The new division of the company expands on its existing sportainment, documentary and digital content

That Peter Crouch Film

Banijay is making a significant move into sports production through the launch of a new division, Banijay Sports. The company will focus on ‘sportainment’, documentary and digital, via new partnerships, content investments and M&A.

The move, which Banijay says won’t venture into broadcast and streaming rights, was announced by CEO, Marco Bassetti, in a keynote at Content London 2023.

Bassetti said the complementary nature of sports to its content and distribution business, and the demand from clients, was behind the company’s decision to launch the new department.

Banijay is looking to expand on its current output of sport docs, with titles including That Peter Crouch Film ((pictured above) (Workerbee for Amazon Prime Video), Human Playground (Scenery and Workerbee for Netflix), Tyson Bruno (Workerbee in association with Sky Studios for Sky), two seasons of La Leyenda de Sergio Ramos (Endemol Shine Iberia for Amazon Prime Studio), Warnie (Endemol Shine Australia, in association with VicScreen for Nine Network), Daum (Doc.Banijay, part of Banijay Productions Germany for Sky) and upcoming Four Kings (Workerbee for Amazon Prime Video).

Elsewhere, Banijay Benelux is home to Dutch sports player, Southfields, which delivers coverage, talk shows, documentaries and more, with highlights including All-in team Jumbo Visma for Amazon Prime Video.

Furthermore, this year Banijay Iberia struck a deal to launch LaLiga Studios, a new sports-related content production company led by Chalo Bonifacino Cooke; Endemol France acquired Puzzle Media, which is credited for long-running Riding Zone(14 years on France Télévisions). The latter follows additional label launches with sports stars Teddy Reiner, and Blaise Matuidi et Charles Villeneuve.

And, as Banijay ramps up its efforts in D2C digital activity, sports will give the business a direct route to significant fan bases and youth-skewing demographics.

Finally, Banijay says Banijay Sports will partner with its existing live events wing, Balich Wonder Studio, to explore alternative content opportunities that capitalise on its expansive relationships linked to institutional ceremonies and large-scale sporting events.

Bassetti said: “While we’ve already made some considerate moves in sport across our global footprint of talented producers, we wanted to concentrate our efforts in building value in this space. In having a centralised division, we have further capacity to deliver on partnerships, carve greater volume, mobilise digital opportunities, and ultimately, fulfil our ongoing goals to scale the group.”