you keeping them until the end of the video? Are you delivering on the promises that you set out at the beginning?’ It’s something we’ve worked tirelessly to do over the last few years. The audience is smart – they don’t care about production quality. They care about authenticity and good ideas.” “Audience behaviour is changing,” Doyle added. “If you’re a brand that has a channel with a couple of hundred thousand subscribers, or even 

Channel 4 . 0 series on t Get Cat shed

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C21INVESTIGATES: Launching on YouTube

A fter P arty p rojects I nside Ney mar Jr’s W orld ( above) and Red B ull Ultimate Football Challenge ( right)

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The YouTube algorithm loves new channels. If you make a channel that breaks all the rules, focuses on the audience, brings fresh energy, it will perform so much better because it will hit the homepage as new content and catch a new audience. Callum McGinley After Party

one to two million subscribers from the good old days, but your videos are getting 2,000 views, then delete that channel. You don’t have two million subscribers, you have 1,000. Delete it and start again. “It’s like having a mate who’s really bad at recommending restaurants. One might be a miss but by the time you’ve had multiple bad recommendations, you’re never listening to them again, and that’s how the algorithm views your channel. “You’re far better off killing the channel and starting a new one. The YouTube algorithm loves new channels. If you make a channel that breaks all the rules, focuses on the audience, brings fresh energy, it will perform so much better because it will hit the homepage as new content and catch a new audience, and you can run from there.” McGinley said another common mistake is running “one channel supplying 100 things.” He advised: “Have one series, one idea and do it really well in one place. If you have a good piece of content, then next week it’s a trailer or an interview or a brand piece, you’ve got everybody here and the minute you serve them something they don’t want, you’ve broken the connection and link. If you deliver, that’s where you start seeing growth. The algorithm makes its mind up in that first 1,000 views.” Rather than something that is experienced by everyone at once, Doyle believes brands need to chase a smaller, engaged audience with authentic content. “Monoculture is dead,” he said. “If you’re invested in that as a brand you may as well set the money on fire. Chase authenticity, find a small audience at the beginning that really buys into what your brand ethos is and what they want to see. Invest in that and build that community.” That algorithm change points to the problem former Channel 4 commissioner-turned-media analyst

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

Jen Topping raised at Sunny Side. Topping pointed out that big tech companies can pivot and change direction at will, and often on a whim. Topping’s presentation showed YouTube shares about 55% of revenue with creators (less for Shorts), and it took US$40bn in ad revenue last year. Meanwhile, it’s increasingly being stated that ‘YouTube is TV, TV is YouTube,’ with over 50% of its viewing last year taking place on traditional television sets in markets such as the US and UK. Netflix, whose deals with producers are far more lucrative, had revenues of US$45bn in 2025, made up of both its subscriptions and ads. But Meta – and more to the point Instagram – pay their creators vanishingly small amounts and made over US$196bn from advertising last year. Instagram recently announced it would be expanding its Reels product into longform and on to connected TVs. So will YouTube stay as it is now? Will it move more towards that Netflix model? Or might people banking on it for their future right now suddenly find it deciding to be more like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta? This could be a scary proposition if you’ve just dived headlong into sticking all your content on there. Perhaps you can see why former Google exec and now BBC directorgeneral Matt Brittin is keener on the idea of turning iPlayer into a “sovereign streamer” of usergenerated content curated by a “public service algorithm,” which is “not biased towards the incentives of a US tech company or commercial interests.” After all, he would know better than most. At Sheffield Doc/Fest the concerns were, perhaps understandably at

a traditional documentary conference, more old-school. John McVay, former CEO of producers’ trade association Pact, among others, said the rush to YouTube would harm producers’ rights position in the long run. Debra Zimmerman, executive director of US non-profit Women Make Movies, said: “Putting our hopes in the hands of a commercial company like YouTube scares me. “We did [true crime doc] The Perfect Neighbor, which got a deal for US$6m with Netflix. How many other films did Netflix buy? Very few. On the other hand, there are channels. We have Paramount coming up; Discovery and Nat Geo had more than 200 hours of documentaries in the past year. “I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The pressure is to give up those rights. I’m curious what the revenue model is. I’d love to be able to work that into what we’re doing in terms of supporting careers. Festivals do build careers, awards build careers and they make it possible for filmmakers to get money to make their next film.” Josh Reynolds, exec producer at Zandland, said on the same panel that publishing content on YouTube is no longer a barrier to traditional distribution or a theatrical release. He said: “If your documentary lives on YouTube first and you think you’ve missed [the opportunity for a theatrical release] then I wouldn’t lose hope. Zandland gets approached now by a lot of distributors who don’t mind that our docs are already on YouTube; they can find homes for them. Two hours ago, I had lunch with a distributor who said she didn’t care the doc is on YouTube; she knew people who want to buy it. “When Ben and I started doing this, it was a very different conversation. If it’s on YouTube, you have to geo-block it. Those conversations are starting to change and people are waking up to the fact that just because it’s on YouTube doesn’t mean people won’t watch it elsewhere.” Scan here to read C21iNSIGHT at C21Media.net and discover what content the BBC is looking for to supply its new YouTube channel Deepwatch.

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: Disney+ EMEA

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

Tripling down Disney+ wants to treble the number of its local originals within three years. Angela Jain, the streamer’s head of content for EMEA, and her team explain how they plan to get there. By Clive Whittingham

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n a quarterly earnings call this summer, Disney outlined plans to “roughly triple” the volume of international originals carried on Disney+ over the next three years, following the success of local titles like UK period dramedy Rivals, Spanish-language drama Dear Killer Nannies and Korean romcom The Perfect Crown. Announcing the company’s third-quarter earnings, CEO Josh D’Amaro said Disney wants to “bring local content on to Disney+ at scale,” adding that, outside the US, “subscribers that watch our international originals churn far less than those that don’t.” Overall, the media giant is set to spend around US$24bn on content this year across originals, licensed content and sports, up slightly from the previous year. Then, in August, Disney+ used the Edinburgh TV Festival to announce a clutch of original commissions from its EMEA team, led by romantic comedy-drama Mad Love (working title), documentary Breaking Spencer Matthews, following the TV personality’s seven-continent triathlon challenge, and a second season of comedy Alice & Steve. “We’ve not actually been commissioning local originals for that long,” says Angela Jain, who was hired a year ago from ITV Studios as head of content at Disney+ EMEA. “While our range is good, it could be bigger. When I arrived the ratio of scripted to unscripted was very much in favour of scripted and while we’re going to do more of everything, we do want to rebalance that and do some more unscripted so it increases the frequency of the shows on the service,” she adds. A first-look deal with Stephen Graham and Hannah Walters’ Matriarch Productions has been signed and Jain is making the usual noises about having money to spend and wanting to be a good partner to an embattled production community. “First and foremost, this is about relationships, so hopefully we’re a fun place and nice people to work with,” she says. “We’ll give honest and direct feedback. What I can say unequivocally is I’m very lucky to have a team that care wholeheartedly about what they do. Being great partners is an important part of wanting to work with Disney+. We’ve got ambitions to do more and there are lots of areas we’re not quite in and see as opportunities.

“Nearly 40% of our viewers are 16- to 34-year-olds, so that’s clearly an opportunity for us to deliver them more local originals. Hopefully, we can approach the brightest and very best talent.” Jain says working with the best and brightest talent, whether that’s from a big established company or a small new one, is one way she judges success. Another is the talkability of the show – content that can draw attention and sell subscriptions. Doc Don’t Look Back in Anger, about 90s rock band Oasis’s reunion tour, from Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight, has certainly done that. Jain’s team is UK-based and responsible for that market, but the role expands across seven other European markets. The shows sit alongside a huge range of films and series from the US market via Disney, Hulu, FX, Marvel, Pixar, Nat Geo and others. The drama and comedy side is led by Lee Mason, VP of scripted for Disney+ EMEA, who has a success on his slate in UK period drama Rivals, which has been greenlit for a third season. “It was a big play for us. I don’t think anybody was sure that would work but it has worked. We’re really proud of it and it’s amazing to see people love it,” Mason says. “It’s fun, it’s a bit sexy, it’s funny, it’s really good storytelling. It gets on my nerves when people call it a ‘guilty pleasure’ because it’s a hard show to make and the writing is exceptional. “In everything we look at and we’ve commissioned lately it’s about pushing ourselves all the time. 

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Being great partners is an important part of wanting to work with Disney+. We’ve got ambitions to do more and there are lots of areas we’re not quite in and see as opportunities. Angela Jain Disney+

Rivals was ‘a big play for Disney+

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: Disney+ EMEA

Ev ery commissioner wants something that feels original, distinctiv e and all those sorts of things, but for us it is about finding shows people are passionate about and that they want to fight for. We’re trying to do something a bit different, look at stories from a different point of view, be a bit cheeky and surprising. That works for us it helps create noise around particular shows and genres. “We get things that tick all the boxes in terms of strategy, but if nobody in the room loves it we’re not going to do it. We are going to be commissioning more and that’s going to be the challenge: to maintain the high bar as we commission more and more shows.” To that end, Mason has greenlit D ad, a sibling/ family comedy from A 24 where the point of difference is that the dad is a murderer. When it comes to his wish list, Mason says: “With us wanting to do more it provides us an opportunity to think about broader audiences and not hav e one show doing so much work. We’ll look more at young audiences – 1 6 s. It’s not a pivot and we won’t be absolutely focused on young adults, but we’re thinking more and more about how we serve that audience. “There are certain areas we don’t rush to develop in anything in the scifi, fantasy, superhero space is already quite well catered for on Disney+. We’re always thinking about how our originals are additiv e and sit alongside what’s available except if there’s a clev er way of using those genres to tell a story you wouldn’t expect to see from some of our studios.” Sean Doyle is P of unscripted at Disney+ EMEA, handling factual and formats. His commissioning slate made plenty of headlines last year, including a reboot of classic IT format Blind D ate and a follow-along series with Wayne and Coleen Rooney, which are now coming to air. Doyle commissions into three “buckets,” led by “true story” programmes, which he describes as “unscripted thrillers.” He explains: “These are human stories with twists and turns, emotional touch points for a broader audience, but not in the world of true crime which ev eryone else is doing.” Examples include Coleen R ooney – The R eal W ag atha Christie Story, Caroline F lack : Search F or The Truth and the feature- length D uf f y. “We get pitched a lot of ideas that this or that celeb wants to do this,” Doyle says. “But with all of those commissions, they would be happening with or without a camera there. Duffy was genuinely sitting at her kitchen table writing about what happened to her. Oasis were getting back together. Spencer Matthews was going to Everest with or without Disney+. “We have moved into true crime now. We’ve seen it come over from the US and perform really well we’ve got The D ev il in M y D M s from Lightbox in production and will do some more in that area.” Bucket number two is a popular one among the streamers: sports entertainment, sports-adjacent content, access to sports stars and teams. “I inherited the David Beckham series Sav e O ur Sq uad and an access doc at [ R otterdam football club Feyenoord, but we’re doing more,” Doyle

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

says. “We’re trying to innovate with ideas. The Overlap’s Stick To F ootball with G ary N ev ille was brilliant those boys were a joy to work with. We’ve got Max erstappen taking on people in the world’s biggest ever go-kart race around Silv erstone [ M ax v s 1 0 0 . We want to do more and we’re open to ideas.” The third and final bucket to pitch for is “entertaining Picture: Matt Stone unscripted.” Disney+ is in the market for what Doyle describes as “big, juggernaut, A-list access pieces that can sustain an eight- to -part series,” such as Castle M an, with Celebrity Traitors winner A lan Carr, and The R eal R ooneys, about the former footballer and his family. “It’s about the right story as opposed to who the person is,” Doyle adds. “We want people who really resonate with the audience and people absolutely love, but crucially have interesting stories to tell. Alan Carr really is buying a castle ” Jain adds: “ We want names that don’t need much explanation, people you’ve heard of and want to spend time with to see what makes them tick. In the end, the Rooneys are a family and anybody who has a family can relate to the kids rolling their eyes when you’re trying to be serious. Relatability and storytelling are important.” Of course, the Blind D ate reboot, to be hosted by Maura Higgins, doesn’t really fit into any of these buckets. Doyle says his team is developing in formats and wants to do more but finds it an incredibly crowded market. “We get pitched a lot of dating formats,” he says. “We’re still relativ ely new to the market and dating is such a crowded market with so many great shows out there that launching a brand new one was risky for an audience that is still getting to know us.” Blind D ate “is head- turning and giv es us a real clarity of tone,” he adds. Ang ela J ain, L ee M ason and Sean D oyle w ere sp eak ing at the E dinburg h TV F estiv al in Aug ust.

Top : A lice & Steve is returning for a second run. A bove: O bs doc series The Real Rooney s. Left: B reak ing Sp encer Matthew s follow s the TV p ersonality ’s triathlon challenge

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NEW LOCATION STAND P4.C18B

COUNTRYFILE: French export woes

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

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hile French distributors were braced for a correction in this year's export figures, the scale of the slump was stark when it was confirmed by the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée (CNC) and Unifrance at the latter's Rendez-Vous in Le Havre in September. International sales of French audiovisual programmes dipped to €164.2m (US$191m) in 2025, down 21.6% on 2024 and the lowest total in a decade, according to a report from the CNC and Unifrance. It marks a sharp reversal from 2024, when sales reached a record €209.6m. The decline was across the board. Fiction, still the strongest export genre, dropped 27% year-on-year to €54.9m. Animation fared worse, down 30.3% to €32.2m – its lowest level since 2009. Documentary proved the most resilient, slipping just 2.7% to €43.1m. Speaking on a distributors' panel at the market, Morgann Favennec, deputy MD of Mediatoon Distribution and VP of international finance at Ellipse Animation, two divisions of the entertainment group Média-Participations, put it bluntly: "The market is back to roughly 2015 levels, wiping out 10 years of growth." A declining TV advertising market, budget cuts at public broadcasters worldwide, fewer commissions and a broader retreat toward domestic content amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty are all being blamed for what is being described as a crisis that everyone saw coming. Julie Tolza, head of the documentary division at Paris prodco Seventine and VP of French distributors' body

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I’m not surprised, unfortunately, by these figures – we’ve been warning about this situation for a while, and it only confirms the current state of the crisis.

Julie Tolza Seventine

Miraculous World Tokyo Stellar Force is part of the successful Miraculous franchise

‘We’re heading for a shortage’ SEDPA, said: "I'm not surprised, unfortunately, by these figures – we've been warning about this situation for a while, and it only confirms the current state of the crisis." Ulrich Lagriffoul, deputy head of international sales for scripted content at Mediawan Rights, argued the underlying problem is not that rights have become less valuable, but that fewer valuable titles are coming to market at all. "There isn't fundamentally a drop in the value of rights," he said. "There's a drop in the volume of programmes that have value, and revenue is concentrating on less content than before." Lagriffoul was direct about what

French distributors have reacted strongly to a sharp drop in audiovisual export sales, with the past 10 years of growth said to have been "wiped out" amid fears of a potential shortage of new programming. By Louise Bateman

lies ahead for sellers of local fiction: "French distributors will have less product to distribute in 2026, and 2027 doesn't look promising either. We're heading for a shortage of French programmes – there won't be enough to feed the market or sustain current figures." The secondary market, which once provided a reliable revenue floor, is "really shrinking," he said, "except for procedurals, which keep performing. Procedurals have a much longer shelf life than other series, which increasingly struggle to find a second or third broadcaster after their first run today." He pointed to hyper-distribution, with content distributed simultaneously across a range of outlets, often alongside direct competitors, as the reason that the secondary market has collapsed. Compounding the problem is the ever-shrinking scope of rights, Lagriffoul said. "Rights nowadays [are] often tied to the country u

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REALITY SHOWS

COUNTRYFILE: French export woes

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

of origin, frequently locked up systematically by the home channel – and that's increasingly the case." In addition, the standoff created by broadcasters' and distributors' opposing needs remains an issue. "There's a general tension between our clients' desire for exclusivity and distribution needs," Lagriffoul said. "There's nothing simple about it, and I haven't found a solution to it yet." Animation's decline is showing tentative signs of bottoming out, according to Favennec, though from a much-reduced base. "The decline is stabilising – that's a good thing," she said, though she also pointed to what she calls "the brutality of the decline," including in presales, which

brands – new seasons of existing franchises – at the expense of original IP. "We obviously need to keep consolidating the strong existing brands with new seasons, which is a good first step, but we also need to finance tomorrow's hits," Favennec added. "Unfortunately, we won't see that success by 2026, or even 2027." One emerging opportunity she did note, however, is adult-skewing animation, a genre in which French producers are still building capability. Documentary's smaller decline masks a financing model under real strain, Tolza said. "Pre-financing has declined; our clients are now committing very late, which has made our role supporting producers

L-R: The CNC’s Cécile Lacoue, Unifrance’s Sarah Hemar, Julie Tolza, Ulrich Lagriffoul and Morgann Favennec

she said reflects a crisis of confidence among buyers. Ten years ago, she said, she would talk about distributors juggling release windows; today, that is no longer possible: "It's become fine needlework, and it takes more and more time." Presales across all genres were down 49.2% versus the decade average, and foreign pre-financing stood at €118.4m against a 10-year average of €136.9m – a gap that directly affects what gets made. Favennec framed the problem as one of timing as much as volume. "Development, financing and production timelines are extremely long," she explained. "It's about financing tomorrow's hits – I'm very glad to see [Mediawan and Zag's animated hit] Miraculous continuing to travel extremely well and represent France around the world. We're talking about titles created some years ago now. What matters today is financing tomorrow's hits, and we see the difficulty in financing original creations." The risk, she warned, is that the industry consolidates around proven

in completing their financing plans – themselves also shrinking – more difficult." Longstanding European cofinancing partnerships remain vital but are getting harder to negotiate, even in traditionally reliable territories. "Belgium is in first position – it's an important partner, Switzerland too – but these relationships are getting more complicated. We're seeing that first-run broadcast rights in these territories are subject to increasingly difficult negotiations," Tolza said. Her response has been to diversify the subject areas she brings to cofinancing partners – current affairs, science and history alongside more traditional strands – to keep multiple financing routes open at once. Tie-ups such as French commercial broadcaster TF1's carriage deal with Netflix and French public broadcaster France Télévisions' arrival on Prime Video have gobbled up further windows that distributors once sold domestically, according to Tolza, who noted: "There's no longer really a secondary market in France."

The CNC and Unifrance data bears that out: multi-zone rights fell 33.6% to €38.4m in 2025, with the report noting: "AVoD growth is not enough to compensate for scarcer lucrative multi-zone SVoD deals." Faced with these pressures, all three distributors agreed on a similar strategic response: tighter integration between producers and distributors, and a push to build broader coalitions with broadcasters. "The idea is really to strengthen the relationship between producers and distributors, to keep that collaboration going," said Lagriffoul. "I have the impression that today there's more willingness to move in that direction." Favennec and Tolza both wear the dual hats of producer and distributor – a model becoming less a competitive advantage than a survival requirement. "I embody that producer-distributor pairing myself, which has become a necessary condition," said Favennec. Tolza went further, arguing the pairing must now extend to a trio that includes the broadcaster. The panel also discussed the idea of going to market as a "French team," made up of producers, distributors and broadcasters presenting a unified front internationally. There is, Favennec noted, more candour in the room than there used to be: "There's never been so much straight talk between producers, distributors and TV channels, especially around French content obligations. Some don't hesitate to tell us they're struggling to find projects, or that they've found them but they don't go into production." That candour may be the most useful thing this year's crisis has produced so far. Whether it translates into what's needed to finance the next generation of French export hits, across animation, fiction and documentary, remains the central question for 2026 and beyond.

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French distributors will have less product to distribute in 2026, and 2027 doesn’t look promising either. We’re heading for a shortage of French programmes – there won’t be enough to feed the market or sustain the current figures. Ulrich Lagriffoul Mediawan Rights

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters (left) and TF1 CEO Rodolphe Belmer in Cannes in June 2025 after joining forces to bring TF1 to the streamer

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GOD KNEW IT TAKES TWO.

A GLOBAL AGENCY ORIGINAL

THE WORLD’S FIRST RELATIONSHIP COMPETITION THROUGH MUSIC

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NEXT BIG THINGS: 21 on 21

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

Catch in Cannes C21 has drawn together a selection of programmes likely to make an impact at this year’s Mipcom, ranging from a vampire sitcom and a documentary about Iran to a TV gameshow based on Wordle and a Stephen Fry spy drama set in DC.

Honey (6x60’) Producer: Sid G entle Films Distributor: Fifth Season They say: “A smart, playful and irresistible Cold War tale of an M I 6 agent drawn into a deadly and dysfunctional lov e triangle. When a 24- year- old assumes a deep- cov er identity in 1 9 8 0 s East Berlin, she ex plores a shadowy world of counterespionage and risky but intox icating relationships.” We say: This darkly comedic thriller for BBC O ne in the U K and Z DF in G ermany, set to receiv e its world premiere at M ipcom, comes from the makers of K illing E v e, e with fans of the spy thriller describing it as a “stealth preq uel” ex ploring the early M I 6 career of Fiona Shaw’ s iconic character, Carolyn M artens. Picture: J ames Stack

Eternally Yours (20x30’) Producer: CBS Studios Distributor: Paramount G lobal Content Distribution They say: “A family comedy centred around a v ampire couple whose once- passionate romance has dev olv ed into a pulseless marriage after 5 0 0 years together and whose routine is upended after their daughter starts dating a human.” We say: Set to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ in O ctober, this U S show comes from J oe Port and J oe Wiseman, ex ecutiv e producers and showrunners of CBS’ s popular remake of BBC hit G hosts, another comedy that has seen success by adding supernatural elements into the traditional sitcom mix .

Wordle (Format) Producers: U niv ersal Telev ision A lternativ e Studio, Electric H ot Dog, The N ew Y ork Times Distributor: N BCU niv ersal G lobal TV Distribution They say: “The N ew Y ork Times word game has been played billions of times and our goal is to create an eq ually addictiv e show. We wanted to honour the specific thrill of Wordle, the way people play and share their scores with each other, but also make something new for TV.” We say: This TV adaptation of the popular mobile game has been years in the making and will finally air on N BC nex t year, with Today’ s Sav annah Guthrie as host and contestants tasked with finding five-letter words in as few guesses as possible to try and win a cash priz e.

Crackhead (8x30’/format) Producer: Warner Bros I nternational Telev ision Production N ew Z ealand Distributor: Warner Bros I nternational Telev ision Production They say: “Dark, messy, and sharply funny, Crack head follows Frankie ( H olly Sherv ey) to rock bottom and leav es her facing the one person she has spent her whole life trying to escape: herself.” We say: This addiction- themed K iwi comedy drama has been getting rav e rev iews down under since launching on Three in N ew Z ealand and H BO M ax in A ustralia earlier this year thanks to its bold portrayal of a v olatile and complex woman’ s ex perience in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme.

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NEXT BIG THINGS: 21 on 21

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

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Committed (10x30’) Producers: Cameron Pictures, Fabel Productions Distributor: Fox Entertainment Global They say: “Brings together so many of the elements we value in great television: sharp writing, memorable characters and a unique love story that bridges cultures in a genuinely entertaining way.” We say: Co-created by Keith Martin, Gerry Dee and Tim Loane, this comedy from CBC in Canada, produced in association with BBC Northern Ireland, follows a recently divorced Canadian accountant who falls head over heels for a Northern Irish woman, sparking a classic fish-out-of-water story in an old-fashioned and eccentric rural village in County Down.

The Audacity (16x60’) Producers: Run River Films, Words Fail, AMC Studios Distributor: AMC Global Media They say: “Set inside the bubble of Silicon Valley, The Audacity takes on the warped dreams, outsized egos and ethical lapses of the self-styled inventors of the future.” We say: This AMC/AMC+ drama, created by Better Call Saul and Succession writer Jonathan Glatzer, expertly satirises the jaded billionaires and bio-hacked tech bros who want to control our lives and features a powerhouse ensemble including Billy Magnussen, Sarah Goldberg, Zach Galifianakis and Lucy Punch.

Picture: Peter Marley

AI: Probably Nothing To Worry About (1x90’) Producers: 72 Films, Windfall Films Distributor: Fremantle They say: “The definitive documentary on AI’s origins, told by the people who built it. A thrillerpaced reckoning with ambition, rivalry and the question that now haunts everyone: will artificial intelligence save humanity or destroy it?” We say: This ironically titled Channel 4 documentary arrives as fears over the ramifications of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence technology reach fever pitch and features candid testimony from AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Demis Hassabis as well as whistleblowers from inside OpenAI, who describe a technology outpacing every check meant to control it.

ICE: The Enemy Within (1x52’/80’) Producer: Everprod Distributor: Incognita Distribution They say: “Explores how US immigration police have increasingly become the armed wing of a political project, revealing the normalisation of state violence in the United States.” We say: Commissioned by France Télévisions and directed by Julie Peyrard and Christophe Astruc, this hard-hitting current affairs documentary looks at how president Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive use of US Immigration & Customs Enforcement has terrorised vulnerable communities.

The Interrogator (12x60’) Producers: Lionsgate Television, Fox Entertainment Studios Distributor: Lionsgate Television They say: “When conventional methods have failed, Henry’s quirky charm, superior intellect and mind-bending behavioural manoeuvres make him the only man able to lockpick the minds of the world’s most dangerous criminals.” We say: Fresh from his appearance on The Celebrity Traitors on the BBC last year, British national treasure Stephen Fry returns to US television to co-write, executive produce and star in this Washington DC-set spy drama from Fox, playing a former MI6 agent who has handpicked a team of brilliant outsiders to join his crime solving troupe.

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NEXT BIG THINGS: 21 on 21

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

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Lost City of Gold (2x45’) Producer: Blink Films Distributor: PBS Distribution They say: “A revelation-packed film with exclusive access to the African-led team as they uncover gold and other hidden treasures. Forensic analysis from world-renowned experts reveals a whole new understanding of a forgotten pre-colonial superpower and how colonialism wiped it from history.” We say: This landmark two-part documentary for The WNET Group in the US and European broadcaster Arte uncovers the largely unknown story of the southern African medieval city of Great Zimbabwe, once home to up to , people, which for decades historians claimed was too majestic and sophisticated to have been built by African people.

Picture: Robert iglasky

Inside Iran (1x70’) Producer: Zandland Distributor: TVF International They say: “A powerful and significant piece of work by people who have taken great risks to film and bear witness to events which have commanded the world’s attention all year. These are filmed voices we rarely hear from inside Iran: urgent, passionate, fearful and inspiring.” We say: A first-of-its-kind documentary that follows recent events in Iran before and after the outbreak of war, through unprecedented access to individuals on the ground narrating their stories in real time, directed by British-Iranian filmmaker Ben Zand.

Up To No Good (6x60’) Producers: Sony Pictures Television, Playground Distributor: Sony Pictures Television They say: “Nina and Moses Raine’s deliciously dark and witty world has drawn together a truly fantastic line-up and we’re excited for audiences to be introduced to Maud Oldcastle and the unforgettable characters surrounding her.” We say: Watching Glenn Close play a razor-sharp octogenarian killer hiding in plain sight is reason enough to tune in, but it’s the pitch black wit of siblings Nina and Moses Raine’s writing that should make this Channel thriller really stand out.

Reputation (6x60’) Producer: The Forge Distributor: Banijay Entertainment They say: “High-stakes, intoxicating and hugely entertaining, with a lot to say about the world. The brilliant Anya Reiss (Becoming Elizabeth, A Doll’s House) has created two lead characters for the ages.” We say: This audacious and glossy BBC One drama centres on a formidable lawyer Naomie Harris , who has built her career defending free expression as she gets pulled into the case of the decade representing a global pop star Christina Hendricks , after she releases a provocative new song accusing her ex-husband of abusive behaviour.

Droneland (6x45’) Producers: Iris Group, Syrreal Entertainment, Topkapi Series, Enter Film Distributor: New Regency They say: “In a world under constant surveillance, a troubled war veteran and an idealistic Europol agent form an unlikely duo to unravel a tech conspiracy threatening Europe and the very foundations of reality.” We say: Based on the internationally acclaimed sci-fi novel Drohnenland by Tom Hillenbrand, this dystopian thriller deals with hugely relevant themes around AI and hyper-surveillance and is arguably one of the most ambitious European scripted coproductions ever, made possible thanks to a coalition of public funds and major European broadcasters, including ZDF, MagentaT and ideoland.

Bulges (8x30’) Producers: LaRue Entertainment, Platonic Friends Productions Distributor: Sphere Abacus They say: “A workplace comedy that follows the lovably eccentric staff of an iconic, once-thriving, not-so-family-friendly Niagara Falls restaurant as they navigate friendship, complicated love lives, and ruthless cross-town rivals all while sporting booty shorts that are tight in all the right places.” We say: Canadian streamer Crave is still riding high on the success of Heated Rivalry and while this series is far more light-hearted than the steamy hockey drama, it could prove similarly popular online thanks to its distinct brand of raunchy, campy and chaotic humour.

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NEXT BIG THINGS: 21 on 21

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

The Trial of Alec Baldwin (1x111’) Producers: M ox ie Film s, Aperture M edia Partners, C ross C reek M edia, Indus Valley M edia, Radiant M edia Studios, Zoltana Film s Distributor: Blue Ant They say: “The film’s extraordinary access puts audiences in the room with Baldwin as k ey developm ents unfold, offering a rare perspective on how celebrity, m edia scrutiny and public perception shaped the case. It’ s a globally recognised story that will resonate with viewers who want to look beyond the headlines and better understand this com plex case.” W e say: This doc, from Rory K ennedy, follows the actor through the personal and legal fallout from the fatal shooting of cinem atographer H alyna H utchins on the set of R ust in 2 0 2 1 and the legal and m edia storm that followed.

Self-made Sisters (8x25’/format) Producer: Fish to Fish M edia Distributor: L ineup Industries They say: “This is The R eal H ousew iv es of Bev erly H ills m eets The Secret L iv es of M orm on W iv es - a com pelling series that highlights the challenges of forging an identity against the back drop of cultural norm s and ex pectations. These am bitious wom en are bonded by shared ex perience but divided by approach as each walk s their own path to success.” W e say: C om m issioned by N PO in the N etherlands, this contem porary docu- reality form at follows a group of am bitious wom en who are balancing the ex pectations of their Islam ic faith, their fam ily and com m unity with accom plished entrepreneurial careers.

Apocalypse (8x60’/ format)

Producers: The G arden, ITV Studios Australia Distributor: ITV Studios They say: “O rdinary people in an authentic urban setting face ex traordinary but com pletely credible challenges. W e’ ve all wondered how we would cope if disaster struck close to hom e and this series prom ises to give us a very good idea.” W e say: This am bitious reality show, a cocom m ission from C hannel 4 in the U K and Australian stream er Binge in which ordinary people m ust survive in an abandoned town for 2 8 days, trades desert islands and j ungles for a genuinely unsettling urban wasteland and shows what’ s possible when broadcasters com bine to com m it real scale and am bition to an unscripted form at.

Hidden Planet (5x60’) Producers: BBC Studios N atural H istory U nit, BBC Am erica, The O pen U niversity Distributor: BBC Studios They say: “W ithout insects, life on Earth, including our own, sim ply could not ex ist. C om bining cutting- edge science with bespok e robotic system s, specially designed lenses, and groundbreak ing im aging techniq ues, we reveal behaviours never filmed before many only recently discovered.” W e say: This BBC blue- chip natural history series builds on rem ark able advances in cam era technology pioneered by 2 0 2 2 ’ s The G reen P lanet to shed new light on the beautiful and dram atic lives of insects in unprecedented detail.

Car Crash: Who’s Lying? (4x60’) Producer: Sum m er Film s Distributor: H at Trick International They say: “An innovative real- life whodunnit, com bining ex traordinary access, con icting testimony and gripping twists as each investigation races to uncover who was really driving.” W e say: A fresh spin on the true crim e genre that puts viewers at the heart of fatal car crash investigations, with new revelations constantly challenging what the viewer think s they k now.

Blood & Sweat (8x60’) Producers: AX - O N , IC S N ordic Distributor: Boat Rock er Studios They say: “Though J apan and Finland are far apart, this proj ect has revealed unex pected cultural harm ony between the two. W ith a powerful original story and an outstanding cast from both countries, it’ s a uniq ue and wonderful collaboration.” W e say: C o- com m issioned by W owow (J apan) and N elonen (Finland), this crim e thriller pairs up detectives from J apan and Finland as they chase a cunning serial k iller and offers a new tak e on N ordic noir by splitting the action between Europe and Asia, with com pelling results.

CONTENT STRATEGIES: 5

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

Paramount Skydance has a three-year investment plan for its UK broadcaster 5, according to its long-serving and somewhat maverick boss Ben Frow. So what does he have his heart set on now he has a bit of cash to throw around? By Clive

Richard Madeley O n Murder Row – a strongly “ visual show ”

Whittingham

5’s funding windfall Y

ou would expect US media giant Paramount Skydance to be a bit distracted by its protracted and increasingly expensive takeover of Warner Bros Discovery to focus much on plucky UK broadcaster 5. However, it seems its commitment to 5 remains strong, despite many analysts predicting it would be dumped pronto after the Skydance merger. 5 boss and Paramount UK chief content officer Ben Frow used his appearance at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August to say he has had assurances around funding for 5’s pipeline over the coming years. “Paramount has been used to uncertainty; we had four years of uncertainty before Skydance. David Ellison and his team came in a few months ago and I was very impressed by them. He’s very passionate about content, creativity, movies and television. I do think we’re in good hands. I know there’s a lot of controversy around it, but that’s out of my remit,” said Frow. “We now have someone that really does believe in investing in us and the importance of public service broadcasting in the UK. I know for a fact we’ve got investment for the next three years, which will enable us to make more programmes, continue to be creative and evolve the channel, which is fantastic.” Describing Ellison, son of tech billionaire Larry, as “very shy, retiring,” Frow added: “I like the fact he’s incredibly unassuming; quite gentle, as opposed to what you might think. He was very impressive.” OK, then. Moving on to the question on every

indie producer’s lips: what’s this investment going to be spent on? Frow said the spending commitment would enable 5 to continue with what has been working for the broadcaster in recent times, while also allowing it to take more risks. “As a public service broadcaster [PSB], we have an additional responsibility to support independent companies to make UK content, to spend our money supporting, encouraging, training and growing the production sector in this country,” he said. “The extra investment gives us room to take risks. When you’re commercial, you’re always having to balance return on investment and have pieces in the schedule that are there to wash their face, earn the money and please advertisers. But if you just do that you soon become very repetitive.” 5’s revival of classic BBC drama format Play for Today is one of Frow’s more reputational pieces, one he feels epitomises the values of a PSB, but it’s also one of those genres that absolutely does not “wash its face” even at a relatively modest budget of £350,000 (US$474,000) an hour. “It’s a really important part of who we are, and our schedule, but more important is the role it plays in training up the next generation of directors, producers and writers,” he said. “There are very few opportunities to reach an audience of half a million people. Yes, you can make it yourself, do it in your bedroom, stick it on YouTube, but 

“

You can’t just have crime all the time. We want some things that are positive, we want love and romance, we’ve got some more comedic drama coming through and it’s important we keep trying new stuff.

Ben Frow 5

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CONTENT STRATEGIES: 5

P lay for Today is a revival of a classic B B C anthology drama strand

Fact-based drama P ow er: The D ow nfall of Huw E dw ards from W onderhood Studios

Channel21 International | Fall 2026

that’s not a platform like a PSB where we might get the overnights and be disappointed it only did 750,000. We sometimes forget how important we are and the influence we can have.” The extra budget will be spent on more of these highend reputational pieces as well as low-cost, high-volume schedule filler, with Frow believing the middle ground has gone out of the industry entirely. “The middle tier doesn’t work as well as it used to,” he said. “The middle tier is missable. If you’re being smart with your money, you want schedule drivers – incredibly useful things to play across platforms and repeat ad nauseam – then pieces that will stand out and make an impact. What we were doing five - seven years ago doesn’t have the punch it once had. There’s too much noise. We’d be better off spending more money on higher tier and more money on lower.” In the high-end space, shows such as Richard Madeley On Murder Row from ITN Productions have succeeded primarily because of their ability to capture the imagination based on a visual alone. “The image of all those people in those cells with Richard sold it to us. You don’t have to work out what it is or why, it sells itself in publicity and marketing and makes a high impact. For bringing new people to the channel, that was our most successful programme for a long time,” said Frow. At the lower cost end, Frow believes part of the challenge is “making ad-funded programming that does not look like ad-funded programming.” Elsewhere, drama series Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, from Wonderhood Studios, drew 5.3 million viewers. “We’ve got more of those coming,” said Frow. “How do you do something the papers want to run with and people are curious about? They’re tricky to do, legally complex. The mixture of factual and drama worked well with Power, and it was a big success for us.” To that end, 5 has confirmed it is working with

Wonderhood once more on To Nicola, Love Peter (working title), a new 1x90’ factual drama telling the story of how former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, embezzled £400,000 from the party over a 12-year period. Frow said he has three key considerations for such projects and would not have commissioned a project on the murder of Sarah Everard, which the BBC is currently dramatising with Jeff Pope. “The number-one filter is would I watch it? Number two, is it more trouble than it’s worth? Number three is why are we doing it?” he explained. “Some things I wouldn’t do, I couldn’t do. I would not do the Sarah Everard story. I’m sure Jeff Pope will do a fantastic job for the BBC, but I wouldn’t do that story.” After the success of its All Creatures Great & Small reboot, 5 is also returning to another classic show from a rival channel with a reboot of Monarch of the Glen. “It does help, bringing back familiar brands; it sells itself,” Frow said. “The key is making sure you make a really good job of it. People know what they’re getting but it has to be up there in terms of quality.” These pieces speak to another priority. “You can’t just have crime all the time,” Frow added. “We want some things that are positive, we want love and romance, we’ve got some more comedic drama coming through and it’s important we keep trying new stuff.” There have been staff changes in Frow’s notoriously small and close-knit team. Reemah Sakaan, formerly CEO of BritBox International, came in as president of the network in January. “Reemah’s incredibly smart and she understands that I don’t understand all the things she understands,” said Frow. “I’m not very good on money, how television works, operations, technology and all those kinds of things. I’m a creative. I have ideas, I can schedule, I have opinions on marketing and how we’re selling the product. Reemah and I meet in the middle very nicely.” Sebastian Cardwell is also departing as 5’s deputy chief content officer and Paul Testar has been promoted from commissioning editor for drama to head of scripted. Frow doesn’t expect a fall in scripted output despite the departure and is keen to explore new formats as 5 looks to 2028 and beyond. Play for Today might not be the last classic anthology strand getting a reboot. “We’ll probably be doing less drama at 21.00,” Frow said. “But we will do more drama, and where it plays across the schedule is part of the excitement. What would a drama look like for us at 19.00? Could we bring back something like Comedy Playhouse? We haven’t done comedy really – would we, should we, how would it be? Could established comedy writers mentor new talent if we did a series of half-hour comedies? “There is a lot of fear in the business at the moment. A lot of anxiety and concern at what the future looks like, a lot of consolidation and who’s going to survive and not survive, but at the end of the day it all comes back to creativity. It’s very important as a PSB we are not so cowed down that we forget about creativity. “The business has always been really good at not interfering or stopping me from doing anything over 14 years because they understand I have that balance of commerciality and creativity. Some things are about ratings and revenue, some things are about reputation. The talent we attract, the way people talk about us now, the impact we have, that is down to creativity.”

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PRESENT IMPERFECT FUTURE TENSE: Malak Aldean

Social media is destroying the creative industries

A

t a TV industry showcase last year, I Producer and was speaking to an agent about a onejournalist Malak person show that had sold out at the Aldean on how the Edinburgh Fringe. “I really want to sign the pursuit of virality has performer,” they said. I hadn’t managed to see the show, so I asked the agent what they liked led us into a cultural black hole about it so much. “Oh, I haven’t actually seen and why she fears most of us it, but everyone online is raving about it. I think won’t be able to crawl our way they’re going to blow up and I want to get them back out. before they do!” It’s an anecdote that sums up today’s cultural landscape. The promise of something when I’ve been told, “They’re not really a good or someone “blowing up” trumps all. It trumps writer, but they’re such a big name!” I’ve read scripts that are so dire and yet are actually watching the show, even watching it and not liking it. It trumps having an opinion at somehow in development with broadcasters. I’ve fought tooth and nail for the most all. Virality = cultural relevance. Success. It would be ignorant to assert that social beautifully written pieces of work but been met media should have no seat at the table that with, “They just aren’t meaningful enough.” moves the cultural dial. Of course it should; it’s Meaningful for who? And what insidious fast become a breeding ground for some of the systemic patterns are we perpetuating? We’re living at a time of such social most exciting talent on our screens. But should it have all the seats? I don’t think so. Because fragmentation that we need storytelling more what does it mean to go viral? By and large it than ever. We need it to feel truthful and means enough people have engaged with the well-observed and full of depth; nuanced content for the algorithm to wake up and go, and thoughtful; at times calming and at other times totally mind-blowing and perspective“This is clearly worth pushing.” My problem isn’t with the algorithm itself, shattering – things my algorithm rarely feels by the way, it’s with a world that values like. Too much time spent on social media the algorithm above all. It’s with cultural almost always leaves me depleted and disorientated. If I do feel gatekeepers who scramble seen’ on there, it’s eeting. to tell a story, not because Anything precious If I read or watch something they think that story is is sucked in by that does interest me, it’s worth telling, but because social media and spat usually a regurgitation of a “everyone online” says it out into a thousand regurgitation of a trend that is. But based on what? already feels exhausted. Good PR? Social media- tiny fragments. Those Anything precious forward marketing? Hooky fragments are shattered music and a bold typeface? until they cease to mean is sucked in by social media and spat out into a Getting AI to do all of the much at all. thousand tiny fragments. above? Those fragments are Has the person on your feed who’s reshared their friend’s post shattered until they cease to mean much at about their housemate’s cousin’s boyfriend’s all. Everything becomes a meme or a trend. play even seen the play? Has their friend’s Everyone is scrambling for views and followers housemate’s cousin seen it? What about the above all else. I overheard a conversation on the London Underground where a woman housemate? Does the play even exist? If we can’t distinguish between genuine shared how she bought her 200,000 followers. emotional resonance and artificial engagement Her friend responded saying she’d done the we shouldn’t be using virality to decide whose same thing. Are these the people we should stories get told, because let’s also not forget be chomping at the bit to give a platform and a our social media feeds are echo chambers. So voice to? I don’t think so. Sometimes online engagement is “everyone” online for one person looks very different to “everyone” for another. And we meaningful and virality does indicate a level already know TV has a problem with diversity, of resonance and importance. Sometimes particularly when it comes to those in positions we should take it into account. But not all of power, with the latest Creative Diversity the time. And definitely not at the expense of Network Diamond report finding the proportion voices, perspectives and experiences that the of non-white people in senior roles has fallen algorithm wants to silence. since 2022 to 12% and remains at 2019 levels. As a producer, I sit in rooms where, “How This article first appeared on Malak’s Substack, many followers do they have?” has taken over Culture & Comedy with Malak Aldean, and is from, “What is the story?” I’ve pushed back re-published with the permission of the author.

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Channel21 International | Fall 2026

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