ZDF & ProSieben Strike Streaming Pact As Traditional Rivals Team To Fight Streamers: “A Strong, Forward-Looking Signal”

ZDF and ProSiebenSat.1 are the latest traditional European rivals to team on a streaming deal.

The pact will see ZDF’s on-demand content integrated into ProSieben’s streaming service, Joyn, from the fourth quarter of this year.

This will allow Joyn users to access ZDF news, docs, culture, factual and entertainment programs for free without adverts. ZDF’s on streaming portal will remain “the central digital home of its public broadcasting content.”

European players are increasingly looking to pool resources to combat the threat of global tech players, with recent examples seeing Channel 4 in talks with the BBC in the UK. ZDF and ProSieben noted their deal had been struck in an “increasingly international platform landscape” and that they were “deliberately focusing on a partnership that strengthens access to journalistic and cultural content ‘Made in Germany.’”

Global streamers have also been striking deals with Euro broadcasters, with France’s TF1 recently rolling out its streaming and channel suite on Netflix, France Télévisions launching channels on Prime Video and Disney+ striking content sharing deals with ITV, RTVE, M6 and ZDF in the past year.

“Our mission is to reach as many people as possible with our high-quality content,” said Florian Kumb, Director Audience at ZDF. “By making ZDF streaming content available on Joyn in the future, we’re strengthening the visibility of public broadcasting journalism in the digital space.”

Nicole Agudo Berbel, Chief Distribution & Partnerships Officer at ProSiebenSat.1: “This partnership demonstrates how public and private media can work together to find innovative responses to digital competition. In doing so, we’re sending a strong, forward-looking signal for the dual system and the media industry as a whole.”