NEM Day 1: How will the new digital regulation affect the Croatian industry?

NEM Dubrovnik 2022 has officially started. The best media experts, panelists, and keynote speakers arrived to the Croatian city to discuss new trends, strategies, and changes in the TV industry for the ninth edition of the TV market. Starting yesterday, and for the next three days, various networking opportunities and relevant events will take place at the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace.

In the first day, the event has served as a platform for an exclusive announcement of new legislative regulations about electronic media that will impact local operators, streaming platforms, and national televisions and Croatian audiovisual professionals. In the EU, streamers must offer a 30% quota of European content to EU subscribers, and they must re-invest a percentage of their revenues in local production.

The Minister of Culture and Media of Croatia, Nina Obuljen Koržinek, expressed European content is one of the cornestones in the Croatian legislation. "We recongnize the importance of the European productions for the diversity and for the all the audiovisual industry."  The Minister has also refered to the the Croatian financial incentives. "They have been growing year by year in the country beneficing local productions and local professionals,"  she added.

Guy Bisson from Ampere described the current audiovisual trends in the sector and asserted that the production market has changed: "Global conteny spend will exced 230 billons and its going to grow."  He also said the big studios want the content for their own: "It happen in every part of the global chain. Operators are actives as producers and financer in order to produce their own original content."  Bisson used as an example the case of Telefonica, which has now 143 originals releases or in productions, of which 126 have been released, and the group has recentely launched its own international distributional division.

Elsewhere, he affirmed, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Apple TV and HBO Max will invest  an estimated $580m into CEE content in 2022, whit more than 40% going into original production.

Peter Naderman, Producer and Managing Director of Nadcon Film, said that "the mantra the most global is the most local, works, Netflix wants local productions to be global and that is an advantage for market like CEE." And he added: "The goverment has to protect local producers, then local distributers, and then local broadcasters. This is how the audiovisual system works."

Danna Stern, Founder at Yes Studios, commented: “There is not a better time to be a content creator or producer. The streaming services are driving the industry in a big scale. The content is becoming global, people are consuming content regardless of the origin. On the other hand, the domestic markets are shrinking due the legislation. Isreali content is traveling worldwide and Isreali producers are creating IP's that are sold globally."

Maria Valenzuela, General Manager at Movistar Plus+ International Division, stated that the company has made a commitment with the audience. "Our first pillar is content. We are very carefull and dedicate to the content. Audience is the second pillar, we have to surprise them; and the third pillar is catering the content, selecting unique ideas. When you want to launch a project you have to believe in it; the idea has to be international and it has to be content that will change everything,"  she said.

IMPACT IN THE TELECOM SECTOR

Previus to this new law, Croatian audiovisual projects were financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Center and Croatian broadcasters, but this new legislation pretends to expand this landscape. The producer from Antitalent Danijel Pek affirmed that even before this new legalitation Croatia had very succefull projects that have travelled globally, but "now this trend is going to grow". "We see content from different markets and this give us opportunuties to travel internationally, but I think projects have to be successful first in Croatia before they travel globally," he commented. Siniša Đuranović, Senior VP of Croatia Telecom, described that the company has been very limitated due to the law, but this is now changing. "We actually are supporting differnet bussiness models. We are distributing content, providing content and monetizing content," he explained. "We are looking to the Croatian market and bundling the content," he added.

Elsewhere, Nikola Klisović, Director of Legal Affairs and Compliance Officer of A1 Croatia, said getting familiar with the creation of content is the firt step for the company. "If you undertand how the things work and you have a budget, you can have a plan, not just an ambition", he admitted. On the other hand, Christopher Peter Marcich, CEO of the Croatian Audiovisual Center (HAVC), indicated that the new law provides new opportunities to work together. "We started to produce more series and films with new partners, and the idea is to be an international platform to reach new markets."

ZDF NEWS

ZDF Studios, a key production-distribution component of Germany's public broadcaster powerhouse ZDF, hosted the grand opening of NEM Dubrovnik. The company specializes in the implementation of international co-productions, license purchasing, and merchandising of ZDF program brands. After welcoming attendees with drinks in a relaxed atmosphere, Robert Franke (Vice President Drama at ZDF Studios) and Mirela Nastase (Director Drama at ZDF Studios), took over for the opening speech and introduced the audience to an exclusive screening of new Spanish miniseries "Boundless," centered around the revolutionary explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It follows the first epic voyage that changed man’s perception of the world. “Such an iconic discoverer and seafarer like Magellan is in itself a brand,” Franke explained. The high production series, premiering on Prime Video on June 10, was filmed in Dominican Republic, Basque Country, Madrid, and Seville.

Before showing the series, the audience met Susanne Frank (Director Drama at ZDF Studios), and actors Gonçalo Diniz and Niccolò Senni, through a Q&A, while Miguel Menéndez de Zubillaga (Executive Producer) joined virtually. Álvaro Morte ("Money Heist") and Rodrigo Santoro ("Westworld") star in lead roles.

“It was the right decision for the producers to stay true to the origin of the story and leave it in the language that people spoke. Lot of things otherwise get lost in translation and you lose a lot of the performance. Especially nowadays with all the streaming platforms bringing content in native languages, there is a much greater acceptance among audiences to really appreciate original language. We always prefer to have something in native language because its more authentic and it will better resonate with the audience,” Robert Franke said.

By Romina Rodriguez from Croatia