(Bloomberg) -- A media company backed by French billionaire Xavier Niel is trying to build a European TV production empire to cash in on surging demand for local-language shows on Netflix Inc.
The streaming giant's programming budget is set to exceed $14 billion this year and some of that money is flowing into non-English content to keep its international audience growing. Sometimes, those investments turn into money-spinning hits outside their home market, as happened in the U.S. with Spanish heist drama “La Casa de Papel.”
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“Soon enough, half of the U.S. population will speak Spanish, so we're focusing on acquisition targets,” Mediawan Chairman Pierre-Antoine Capton said in an interview in Paris. “We need to be present in Spain since it's in the middle of a development boom.”
He said Mediawan is in “advanced talks” with Spanish production firms and hopes to announce a deal by year-end.
Mediawan was launched in 2017 by Capton, Niel and Lazard Ltd. banker Matthieu Pigasse. This year it bought Italy's Palomar, producer of a TV version of Umberto Eco's medieval theology and crime novel “The Name of the Rose.”
Its big hit at home is “Call My Agent,” a star-studded comedy series about a French movie talent agency. Netflix snapped up three seasons of the show for international distribution and Mediawan has sold adaptation rights for the U.K., Italy and Canada. It's now in talks to sell the rights in the U.S. and China.
Mediawan aims to replicate the success with animated franchise ‘Miraculous,' though it could take years to build an established brand across the continent. Pouring money into content assets can be risky in an industry where one failure can wipe out profits.
Niel, Capton and Pigasse each own 6.7% of Mediawan's shares. Ties between Niel and Pigasse have been strained by disagreements about another of their investments, newspaper Le Monde, after Pigasse sold his 49% stake in the national daily to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
At Mediawan, they seem to be getting along fine.
“The three of us met because we shared a vision that the value of content was booming,” Capton said. “We had a board meeting on Thursday, the three of us were present and everything is going well.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Angelina Rascouet in London at arascouet1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Thomas Pfeiffer at tpfeiffer3@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Ryan
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