The Last Word on viewers’ craving for a mixed diet of content, from Nico Franks

Chances are you’ll hear two things repeated again and again during your time at Content London this year. The first is that audiences are, more than ever, in the market for local content – stories that reflect their lives. Hence streamers, whether that’s Netflix, Disney+ or Viaplay, are here at Content London to develop and commission swathes of local originals to add some specificity to their SVoD services.

The second is that audiences are seeking out programming from different countries and cultures like never before, partly as an unexpected consequence of the pandemic, when viewers sought a change of scenery amid the lockdowns.

Luckily for our industry, these two pearls of received wisdom don’t appear to be mutually exclusive. In the same way audiences are clearly hungry for shows that are dark as well as light, they crave a mixed diet when it comes to TV – devouring local produce as well as tucking into fare from more far-flung places.

This is a world forecast by execs at Content London in years gone by. But not even the most optimistic of panellists could have predicted it would unintentionally create such a severe shortage of translators, resulting in dodgy dubbing and sub-par subtitles.

This could only be the beginning of the non-English-language revolution, as the gradual implementation of the European Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive – which requires streamers to have at least a 30% share of European content in their catalogues – begins to have an impact in the years ahead.

This could prove a boon for international producers with outposts in different European countries, theoretically able to coproduce with themselves and allowing a streamer to meet its obligations in different countries with one piece of content.

European works status continues to apply to audiovisual content originating in the UK, as the UK remains party to the Council of Europe’s European Convention on Transfrontier Television, regardless of Brexit. Fears remain, however, that the EU will target Europe’s biggest producer of film and TV and what it has called the “disproportionate” amount of British content shown in EU countries.

So where does all this leave English-language programming? In many ways, it depends on the accent. UK content seems more popular than ever, but US programming has been gradually disappearing from international broadcasters’ primetime schedules for years now.

Learning the new language of content Nico Franks explores the ramifi cations of global audiences’ seemingly insatiable appetite for both local- and foreign-language programming. In the same way “ Meanwhile, hot new US series never make it to market as studios prioritise their best content for their own streaming services. Even arguably the most popular US show on air at the moment, audiences are clearly Succession, is written by a British/American hungry for shows that are dark as well as light, they crave a mixed diet when it comes to TV – devouring local produce as well as team of writers out of Brixton, south London. Today we will hear from Disney+ and Netflix and tomorrow HBO Max and Amazon, all of which are here at Content London as part of their considerable drive to attract new tucking into fare from more farfl ung places. Nico Franks ” subscribers outside the States, eyeing up the non-English-language successor to Succession in select markets all over the world. But not every country’s local industry will benefit from this push in the same way the UK has, and it’s important not to give the US-based streamers too much of a halo. After all, they are backed by tech giants, many of which do not even pay their fair share in taxes back home, let alone in international markets, and they don’t invest in local markets in the same way public service broadcasters do. Meanwhile, according to one UK-based exec speaking at Content London this week, after years of meddling, US partners are no longer demanding as many changes to casting, plots or scripts, as the need to ‘Americanise’ shows for their domestic audience has diminished. As the US streamers’ local-language push shifts up another gear, will this hands-off approach and trust in local expertise continue or, as we enter this new era of global content, could we see a gradual ‘Americanisation’ of non-Succession English-language programming?

The offi cial Content London Daily magazine is published by C21 Media Ltd (www.c21media.net). Editorial director: Ed Waller. Reporters: Jonathan Webdale, Clive Whittingham, Nico Franks, Jordan Pinto, Karolina Kaminska, Michael Pickard, Gün Akyuz, Ruth Lawes, Oli Hammett. Chief sub editor: Gary Smitherman. Senior sub editor: John Winfi eld. Photographer: Simon Wilkinson. Production: Eleanore Hayes, Courtney Brewster. Events: Gemma Burt, Chloe Hocking. Content London Daily client contacts (C21Media): Odiri Iwuji, Peter Treacher, Hayley Salt. Editor-in-chief & managing director, C21Media: David Jenkinson. Meet the Content London Daily editorial team in the Horsfall Room (Kings Place) or via press@c21media.net. © C21Media 2021

VENTO NORTE_Recados do Mundo © Hugo Delgado A Espia © Patricia Andrade Ukbar Filmes O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis © Luisa Ferreira