Investing in Banijay Kids & Family’s digital footprint and experimenting with AI tools in production workflows while maintaining a strong creative ethos are key strategies for CEO Benoît di Sabatino as the family entertainment powerhouse builds out its stable of new and returning brands, he tells ScreenMDM Talks as part of our Gen A to Z strand in time for Annecy.
The division of Banijay heads into Annecy with a growing stable of brands, having recently boarded Belzebubs, a mockumentary-style YA-skewing animated series from Pyjama Films, co-produced by Movimenti Production and Mago Production, and strong momentum on returning properties like Mr Bean and Totally Spies! across digital, live experiences, and consumer products. For di Sabatino, a veteran of the kids’ and family space, the annual festival and market for the global animation business kicks off with a new sense of pragmatism after last year’s “gloom and doom” sentiment amid constricted budgets and fast-moving consumption changes.
“I would not say optimism,” di Sabatino concedes, “but I must mention realism, for producers and broadcasters. What does it mean for a producer? It means that you have to ensure you are making a good investment in your IPs. Being realistic, we have to face a shift in the audience, which today is not somewhere but everywhere. Our goal is to reach this audience wherever it is, first. Second is also to adjust the budgets and to fit the budgets with [the decreased] amount of commissioning from the market. It’s a realistic exercise that we have to make with budgets and financing.”
Before returning to the conversation about financing in the interview, which you can watch on YouTube or Spotify or keep reading below, di Sabatino discussed the tremendous value of known IP today, alongside the need to invest in and support new creativity.
“Big brands are key to our success, but we are producers and we are human beings. I want to leave room for crushes. We have a lot of very talented producers. When a producer has a crush for an IP, for a book, for [an idea] from YouTube, I allow some investments in this specific area. We have to keep in mind that even if we know how to keep working on evergreen brands, investing in new IP is potentially [a path] to success.”
The scale of Banijay and its ability to cobble together budgets across multiple territories are key strategic advantages. He cited the example of Aquila & The Medieval Misfits, from Tiger Aspect Kids & Family and co-produced with Zodiak Kids France, with an assortment of top-tier European broadcasters on board: Canal+, ITV, NDR, and RTBF.
Di Sabatino is no stranger to the art of international co-pros in the kids’ space with his legacy as an independent producer. “At that time, I needed eight, nine, ten months; it was really long. And it was a negotiation, pond by pond. At Banijay Kids & Family, we are working all together, all the labels. It’s a friendly, agile process. [Our labels] are really talented producers, and also they have some amazing relationships with the historical broadcasters in their territories, where they can bring a broadcaster like ITV or BBC in the U.K., or RAI in Italy, or on my side, it could be TF1, France TV, M6, etc. It’s another way to maximize the potential tax credit incentive.”
The podcast with di Sabatino also explored the company’s approach to AI, which includes clinching a research and development collaboration with the animation software company Toon Boom Animation to drive the deployment of AI in animation production. Dealing with AI is no longer a choice, he said. “It will shape the future of our lives. I’m not speaking only about animation—it’sabout everything. It’s my responsibility to implement AI in order to face the future competitors and be [present] in the future markets.”
The approach, however, is cautious. “I don’t want to jump into AI everywhere, at every level of the company, without any thoughts of ethics or responsibilities. At Banijay Group, we have an AI policy that we have to respect. At Banijay Kids & Family, I’m trying to implement AI in the workflow, not in creativity. Why? Because AI creativity is the uniformization of creativity. When you can save time with AI in non-creative tasks, you are giving the potential of more creativity to your talents because they have more time to focus on their work.”
Much of my conversation with di Sabatino revolved around the company’s brand-building footprint focused on 360-degree engagement. “In the past, I was a producer. Now I’m not a producer anymore. Production is a part of my work, but today I define myself more as a brand architect. Why? Because I think that if we want to build a brand for life, we need to consider not just the production, but the brand. Everything is part of the awareness of the brand. It could be the series that you are producing, marketing content that you can launch on digital, live experiences, where you can share the brand not just with yourself but with family and friends. It’s definitely the deepest way to link brands to people.”
Running through a long list of recent deals around Totally Spies! and Mr Bean across a range of categories, di Sabatino also discussed Roblox activations and the company’s impressive digital footprint across key brands, as well as a slate of FAST channels.
“In the past, you were producing a series. If you had success, you could access distribution and licensing. It was another way to see things, but today, with those brands, it’s possible to launch a live experience even before the launch of the new series. It’s another link between people to the brand. And a good opportunity for a family to be together.”
He then discussed the company’s digital journey, which has included a presence on YouTube for more than a decade. Under the leadership of Dan Lewsey, SVP of digital and social media, the company has built up a portfolio of more than 150 channels, including the ZeeKay MCN. “Our digital offer today is 2.25 billion minutes streamed, 500 million views, and 1.5 billion users each month. Can you build a brand on YouTube? Yes, of course, but it’s not enough. That’s why I want to keep this 360-degree strategy.”
With double-digit growth over the last five years, digital remains a key growth pillar, and di Sabatino is eager to accelerate those gains by expanding its own brands, taking on third-party fare like Care Bears, and building digital-first IPs.
“My idea now for the next five years is to invest a lot in this content, including digital creators, digital-first, marketing content, spin-offs, the acquisition of new digital IP, improving the existing revenues of our own catalog,” and expanding the roster of third-party clients.
“We are responsible for creating a resilient ecosystem,” he said. “I want to give all the producers at Banijay Kids & Family the chance to keep on doing what they love to do.” And constant adaptation is part of that process.
