International sales success
“The Swarm” is coming to British television
“The Swarm” will be broadcast almost all over Europe. photo
© Staudinger + Franke/ZDF/dpa
The film adaptation of the bestseller “The Swarm” is an enormous success: In Germany it captivates viewers, internationally more and more broadcasters are accessing it.
The ecological thriller series “The Swarm” is an international sales success. The British pay-TV broadcaster Sky has now also secured the broadcasting rights, as the distribution company Beta Film announced at the world’s largest television trade fair, MIPTV, in Cannes, France. Production is slated to air later this year on British channel Sky Max.
ZDF Studios and Beta Film had previously sold the eight-hour series to Spain. Negotiations with an interested party from the USA are “in the final phase”, as reported by Beta Film.
ZDF had managed the project, which cost more than 40 million euros, with many partner broadcasters: France Télévisions, the Italian Rai, the Austrian ORF, the Swiss SRF, Hulu Japan and the Viaplay Group. Viaplay represents the television markets in Scandinavia, Iceland, the Netherlands, the Baltic States and Poland. So “The Swarm” will already be broadcast almost all over Europe.
The film adaptation of Frank Schätzing’s bestseller shows how more and more sea and coastal regions on earth are becoming the scene of mysterious natural phenomena that cost many lives. In the ZDF media library, “Der Schwarm” got off to a better start than any other streaming series: in the first two weeks after the start, the format recorded around 18 million views. Linearly, 6.82 million (24.4 percent) watched the start on ZDF. In the last double episode, there were still 4.58 million (16.4 percent).