Industry

Banijay today announces the addition of Tooco to its local holding – Banijay France. A specialist in the creation, development and management of new formats, the brand will focus on originating concepts for the French and international markets.

Driven by creative forces, Aurélien Lipiansky and Mikaël Moreau, Tooco is already on the map after the renowned success of French format, Guess My Age, which has to date, travelled to 22 countries including Italy, Spain, and Germany. Most recently, it was behind Le club des invincibles, produced in partnership with Banijay’s Air Production. Since its inception in 2015, the label has been hugely diverse in its offering, spanning game shows, entertainment, factual entertainment, and reality TV, and will continue to operate with this breadth of focus.

Aurélien Lipiansky, President, Tooco: “Mikaël and I are proud to be joining Banijay, which has long understood the importance of investing in French format creation, and we hope to benefit from the power and sales force of the group internationally to travel our ideas worldwide. This is a strong challenge, a logical continuation for Tooco and we are delighted to start this new adventure."

François de Brugada, President, Banijay France: "Tooco is a fantastic addition to our French portfolio. Aurélien and Mikaël are among the best format creators in our country, and we are proud to support and provide a home for them, where they can lean on a world-class global network of producers to travel their shows. Our brands have long transcended borders, and we have no doubt, with these two, there is a new generation of hits just on the horizon.”

In joining platform agnostic Banijay, the pair are creatively free and can subsequently craft ideas for both linear broadcasters and streamers. Already, Tooco has a healthy development slate, with several innovative game shows at pilot stage across the UK, Italy and France. Via the group’s network of over 120 production labels, the business can now lean on the collaborative spirit of the organisation in seeding out its IP for production. Banijay Rights will act on the company’s behalf to distribute its content.