Ruth Berry takes centre stage at the 60th MIPTV international television market in Cannes, introducing a groundbreaking approach to Multiverse Reality TV.
With the growing financial significance of unscripted shows such as reality TV and game shows, ITV executives are exploring new ways to generate revenue from these formats. Against this backdrop, Berry outlines her strategy for the merger of ITV Studios’ global distribution and entertainment arms in a keynote discussion at MIPTV.
During her keynote speech at MIPTV, Ruth Berry, a veteran of ITV Studios, discussed the group’s strategy for growth, which involves extending established brands across different platforms. “We are looking at how we can extend those brands and reach other audiences. [We] are starting to look at how those brands live and breathe beyond the TV screen,” Berry said.
To achieve this, Berry highlighted the group’s efforts to push its non-scripted shows into the multiverse. “We are so fortunate to be able to work with such incredible brands and refresh them and keep them fresh,” Berry added.
For example, she mentioned that they created “jungle trials” from the TV show “I’m a Celebrity” in the game Fortnite and made virtual extensions of “The Voice” in different online spaces.
Furthermore, Berry announced a rebrand of ITV’s sales division. While talking about the merger of global distribution, and global entertainment, she shared that, “We are bringing together the formats and the finished businesses to create a singular multi-genre, multi-brand, multi-dimensional commercial business to the heart of the studio, be that deficit financing or licensing rights to scripted slates.”
During her showreel presentation, Berry presented new formats such as Scared of the Dark, a celebrity reality show, and My Mum, Your Dad, a dating show. She also discussed the group’s merchandising efforts, including “Schitts Creek products and Love Island water bottles.” “Moving into the Metaverse, you know, all these things, having them in one place,” Berry added.
Berry’s new role as a managing director will involve “trying to get my arms around all of that as much as I can and marry up and align it to our buyers and the market and the needs and the trends and all of those things,” she said.
Moreover, their reality shows are already at hand on the fast-growing business of online ad-supported TV or FAST channels. Berry mentioned the recently launched FAST channels for unscripted staples like Come Dine with Me, River Monsters, and Hell’s Kitchen.
When it comes to reaching new audiences, Berry emphasised the importance of non-traditional marketing and merchandising efforts. She cited Love Island as an example, saying that “Where those audiences are finding their content is not through EPGs, it’s definitely not through reading [U.K. TV guide] the Radio Times. It’s through social media and other things.”
To further add, Berry also discussed the group’s foray into the natural history market, which has traditionally been difficult to crack. She revealed that Plimsoll, which ITV Studios acquired last January, had given the business a way to enter this market. “For us as a distribution business accessing natural history has been quite tough. It’s a pretty closed genre actually. So this seemed like a brilliant opportunity for us as a business to be able to enter the natural history space,” Berry said.
The merger, announced earlier this year, reflects the company’s commitment to maximising revenue from established brands across different platforms.
ITV Studios, a massive entertainment conglomerate boasts a colossal archive of over 90,000 titles. This includes 250 globally renowned shows such as “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!”, “The Voice”, “Schitt’s Creek“, and “Love Island”. Here’s how you can watch Love Island outside the UK.
To fuel its future growth, the company has recognized that expanding these established brands across various platforms is essential.
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Ruth Berry, who has been with ITV Studios for 10 years, expanded the company’s sales focus during her six-year stint as managing director. She added scripted dramas, both in English and European, and non-scripted titles to the mainly English-language factual program sales.
Before joining ITV Studios, she was a senior VP and head of EMEA at Shine International. Moreover, she held different roles at The Walt Disney Company, including head of branded services and digital media distribution, EMEA. MIPTV’s 60th edition will run till today.
With Berry’s extensive experience in the industry and ITV Studios’ impressive catalogue of popular titles, the future of the studio looks bright.
As the 60th edition of MIPTV comes to a close, industry experts are already looking forward to the innovative content and strategies that ITV Studios will bring to the table in the years to come. Here’s how viewers could watch ITV shows outside the UK for free.
