Wedotv and ZDF Studios launch FAST channel “Legacy”.
CANNES, FRANCE – wedotv, the global ad-supported free streaming network, has partnered with Germany’s ZDF Studios to create and distribute a FAST channel dedicated to just one title: the popular South African drama series “Legacy.”
ZDF Studios already represents the series globally abroad, bringing it to market at 2023’s Mipcom.
While many companies turn to YouTube to build IP, and then turn to streaming services with reams of data about the outcome, the one IP channel — wedotv: Legacy — now created and distributed by wedotv — shows companies approaching IP in the opposite direction. First released in 2020 on South Africa’s M-Net, a division of MultiChoice, now a Canal Plus company, the thriller about how a family tears itself apart in a succession battle has built a huge fan base in South Africa and fame abroad. Now it is leveraging digital technology to open up new audiences.
M-Net’s first TV series “Legacy” also highlights a new path to success – think of Spain’s “The Vow” and “Sueños de Libertad” – by bringing outstanding production values to a new narrative that, despite this, does not hide the heart of TV series melodrama.
This comes with the creators of the series and its fictional world. “Legacy” is produced by South African powerhouse Tshedza Pictures, which was behind the International Emmy-nominated television series “The River” and whose creators, Gwydon Beynon and Phathu Makwarela, created the series.
The film takes place in a world of dazzling opulence, set in the mansion of the Price family, whose patriarch, Sebastian Price, has built Legacy Investments into a billionaire giant. The family mansion is a massive white marble building complete with a swimming pool and rose garden. The women wear stunning fashion numbers, and Sebastian’s wife Dino Price slides down the stairs into an open hatch to reveal a tiny number in the opening minutes.
Sebastian chooses at least two successors in the episode and then rejects them. The first 15 minutes of Movie 1, leading up to his murder, and a succession war where his bitter ex-wife and their unprincipled daughter Felicity will do anything to stop Dino from molding their playboy son into becoming his successor. Legacy swept best telenovela and several other plaudits at the 2021 SAFTA Awards South Africa.
Among a large and remarkably diverse cast of South African stars, the series is headlined by Dawud Minnaar (“Poppie Nongena”), Sean Marco Forster (“Warrior”) and the late Michelle Potts (“Isidingo”), who won SAFTA Golden Horns for Actress and Supporting Actress for her performance.
The award-winning hit series “Legacy” (104″ x 45″) transports viewers into the high-stakes world of billionaire investors – where wealth knows no bounds, rivalries run deep, and family loyalty comes at a deadly price. Behind the glittering facade of the Price dynasty lies a battlefield of power, passion, and betrayal. As long-buried secrets explode and nothing and no one is safe, wedotv and ZDF Studios announced Monday at Mipcom.
“When ZDF Studios came to us with the idea of a dedicated channel for ‘Legacy’, we wanted to make sure that the essential elements of a single successful IP channel were in place: quality, quantity, story and a proven audience ratings generator,” noted Philipp Rotermund, CEO of wedotv. “Legacy” has all of those essential qualities in spades. They’re also incredibly engaging and worth watching, which helps keep viewers engaged in the platform’s ecosystem, which is essential for advertisers.
“There is a real upside to creating and launching a channel like wedotv: ‘Legacy’ – it has a built-in fan base,” said Florian Strait, director of drama at ZDF Studios. “Individual IPs work well because fans can instantly recognize them. ‘Legacy’ is a long-running series that maintains an exceptional level of quality across all episodes.”