BBC Studios and ZDF extend their strategic partnership

BBC Studios and Germany’s ZDF announced the renewal of their long-term strategic partnership to develop and co-produce world class content. The multi-year deal will extend co-development on scripted TV content, with ZDF and BBC Studios partnering to co-produce scripted titles across the BBC Studios’ content pipeline.

Alongside scripted, ZDF and BBC Studios will continue their successful collaboration co-producing factual shows across all genres including the forthcoming landmarks “Mammals” and “Asia” from BBC Studios’ world-renowned Natural History Unit.

The new agreement extends first option on pre-sales and acquisitions across BBC Studios’ catalogue of scripted and all factual genre content that are available in Germany. Pre-sales already confirmed include “Kingdoms” from the BBC Studios Natural History Unit and first run exclusives of “Make Me Famous” and “Mood,” and free-TV premieres of “This is Going to Hurt” and “The Outlaws” for ZDFneo.

Since 2019, when the strategic partnership was originally forged, the two organizations have successfully partnered on numerous titles including “Death in Paradise,” “The Mallorca Files” (series 1 & 2), “Frozen Planet II,” “A Perfect Planet,” and “The Green Planet.” Additionally, the partnerships’ first scripted co-production, “The Chelsea Detective,” received critical acclaim across Europe, and in Germany it reached an audience of 2.4 million, 2% above ZDF’s average market share.

“The impact of the strategic partnership between BBC Studios’ and ZDF over the past few years has been remarkable, with award-winning titles like ‘Frozen Planet II’ and new scripted commissions such as ‘The Chelsea Detective’ only possible with that early backing. This renewal is a win for audiences not only in the UK and Germany but internationally as well, as partnerships like this with shared editorial values allow us to deliver more ambitious and premium quality programming,”  said Nick Percy, President, Global Markets at BBC Studios.

Nadine Bilke, Chief Content Officer at ZDF, added: "We look back on an extremely fruitful cooperation with BBC Studios. Since 2019, we have been working together on high-quality and extraordinary productions that enrich the ZDF programme and inspire viewers. We are delighted to be able to continue and further expand this cooperation with BBC Studios."