Major European production and distribution groups: Seven.One Studios

German media powerhouse Pro­SiebenSat.1 launched Seven.One Studios in 2022 as a home for its production companies in Germany, the UK, Denmark and Israel, along with its global distribution arm Red Arrow Studios International. It is now very much a European focused studio: just prior to Seven.One’s launch, ProSiebenSat.1 sold its US labels — including Kinetic Content — to Peter Chernin’s The North Road Company for $200m. Seven.One has a strong focus on entertainment: formats such as Married At First Sight have been licensed in 30 countries.

But it has a strong scripted offer too, with labels like the UK’s Endor behind ORF and ZDF’s period drama Vienna Blood and Prime Video’s fantasy TV drama Anansi Boys. Tel Aviv-based July August Productions, meanwhile, created international hit drama series The A Word.

In February, Red Arrow Studios International partnered with leading Finnish production company Yellow Film & TV to distribute three scripted series: Forgiven, 66 North Precinct and The Laws Of Man. Seven.One’s labels produce for all of ProSiebenSat1’s 15 free and payTV channels and its streaming platform Joyn as well as for the external market including public broadcasters such as ARD, ZDF, NDR and BBC, and streamers such as Netflix and Prime Video. This has helped Pro­SiebenSat.1 diversify its revenues beyond advertising on its commercial channels.

Last year the company admitted it had been hit by an “unprecedented decline” in the local German advertising market. Seven.One says it wants to continue to grow “in a disciplined and gradual way with the right balance between M&A and organic growth”.

• In focus: the major European production and distribution groups