Winners crowned at TBI Content Innovation Awards

Gaumont Television, Zodiak Rights, Content Media and Fox UK were among the big winners at the second Content Innovation Awards last night.

Gaumont scooped the gong for Breakout International Drama for Netflix’s Pablo Escobar drama Narcos, Zodiak Rights bagged the Best Series Launch of the Year award for Canal+ period piece Versailles, and Content was named Best Content Distributor. Fox won the Channel of the Year award.

The stakes were high at the glamorous event held at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, with companies such as Fox, All3Media, ITV Studios, Scripps Networks Interactive, Armoza Formats, Endemol Shine International and Keshet all nominated for prizes.

Versailles beat off competition from The Brokenwood Mysteries (All3), Outcast (Fox UK), Love Island (ITVS), The A Word (Keshet) and Paul Hollywood City Bakes (Scripps) to land the series launch title.

Breakout International Drama was also keenly fought, with Gaumont’s Narcos beating out Beta Film’s NSU German History X, Fox’s 11.22.63, ITVS’s Poldark and Warp Film and Haut et Court coproduction The Last Panthers.

On the distributor front, Content grabbed the crown from last year’s winner, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, also coming on top of Endemol Shine International, Armoza Formats and Global Agency.

There were also awards for Keshet (Industry Innovator) and Red Bull Media House (Virtual Reality Initiative of the Year).

More than 230 guests attended the ceremony, which was preceded by a lavish sit-down dinner and presented by former Miss Belgium and current VTM presenter Anne de Baetzelier.

TBI and sister title Digital TV Europe launched the awards last year in order to celebrate the best-in-class from the TV content and technology worlds.