All3Media Revenues Hit $1.3B As Super-Indie Takes Majority Voting Control Of ‘The Traitors’ Outfit Studio Lambert
EXCLUSIVE: On-the-block super-indie All3Media saw revenues rocket to £1B ($1.3B) last year, as accounts reveal it has taken majority voting control of The Traitors producer Studio Lambert.
According to a Companies House filing for the outfit’s holding company DLG Acquisitions, All3Media boosted sales by 17% for the 2022 calendar year, with revenues just topping the £1B mark.
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EBITDA shot up by a similar proportion to £100M and total group operating profit was up from £26M to £40M. In 2022, All3Media produced more than 4,000 hours of programing including the likes of The Traitors, The Tinder Swindler and The Tourist.
The group said the “current macro-economic climate including the continued impact of Covid-19 and the impact of inflation presents a risk and challenge,” however.
The issue is being managed by “reviewing production protocols and analysing opportunities to produce content more efficiently,” amongst other approaches, it added.
Studio Lambert
Today’s record results also revealed that All3Media upped its voting rights in The Traitors producer Studio Lambert to a majority of 50.1% last September. In return, All3 converted the storied producer’s loan notes into equity, a plan that was in the original deal when the group acquired Studio Lambert more than a decade ago, we understand.
The development means that All3Media shareholders will have the right to vote on certain company matters. Studio Lambert has also gone from being an All3Media associate to subsidiary, meaning that its numbers are now consolidated into the All3 group accounts.
According to the filing, Studio Lambert turned over almost £47.1M last year but revenues for the final quarter, after All3Media upped voting rights, were an impressive £37.2M.
Stephen Lambert’s London-headquartered Studio Lambert is one of the UK’s most successful producers. It has had another prolific year, making smash Dutch hit The Traitors for the BBC and seeing various versions of the format sold across the world including into the U.S. and Australia. Studio Lambert also made Amazon Prime Video format Lovestruck High and another season of BBC hit Race Across the World.
Last week, Deadline revealed that Studio Lambert’s smash Gogglebox format is in high demand in the UK, with ITV programs boss Kevin Lygo recently putting in an audacious bid for the meta-telly-watching TV show.
Sale talk
All3Media is reportedly up for sale, with ITV Studios having already shown interest publicly, and today’s results posted by the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)/Liberty Global-owned outfit will have done little to dim the interest.
All3Media also owns the likes of Fleabag producer Two Brothers Pictures, Call the Midwife’s Neal Street and The Only Way is Essex outfit Lime Pictures, along with around 50 other producers and distributors across the UK, Europe and the U.S. In 2022, it invested in Line of Duty star Vicky McClure’s Build Your Own Films.
The company has been valued at £1B – roughly the level of its 2022 revenues – and ITV has said it is “actively exploring the possible acquisition,” while stressing “there can be no certainty as to whether any transaction will take place.”
Other major players such as Banijay or Fremantle may throw their hats in the ring over the coming weeks and there are a number of mechanisms by which the super-indie could be broken up. One option beyond an outright ITV buy would be for Liberty Global to retain a stake, allowing WBD to trim its considerable debt pile. All3Media, WBD and Liberty Global are so far not commenting on the deal.
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