RTL Group, owner of My Brilliant Friend and American Gods producer Fremantle, has touted its “remarkable” relationship with HBO and revealed that it is in talks to supply content to Apple as it sets a revenue target of $565M by 2021.
The company revealed the target after announcing its full-year financial results, which saw Fremantle revenue grow from €1.47B in 2017 to €1.59B in 2018, largely driven by its performance in the U.S. and Germany. The share of international drama productions of Fremantle’s total revenue was 19% in 2018.
It is currently working on “at least” 35 international scripted projects and has forecast that it will generate more than €500M in revenue in 2021, up from €300M last year. It has also established a video-on-demand working group between Fremantle and RTL Group’s major broadcasters to explore the joint development of high-end drama series.
CEO Bert Habets said highlighted its relationship with HBO, which it is working with on The New Pope, the follow-up to The Young Pope, as well as Wildside’s My Brilliant Friend, which has been renewed for a second season. “Drama content, co-development a growing digital revenue stream are at the heart of this priority. To put some flesh on the story, we’ll share that in drama, the current Fremantle/HBO relationship is quite remarkable with Fremantle now one of the largest independent suppliers to their platform with three deals already announced and more to come.”
He also added that it would continue its strategy of first-look deals, having recently closed an agreement with Fabula Pictures, the Oscar-winning firm behind A Fantastic Woman.
“Discussions with new OTT plarforms such as Apple are also being held so the range of activities continues to expand,” he added.
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