The merger of Banijay Entertainment and All3Media was completed today, creating an $8BN production and distribution giant, based in London with a 265,000-hour catalog.
The new entity, the result of Banijay Group and RedBird IMI merging their content assets, is called Banijay Entertainment. Marco Bassetti is CEO and Jeff Zucker is chairman of the board.
Right after the deal was completed, they spoke to Deadline and Bassetti told us the €50M cost saving will be plowed back into the creative part of the biz, explained that Banijay Rights will be the name of the distribution arm, and told us why he wants to throw the doors open to more talent.
Zucker tells us scale is key and there could be more M&A to come, and discussed U.S. ambitions.
Watch on Deadline
DEADLINE: How is the whole bigger than the sum of the parts here? What can Banijay Entertainment achieve that All3 and Banijay couldn’t do alone?
JEFF ZUCKER: We’re in a very rapidly evolving, changing period in media and entertainment in the world. One thing that is clear from everything that is going on right now is that scale is more important than ever. The key for the next few years is that one, two or three smaller acquisitions isn’t going to be the key to success. The combination of these two companies puts us on better footing to lead the entertainment world in the years to come.
DEADLINE: If scale is key, does it follow that there is more M&A to come?
ZUCKER: Today is Day One, and there’s a lot of work ahead in bringing these two companies together, but as we look out over the next few years, we will look to be opportunistic. That certainly would include further activity.
DEADLINE: Can we get into specifics, is ITV Studios a possible target?
ZUCKER: The answer to that is that we would look at every possibility. There’s nothing that we’ve decided today, and there’s nothing that we’re going to take off the table either.
DEADLINE: How will the day-to-day change for your prodcos, creatives and staffers?
Marco Bassetti: They will work exactly as before, with plenty of autonomy, and they will do their business independently. In this respect, nothing is going to change. We will give more opportunities to our talent and producers to do more.
DEADLINE: Does scale mean leverage when dealing with buyers and global streamers?
We have such big IP, so we have The Traitors, we have Gogglebox, we have plenty of super strong scripted shows… so from a distribution point of view, definitely yes, because we will have 260,000 hours.
When you have so much big IP, like MasterChef, The Traitors, Big Brother, Deal Or No Deal [and more], we can have more opportunity to secure our revenues with volume deals.
DEADLINE: Let’s talk distribution. Given the company is called Banijay Entertainment will the content sales business continue to be called Banijay Rights – and who will run that?
Bassetti: There will be just one entity in distribution [called Banijay Rights], and then we’ll take further decisions about the management.
DEADLINE: What are your ambitions in terms of the U.S. market?
ZUCKER: Marco will set the strategy and run the company, but I think that it’s clear that the U.S. will be one of our opportunities going forward. There is greater opportunity across not just production, but live events and experiences, the digital strength of our company also gives us a great opportunity in the U.S. That’s something we will look to build out
DEADLINE: You have said there will be €50M ($57M) of synergies/cost savings. Which parts of the business will these come from?
Bassetti: There will be no overlap in creativity, meaning across our creative and production entities. There will be overlap in facilities, costs, leases, rent, and also support functions mainly.
If we wanted to grab all the opportunity that the market is offering us today, we need to invest the money that we save into creativity, following our strategy to grow with new IP, and new IP in digital, live and sport.
DEADLINE: Marco, why London for the HQ?
I’m in London now, in my new office. London is the place to be in this industry, at least in Europe, and after L.A. The UK is a big part of the business as well.
It’s a consequence of talent, and the streamers have bases here in London, and it is the place people come to when they come to Europe, so that’s why we are here. Having said that, we have our [Banijay Group] business that has an HQ in Paris.
DEADLINE: We can see a commissioning slowdown in some places and some softness in key markets. Where does the growth come from for Banijay Entertainment?
Bassetti: We believe that the consumption of content will increase and there will be always a business model that can work for us.
Having such a huge number of creative people means we have an opportunity to create a new IP in scripted and unscripted. It’s part of the rationale for this deal.
For sure, there will be more direct-to-consumer, so we will grow distribution of our FAST channels. We also had 3,000 live events in 2025, so they are an opportunity to grow.
And we see an opportunity to be the home of talent, where they feel comfortable, because they can find the infrastructure that they need in order to produce their [work], and the financial help they need.
DEADLINE: Jeff, is Red Bird IMI invested in Banijay Entertainment for the long term?
ZUCKER: Let’s remember Red Bird IMI did not exist three years ago, and here we are, just three years later, at 50% ownership of the world’s largest independent production company. The UAE and IMI have proven to be strong, reliable investors. We’re looking to grow, and to continue to invest, and to continue to be opportunistic. We have shareholders in Red Bird and IMI who have been tremendous in backing us to this point and have every intention to keep continuing.
DEADLINE: Marco, you are CEO and Jane is Deputy CEO. Do you envisage this being the set-up for the long term?
BASSETTI: Definitely, there is so much to do in this new chapter of our life. We have 170 companies to run, so maybe we need to have three CEOs and three Deputy CEOs!
ZUCKER: We’re incredibly fortunate to have the incredible leadership of Marco and Jane in one company. That’s a leadership team that I think is unmatched anywhere in the world.
