Banijay Asia forms JV with The Natural Studios; plans fresh content slate for 2020

Banijay Asia has had a busy 2019. With over 30 shows produced across TV channels and OTT platforms, the production house intends to take the forward momentum into 2020 and has announced a JV partnership with The Natural Studios.

The partnership will create a new genre and bring a whole new slate of formats into the country. Shows will be produced for both linear TV and OTT platforms but there will also be new content formats that will be brought into the country.

Speaking on the growth prospects, Deepak Dhar, Founder & CEO, Banijay Asia, said, “I believe that adventure-thrill is a very under served genre. There is a lot of room for growth there. The content format is more suited to SVOD audiences, although they will introduce it to all their partners.”

Banijay Asia has agreed to a deal with Bear Grylls and Delbert Shoopmanin October 2019. Grylls and Shoopman will bring their expertise in the adventure space with Deepak Dhar-led Banijay Asia’s extensive territory knowledge.

Together they will build high octane entertainment for the audiences in the Southeast Asian market. They are already underway on the development slate of projects in India and Southeast Asia, and hope to announce their first green-lit title in the coming weeks.

The collaboration will see the businesses come together to create long and short-form content for both local and global platforms.

Delbert Shoopman, Co-CEO, The Natural Studios, commented, “Conversations with Deepak followed almost immediately after launching the JV. Together, we all could see the potential of venturing into a new space in India and Banijay Asia’s knowledge and contacts have been invaluable in making it a reality. Already, the response from the market has been positive and we are all looking forward to working together to establish a new genre and original IP.”

“In 20 months, we have made Banijay Asia into a credible and creative content driver, which delivers high-quality content to clients across the board. The partnership with The Natural Studios came at the perfect time, as we look to create and bring new genres into the country and the region. Adrenaline-fuelled projects have been relatively unexplored with huge potential on the horizon, and with Bear and Delbert, we are confident we have what it takes to turn this genre into a must-have for buyers in Asia and around the world,” said Dhar.

Banjijay Asia has created titles such as ‘Roar of the Lion’ for Hotstar, ‘The Ruskin Bond Anthology’ for ZEE5, and ‘Hostages’ for Hotstar with Applause Entertainment. From a business perspective, Dhar shared that OTT contributes to almost 50 per cent of the business now for production houses.

 

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