Banijay Launches Sports Division As CEO Marco Bassetti Criticizes Private Equity Firms For “Raising Expectation In The Market”

Max Goldbart
·3 min read

Banijay is pushing into the sports game, while CEO Marco Bassetti has criticized private equity firms for “raising expectation into the market.”

Bassetti announced at Content London this afternoon that the Big Brother powerhouse will broaden efforts in sports partnerships, content investments and M&A. It will focus on docs, digital and “sportainment” via the Banijay Sports division, while not venturing into broadcast and streaming rights.

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Bassetti pointed to the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV+’s recent move into sports shows. “They don’t just want [sports] matches they need to do more,” he added. “Leagues and tournaments need a lot of content but we are also thinking about the guys who buy the shows.”

Bassetti said the move represents his desire to transform Banijay from production companies to a “media powerhouse” and the “biggest European studio.”

“That means we have to diversify but also expand our business,” he added.

He stressed that Banijay’s efforts have already started in the near-$60B sector, pointing to Banijay sports shows such as Amazon’s That Peter Crouch Film, Human Playground (Scenery and Workerbee for Netflix), and Tyson Bruno (Workerbee in association with Sky Studios for Sky). Elsewhere, Banijay Benelux plays home to leading Dutch sports player Southfields, which delivers coverage, talk shows and documentaries, with highlights including All-in team Jumbo Visma for Amazon Prime Video. And Banijay Iberia recently struck a deal to launch LaLiga Studios, a sports-related content production company led by Chalo Bonifacino Cooke.

The move comes a few months after Banijay moved into the live events space with the acquisition of Olympic Games organizer Ballach Wonder Studio. It unveiled a branded entertainment division earlier today and has been aggressive in the M&A space over the past couple of years, most recently picking up Help producer The Forge.

Private equity critique

Meanwhile, Bassetti criticized private equity firms for “raising expectation in the market.”

He welcomed their arrival in the TV and film space, saying it shows “we are an industry that can create value,” but questioned whether they always have the correct strategy in a market “of people and IP.”

“They push up prices and raise expectation into the market, and sometimes they are not real,” he added. “The fact they are overspending for us sometimes is an issue.”

Bassetti was speaking several weeks after Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media, which owns the likes of Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, was reported to be missing its earnings target by up to 50% this year.

Bassetti talked up Banijay’s position as “not being backed by any big media company.” The outfit is owned by recently-created SPAC company FL Entertainment and is listed on the Dutch stock exchange.

“No one from our group wasn’t a producer – our dogma is to share value with the people you create value for,” added Bassetti. “So we have aligned interests and in this sense we are pretty much unique.”

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