The first fruits have been revealed of the strategic partnership between Arrested Industries and Merzigo in the form of acquiring close to 3000 hours of content from RTVE.
The Spanish national broadcaster's contnet is drawn from long-running, popular scripted series such as Central Market (Mercado Central) and Love in Difficult Times (Amar en Tiempos Revueltos).
Assessing the new deal and also future business, Arrested Industries co-CEO Merrily Ross (pictured left) said early conversations with broadcasters and other rights owners had been “extremely well received” and that this first completed deal with RTVE was just the tip of the iceberg.
“Merzigo has a unique and smart business model, fantastic experience in monetising a wide range of programming on different AVOD platforms, and a high-tech facility that takes the heavy lifting out of uploading and managing content,’ she added. “When you add in our industry knowledge and network of contacts, we bring a compelling offer to the marketplace, one which is becoming increasingly interesting to content owners looking to optimise revenues.”
Currently housing more than 100,000 hours of content from its base in Turkey, Merzigo provides a range of services including digital curation, directly for broadcasters, distributors, and producers, including Fox, The Walt Disney Company and KanalD.
“We are delighted that our partnership with Arrested Industries has got off to such a strong start, with yet another leading international broadcaster trusting us with high-profile, volume content,” Merzigo managing director Yigit Dogan Celik, remarked on the new deal. “Having a new base out of London and working closely with Merrily and Anthony Kimble, we have been able to quickly create fresh, wide-ranging opportunities for our business and we are excited by the prospect of those further deals we can see in our rapidly growing pipeline.”