BBC Worldwide invests in SA production company Rapid Blue

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BBC Worldwide invests in SA production company Rapid Blue --

Tue, 29 Mar 2016 13:25

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On 20 March, BBC Worldwide announced that it has invested in South African production company Rapid Blue. Based in South Africa, Nigeria and Angola, Rapid Blue produces original productions and international television formats for South African, African and international audiences. The investment into Rapid Blue demonstrates BBC Worldwide s desire to expand in the region and meet the growing demand for high-end, compelling and relevant local content for the African market, in addition to taking African content to the world.

Established in 1993, Rapid Blue is a prominent formats producer in Africa with an impressive list of local and international awards, including an Emmy in the Best International Documentary category as a producer for Lion s Trail. Rapid Blue has produced thousands of hours of television for local audiences including The X Factor, SA s Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, Dragons Den, Four Weddings and Pawn Stars. Productions for Nigeria, Ghana and Angola include Don t Forget the Lyrics, GBam, Got Talent and X Factor. BBC Worldwide has worked with Rapid Blue on multiple award-winning shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, The Weakest Link and Come Dine With Me South Africa, and in 2015 Rapid Blue produced the first series of the BBC Lifestyle ratings-hit, The Great South African Bake Off. In addition to long-form production business, Rapid Blue produces short-form content including on-air promotion and design, digital content, sponsorship and brand funded sales solutions.

Grant Welland, executive vice president CEMA, BBC Worldwide, commented: As demand for local content increases across Africa, BBC Worldwide and Rapid Blue are extremely proud to partner and explore the growing opportunities in the market. With BBC Worldwide s enviable formats catalogue and our combined knowledge and expertise, this agreement will enable us to provide content solutions for broadcasters across the continent, positioning us as the destination for quality television production in Africa.

Duncan Irvine, CEO at Rapid Blue said: We are very excited about this partnership as it provides us with access to tremendous development opportunities, as well as to a deep skills base and support as we continue to grow and develop our staff and the creative and production teams who work with us. The partnership will allow us to accelerate our growth in Africa and increase opportunities for employment and training. In particular, we are looking forward to developing a dynamic drama slate. This is a relatively new development for Rapid Blue but already we have shows being picked up for 2016. It is our continual aim to create world class productions and we see this partnership enabling us to have even more of our shows being broadcast around the world and drawing great audiences in South Africa and Africa.

Rapid Blue will continue to produce programming for BBC Worldwide, alongside existing and new distribution and production partners.

BBC Worldwide s extensive formats catalogue includes Top Gear, The Weakest Link, You re Back in The Room and Luther. Previous BBC Worldwide format sales to the South African market include Strictly Come Dancing, Friends Like These and Dog Eat Dog.

BBC Worldwide has fully owned production bases in the USA, France, India, and Nordics, a joint venture with All3Media in Germany with Tower Productions, and an entertainment format production partnership with FremantleMedia in Australia. BBC Worldwide opened an office in Johannesburg in January 2015.

BBC Worldwide opened an office in Johannesburg in January 2015.

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