{"id":157815,"date":"2025-06-04T15:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/157815\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T15:26:09","slug":"banijay-ceo-marco-bassetti-on-potential-itv-deal-at-sxsw-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/157815\/","title":{"rendered":"Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti on Potential ITV Deal at SXSW London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWill they or won\u2019t they? Sell or merge, that is. That has been a recurring question about U.K. TV giant ITV and its ITV Studios arm. One of the long-rumored potential buyers or merger partners is independent production giant Banijay Entertainment<\/a> (Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror, <\/a>Big Brother, Survivor, MasterChef). So it was no wonder that Banijay<\/a> CEO Marco Bassetti<\/a>\u00a0was confronted with the ITV question at the inaugural SXSW London<\/a> during a Wednesday appearance. <\/p>\n

\n\tBanijay has been reported to have been considering a possible takeover play<\/a> for U.K. TV giant ITV, or its ITV Studios production business. Such a deal would bring together two of Europe\u2019s largest TV production companies. ITV\u2019s studio division has previously also attracted interest from such companies as RedBird IMI and its production giant All3Media, as well as private equity groups.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNo, well\u2026,\u201d Bassetti said in response to a question about whether such a deal was in the works. He added that he wanted to speak rather about consolidation in general today.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked by reporters after the session if these comments on stage meant a definite \u201cno\u201d to an ITV Studios deal, Bassetti declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it is understood that Banijay has no immediate plans for an acquisition and that there are currently no discussions taking place about a potential deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn stage, Bassetti had highlighted the benefits of size. \u201cTo be honest with you, we are living in a world where consolidation and scale are really important,\u201d he said, sharing that a few years ago, the firm had been afraid to be seen as \u201ctoo big, too powerful.\u201d But now, more consolidation is beneficial to industry players that need hit content, intellectual property, and production budgets in line with audiences\u2019 expectations, he concluded.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Banijay boss also addressed the role of AI in the media and entertainment industry, citing the need for \u201cvery strict rules in order to defend creativity,\u201d summarizing his team\u2019s role this way: \u201cHow can you defend the creative \u2026 from AI.\u201d The company tries \u201cto be transparent as much as possible,\u201d he concluded. \u201cWhen you are working for premium content, AI has a relative impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWednesday\u2019s session, entitled \u201cBuilding a Powerhouse,\u201d took place at the Rich Mix cinema and art hub in the Shoreditch neighborhood of the British capital and was part of the festival\u2019s first-ever European edition of SXSW.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the SXSW London stage, Bassetti was in conversation with Jordan Schwarzenberger, the manager of YouTube stars The Sidemen<\/a> and co-founder of agency Arcade Media.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe popularity of The Sidemen, famed for their videos of challenges, sketches, and video game commentaries across their\u00a0YouTube\u00a0channels, has continued to rise. Late last year<\/a>, Netflix green-lit a second season, as well as a U.S. version, of the popular Sidemen reality series\u00a0Inside. It features influencers and reality stars confined to a house for a week, vying for a million pounds ($1.26 million) prize.<\/p>\n

\n\tBassetti asked Schwarzenberger about competition from the likes of MrBeast and potential concerns that YouTube could change its terms of trade to the detriment of The Sidemen. \u201cThe group dynamic is what\u2019s kept them going for that long,\u201d he said about The Sidemen. \u201cI think [regarding] MrBeast, with all credit to somebody who can handle 400 million subscribers on their shoulders and have it all on their back and all on their face and reputation, the instinct for creators has often been to put their face forward for everything. I think there\u2019s a world coming potentially when MrBeast produces [through] MrBeast Studios, and the channel becomes a platform without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added: \u201cThe way that he\u2019s built that actually is that he\u2019s not as integral to the success of the channel as maybe the instinct would seem. He could have other hosts on that platform. \u2026 With Beast Games, there\u2019s no reason why that can\u2019t transcend into something which doesn\u2019t have him hosting it. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s as integral to that format.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStreamers give creators something that they don\u2019t have. \u201cGlobal editorial reach\u201d and push thanks to Netflix, something that \u201cYouTube cannot give,\u201d was a key reason for The Sidemen to strike a deal with the streaming giant, Schwarzenberger said. <\/p>\n

\n\tHow about MrBeast\u2019s Amazon deal? Schwarzenberger argued that it is all about money. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to get any more audience on Amazon than he\u2019s going to get on his channels. He has 400 million subscribers \u2013 huge,\u201d he highlighted. \u201cBut [it is] to have 100 million [in money] to play with, even he doesn\u2019t have that in liquid cash to put into a show. So, Amazon can provide, you know, Bezos money and give him the funds to go and buy an island.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSXSW London runs through June 7. Penske Media, the parent company of\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter,\u00a0is the majority stakeholder of SXSW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will they or won\u2019t they? Sell or merge, that is. That has been a recurring question about U.K.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[66858,77,522,66859,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-157815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-banijay","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-international","11":"tag-the-sidemen","12":"tag-tv","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114625798691021633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}