Viewpoints: sales strategies

Rick Barker
Head of Sales Continental Europe
NBDTV
United Kingdom

Can you tell us about your sales strategies in Europe?

NBDtv main sales strategy within Europe has always been to create and maintain close strategic partnerships with key broadcasters across the numerous genres that we distribute. We break this down further into two main strategies - co-production and pre-sales. Co-productions are prevalent particularly in drama to secure early funding, giving the other party a greater involvement in casting, director selection etc. NBDtv has formed some key partnerships over the past year in this area and we have a number of significant drama projects currently being considered by key European broadcasters. Pre-sales where a project is of particular interest to several parties or where a strategic broadcasting partner can buy into a project early before other broadcasters get the chance are also important to us at NBDtv. Recently SVT Sweden and YLE Finland were pre-sold our latest drama serial The Last Enemy starring Max Beesley and Robert Carlyle.

Amy Winehouse: Live from Shepherds Bush

Can you name the most important European countries for your sales?

In France - a number of important music networks are acquiring content from us such as NRJ which has picked up Pink - "Live at Wembley Arena", "Christina Aguillera: Live in Australia" and "Mika: Live in Paris", M6 has bought "Gwen Stefani: Harajuku Lovers Live" and Paris Premiere has bought a number of Elvis Presley titles, with MCM acquiring David Gilmour - Live at the Royal Albert Hall. We have also had recent success in Germany - the drama sale of "Bon Voyage" to RTL 2 was very important for us, ZDF has acquired several music concerts such as Mika and Lionel Ritchie for "Pop Around the Clock", and we have secured a volume deal to Classica Germany covering the classical and cultural content distributed by NBDtv. In Scandinavia our strong relationships with all the public broadcasters goes from strength to strength across all genres. We have recently made significant inroads with the commercial broadcasters confirmed by the recent sales of "Diana: In The Name of Love" to TV Norge and TV7 Sweden. Whereas in Italy there is a keen demand for music programming with recent sales to MTV, Fox, Music Box and Classica Italia for classical content.

What titles performed well this year?

NBDtv has had an excellent year across all European territories with sales into each individual territory along with Pan European deals. Titles that have performed especially well include our drama Bon Voyage, which recently picked up the prestigious Monte Carlo Television Award for Best Mini-Series. Music programming has also performed well and many broadcasters are confirming this by giving better primetime slots to pop/rock concerts.

What are your new titles for MIPCOM 2007?

Drama : "The Last Enemy", "Affinity", "The Beatles Movie: HELP!", Pop/Rock: "Christina Aguillera Live in Australia", "Keane: Live at O2 Arena", "Amy Winehouse: Live from Shepherds Bush", Factual Documentaries: "HIV and Me", "Stairway to Heaven", "Fry Across America", Classical/Jazz: "Ella Fitzgerald Tribute", "Ecce Cor Meum", "Jamie Cullum: Live at Blenheim Palace".