Buyers Profiles: Portico Media’s Jay Lin & YLE’s Tarmo Kivikallio

Normal People

The latest instalment of our TBI Buyers Profiles come from Taiwan and Finland, where we hear from two leading acquisition-hungry companies about their wishlists and rights requirements.

First off, we hear from Jay Lin, CEO at Portico Media, which distributes channels and programming across Taiwan, before Tarmo Kivikallio tells us what he is looking for at Finnish pubcaster YLE.

Jay Lin
CEO, Portico Media (Taiwan)

What has been your best acquisition of the past few months and what does it say about your current buying strategy?

We have recently premiered worldwide the real life adaptation of the anime BL (Boys Love) series Love Stage with very good results. Japanese BL has always worked very well for us and if you add a strong anime following on top of that it’s a perfect match.

How do you differentiate the programming on your network/platform from the competition?

We currently are the only platform in the world exclusively focused on Asian LGBTQ+ content and distributing it worldwide. There are other LGBTQ+ OTTs out there, but their catalogues are mostly focused on Western content.

We have already co-produced several titles with countries around Asia, Europe and US, from viral series to film festival gems

Can you give an indication of the budgets available?

Our acquisition budget can go up to $1m per year.

What types of shows are not working?

Piracy is still a big problem in this part of the world. If a show has premiered in a specific territory and a little later we premiere it exclusively on our platform in a different territory, piracy will destroy any possible advantage. That is why we are focusing on shows we can premiere first or at the same time as other platforms.

What types of rights do you require and is there any flexibility?

We mainly acquire VOD rights. However, recently we have successfully opened our own sales department for our original productions, but we are also acquiring selling rights for third party titles to help LGBTQ+ titles have the broadest distribution possible.

Are you looking for pre-sale/co-production opportunities?

Yes! We have already co-produced several titles with countries around Asia, Europe and US, from viral series to film festival gems.

What’s the best way for distributors/producers to present an idea to you?

We have our own platform for people to present their projects to us for co-production and distribution called GOL STUDIOS (gol-studios.com). Producers/distributors only need to fill out a simple form with the basic information of each project and we will revert to them ASAP.

Tarmo Kivikallio
Head of acquisitions & commissioning, YLE (Finland)

What has been your best acquisition of the past few months and what does it say about your current buying strategy?

Normal People – the young audience is our focus.

How do you differentiate the programming on your network/platform from the competition?

We offer a lot of domestic programming and a very wide, diverse range of programmes.

Can you give an indication of the budgets available?

No!

We are looking for pre-buys, yes, but not so much on the co-production side

What types of shows are not working?

We are not buying or producing any gameshows or commercial reality based on formats. Those are probably working for commercial channels but they do not fit our values.

What types of rights do you require and is there any flexibility?

We need linear rights and FVOD rights for a minimum of 12 months.

Are you looking for pre-sale/coproduction opportunities?

We are after pre-buys yes, but not that much on the co-pro side.

What’s the best way for distributors/producers to present an idea to you?

An email is probably the best way to start.

To read more in the Buyers Profiles series, click below:

Buyers Profiles: SVT’s Mikael Österby & Canal Brasil’s Alexandre Cunha

Tarmo Kivikallio and Jay Lin are among the 4,500 acquisitions executives benefitting from ProgramBuyer, the online screening portal that houses more than 120,000 hours of content across all genres. Using a sophisticated search facility, it allows buyers to search and screen all types of content from more than 160 global distributors.