Mark Young of Sony Pictures on unlocking ’local-global’ opportunities in EMEA and how he’s navigating ’complex’ windowing
As buyers descend on the UK capital for Showcase, London TV Screenings and Mip London this week, Broadcast International speaks to Mark Young, exec vice president of EMEA distribution & networks at Sony Pictures, about the key trends and challenges facing the business.
What was the single biggest challenge for your business in 2025?
Premium scripted demand remained strong; however, buyers remain risk-averse, so that’s been something we navigated through 2025 and will continue to do so. Our aim is to be great partners as well as great content providers. We collaborate closely with clients, sharing research and assets, and involving them in the creative where appropriate, to ensure they feel confident in their investment and assured that our content will deliver for them and their audiences.
What are your top three growth priorities for 2026?
We are an independent studio with a broad, diverse content portfolio across feature films, and both scripted and unscripted television, so we are always exploring different growth opportunities. We are excited to explore co-production, pre-buy and strategic partnerships across EMEA to unlock more local-global opportunities and accelerate premium scripted output.
Crunchyroll remains a hugely important and impactful growth opportunity for us from a distribution perspective. We started distributing Crunchyroll’s market-leading anime content just over a year ago and the response has been phenomenal, we are definitely looking forward to meeting the demand for this content as anime’s popularity continues to rise through the year ahead as part of our wider portfolio.
Maximising the value of Sony’s IP – from global franchises to deep catalogue, we are continuing to explore franchise extensions and cross platform activations to drive awareness and incremental value.
Streamers have struck some eye-catching deals directly with YouTube creators over the past year. What do you make of this trend and do you see it impacting your business?
Connecting with audiences is what drives everything we do, and we will always look to serve our content to audiences wherever they are across the ecosystem, from linear, to streamers, to digital. YouTube and the rise of digital-first, content creator-led strategy is really exciting. Our team in LA run a swathe of ‘fandom’ networks on YouTube driven by SPE content, and through our International Production group we have recently welcomed Matt Ford and Sacha Khari to lead a new original digital-first initiative out of the UK, engaging and producing directly with UK content creators. This is the platform where the next generation are telling their stories. It’s a very exciting and dynamic space.
Broadcaster-streamer IP pacts have also become popular across Europe, in particular the TF1/Netflix deal starting this summer. How will such arrangements affect your business; will we see a similar deal in the UK; and, what do they mean for the future of second windows?
Windowing is becoming more bespoke and complex and therefore it has become more critical that we are strategic and deliberate about how we sell. We are always open to engaging with our partners at the appropriate time, to ensure they have the rights they need to retain and attract consumers, whilst appropriately monetising the value of those rights for their owners.
I believe we will continue to see second, and onward, window deals, however they’ll become more about broadening an audience and amplifying the content across platforms rather than just pure sequencing.
If we gave you £2m to invest in a show of your choice with a view to getting the biggest returns within five years, what kind of show would it be?
In the current landscape, to stand out and cut through you need scale. You have to be big and you have to be bold. That could be through the power of your IP or existing brand, the legacy of your franchise, a big name on your case or creative team, a pre-existing fanbase. I’d definitely be excited for a character driven, returnable show with international adaptability.
Tell us about your key title for LTVS and what makes it stand out?
Global clients will get their first look at S.W.A.T. Exiles at our London TV Showcase 2026, which takes place on Thursday, 26 February. This original series was first announced at our LA Screenings event last year, and has been produced by our US studio and is being distributed by SPT.
S.W.A.T. Exiles expands the popular S.W.A.T. universe, and promises to deliver the same high-stakes drama and intense action sequences that fans have come to know and love. S.W.A.T. has reached nearly 2 billion hours watched globally and has been a top 10 series in 47 countries throughout its eight-season run. We have Shermar Moore in town for our event, and we can’t wait to bring this action packed, exciting series to the world.
Alongside S.W.A.T. Exiles, the studio will showcase Dear England from SPT-owned Left Bank Pictures, as well as a first glimpse at forthcoming SPT series Up To No Good starring Glenn Close, and American Hostage with John Hamm. On the non-scripted side, we will be launching new BBC celebrity quiz format Do You Know Your Place? with Vernon Kay, as well as shining the spotlight on legendary SPT gameshow formats Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy!
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