On the heels of Autentic’s acquisition of Albatross World Sales, Mirjam Strasser, director of sales and acquisitions, tells ScreenMDM about the importance of scale, the need for authenticity, and the other major trends reshaping the business of factual in the run-up to Sunny Side of the Doc.
Autentic yesterday announced the acquisition of Anne Olzmann’s Albatross World Sales, bringing more than 600 premium hours of content to its distribution slate. Ahead of heading to Sunny Side, ScreenMDM caught up with Strasser about the state of factual distribution and the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Sunny Side was canceled before it was resurrected. Realscreen Summit is gone. There are clearly pressures on factual broadcasters, producers, and distributors. As you head to the reinvented Sunny Side, how do you see the overall health of the factual distribution business?
Yes, there’s pressure in the system, but demand for factual content remains strong, especially in a world shaped by misinformation; trusted storytelling really matters. In our experience, buyers are still actively looking for content across platforms, but the market has become more complex and selective. Deals take longer, and rights are more fragmented. But if you can adapt to the new dynamics, the fundamentals of the factual distribution business remain solid.
What do you see as Autentic’s biggest growth opportunities against this fast-changing landscape?
I see our biggest growth opportunities in the strength of our catalog and in finding deeper ways to monetize our content. Scale is becoming more important in today’s market, so continuing to grow the catalog is essential to staying competitive. We see strong potential in expanding our channel business and digital distribution. Those areas allow us to extend the life of our content, reach new audiences, and generate additional revenue across multiple platforms.
And on the flip side of that, what are the biggest pressure points in the business right now? And how are you tackling them?
The biggest pressure point right now is the squeeze on budgets, which is making buyers increasingly cautious. In response, we’re placing even greater emphasis on flexible windowing strategies and maximizing content exploitation across multiple clients and platforms. In this environment, series are also particularly attractive because they remain a popular, cost-effective option and offer buyers a lower-risk investment.
What kinds of producer partnerships are you exploring as you continue to expand your catalog? Are you looking for more deals like the one you did with Boréales?
We’ve just announced the acquisition of Albatross World Sales, and that’s a very good example of the kind of opportunity we’re looking for. It’s a great fit for us strategically and perfectly complements our existing catalog. The deal adds more than 600 hours of content to our lineup, including a strong slate of premium blue-chip wildlife programming, which is one of our most successful genres internationally.
How important are AVOD and FAST and other ad-supported streaming models for you today, versus the business you’re doing with broadcast and pay-TV channels?
They’re very important to us today. I’d say it’s roughly 50/50 between ad-supported models like AVOD and FAST, and our traditional business with broadcast and pay-TV channels. And the ad-supported side is clearly growing. It gives us more ways to monetize our catalogand reach audiences across different platforms. So for us, it’s not either/or, both sides of the business matter.
What’s your strategy for YouTube?
Our YouTube strategy is very much aligned with what we’re doing in FAST. We’re building and launching new channels, maintaining a strong and consistent content pipeline, and continuously learning from audience behavior and platform trends.
The key is to evolve constantly and grow sustainably. That means identifying what audiences respond to, refining our offer over time, and building multilingual channel strategies to reach viewers in markets where the content environment is not yet oversaturated.
Regarding genres, nature, big tech, and history work particularly well for us. The key is to maintain the right balance between evergreen content with lasting shelf life and more current, topical programming.
What’s your approach to AI?
We view AI-driven solutions as tools. Just like any other tool, you need to learn how to use them effectively and learn what they can or cannot deliver. We’re fortunate that Autentic is part of the Beta group, which has co-founded the AI start-up Chapter41. Through this partnership, we benefit from training, market insights into this rapidly evolving market, and legal guidance, which is equally important. For us, as a leading factual content company, integrity is absolutely critical. We must remain acutely aware of the authenticity of the footage and the films we produce. As AI’s creative capabilities continue to grow, full transparency is non-negotiable. We see real opportunities in these technologies, but they have to be used responsibly and in a way that safeguards trust in the content.
What are your overall goals for Sunny Side this year?
Our main goals for Sunny Side this year are really around relationships and new opportunities. Sunny Side is a very important event for us because it brings together the factual community in one place. It gives us the chance to meet with producers and co-production partners, strengthen relationships, and have new conversations around future projects. It’s also the perfect moment for us to present our new summer slate. We’ve just released our latest catalog of summer releases, and we’re very happy to showcase it there. Highlights include Ancient Pompeii—The Secrets of Villa Oplontis, which offers rare access to new excavations uncovering one of the Roman Empire’s most luxurious villas and its fascinating history; The Archipelago, a visually stunning exploration of how unique island ecosystems shape extraordinary forms of life; and Milestones of the Solar System, a visually striking CGI-driven series that makes complex space science and the origins of our universe accessible and engaging for a broad audience.
