Eight public broadcasters from northern and western Europe have teamed up to launch New8, a co-production and broadcast collaboration that will yield eight annual scripted dramas to be broadcast in each market. Partnering in this continental collaboration are ZDF (Germany), NPO (The Netherlands), VRT (Belgium), SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland), RÚV (Iceland) and NRK (Norway). The news was announced at a MIA Market presentation in Rome on Tuesday.
Building on content sharing agreements that have long been in place across the Nordic and Scandinavian territories, this new pact will widen to include German and Flemish/Dutch speaking countries, bringing the European Broadcast Union partners into a three-year accord effective immediately. Under the plan, series given the go ahead this year will be available to all New8 partners by 2024, substantially boosting the footprint and viewership of premium European fare.
“This is great news for fans of high-end drama series across Europe,” said NPO chairwoman Frederieke Leeflang. “In a time when there is increasing competition for the eyes and ears of European viewers, this feels like a logical step that we have to take as public broadcasters, especially when it comes to efficient use of public money. We are convinced the quality of European fiction will benefit from the exchange of knowledge and experience between all these partners.”
“By exchanging content that is built on the partners’ public service ambitions, we can strengthen our offer to our local audiences and create a bigger impact in the international media sector,” added VRT’s international drama exec Elly Vervloet. “We are proud that we have come to a great collaboration between eight very strong public broadcasters that use their creative talent and expertise for this mission. We cannot wait to launch our very first drama series in all these territories and see what comes to us the other way around.”
“New8 is a unique achievement for European public service broadcasters and their audiences,” said NRK head of international financing Hans-Jørgen Osnes. “With such strong drama partners attached, New8 will be the largest drama collaboration in Europe. It will be extremely exciting to see it come to life and evolve.”
