Buyers Profiles: YouLook’s Benedicte Steinsrud & Viasat World’s Karin Heijink

Charlie Bee Company

This week’s TBI Buyers Profiles hears about the requirements of nascent AVOD streamer YouLook and global operator Viasat World, which operates streamers and more than 30 channels across three continents.

YouLook’s director of acquisitions, Benedicte Steinsrud, explains how her streamer is operating in the fast-emerging AVOD ecosystem, while Viasat World’s SVP of content, marketing & products, Karin Heijink, discusses how one of her biggest recent successes emerged via a virtual market.

Benedicte Steinsrud

Benedicte Steinsrud

Director of acquisitions, YouLook

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

We did a few great deals recently to secure critically acclaimed documentaries, shows about royals and also some about obscure and special interest topics so that we could launch our Documentary channel. Being broad but niche at the same time is very much in line with our buying strategy.

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

We rotate our channels carousel on our web/apps to feature either channels we want to highlight and/or new arrivals.

We acquire non-exclusive AVOD rights on a one-year term and up

Can you give an indication of the budgets available?

As and AVOD outfit, all our deals are strictly revenue-share based.

What types of shows are not working?

Since we are only a few months in, I will give it a little more time before commenting on what does not work.

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

We acquire non-exclusive AVOD rights on a one-year term and up.

Are you looking for pre-sale/coproduction opportunities?

Yes, always looking for content that suits us that we can put our stamp on.

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

Send us an email with what you want to pitch!

Karin Heijink

Karin Heijink

SVP of content, marketing & products, Viasat World 

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

We’ve acquired some fantastic titles for each of our channels recently, in line with our buying strategy of identifying new, high quality with returning potential for Epic Drama and Viasat Explore, and titles aligned with our content pillars for Viasat History and Viasat Nature. It’s hard to choose just one as we’ve had many, but it would have to be Charlie Bee Company, a new series for Viasat Nature that we’re very excited about, especially as it was pitched at a meeting at ‘Virtual Realscreen 2021’.

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

We know our core genres inside out and only secure premium quality content for our channels. We often acquire content exclusively for the CEE markets where we operate, with our channels providing a home for some of the most-loved international TV series.

We actively track projects in a very early stage – if it’s the right project we commit early

Can you give an indication of the budgets available?
Our budgets remain healthy and allows us to still be a partner in projects in a pre-buying stage.

What types of shows are not working?

We’re not looking for magazine-style car shows or purely transactional shows on Viasat Explore, but we are interested in finding more fishing shows for the channel. On Viasat Nature, we are always looking for blue chip content for our Amazing Places and Amazing Animals slots and we’re always on the lookout for landmark series on ancient civilisations for Viasat History.

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

We aim to secure SVOD and linear rights, so we can make our content available on demand where possible via our operator partners’ SVOD services.

Are you looking for pre-sale/coproduction opportunities?

We’re always interested in exploring opportunities to take more of a stake in the content we air. We tend not to take an editorial line in projects, focusing on a pre-buy and top-up funding approach instead. We actively track projects in a very early stage and if it is the right project we are able to commit early as well, which helps producers to get the funding together.

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

Pre-Covid we attended all the major markets, but we’ve successfully switched to meeting remotely and have found it a really efficient way of working. We welcome new ideas from distributors and producers big and small, and you can reach us by emailing our acquisitions and programming team directly: [email protected].

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

Buyers Profiles: NTV’s Gabi Nensel & SPI’s Revi Benshoshan

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

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

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.