At MIPCOM in Cannes, the conversation shifted from what is new to what is already owned. ACF Investment Bank and Deadline hosted a roundtable, “Hiding in Plain Sight: The Untapped Value of Legacy IP”, with creators, rights holders, buyers and analysts arguing that legacy IP is an underused revenue engine.
Parrot Analytics set the frame: television shows based on existing IP generate three-and-a-half times the demand of original shows. For films, the multiple is four times. In a market where buyers have constrained budgets, built-in recognition lowers the risk of a green light.
Old brands, new money
Keith Chapman, creator of Bob the Builder and PAW Patrol, said the creator’s job is to build a brand, not a TV series. PAW Patrol is nearing 800 episodes, its films have grossed over $500M at the box office, and merchandise sales run into double-digit billions.
WildBrain’s chief content officer Stephanie Betts said the Peanuts question was “how do we make it not your grandmother’s Snoopy?” BBC Studios’ Shelley Macintyre said Doctor Who, now over 60 years old, is kept alive between seasons through YouTube’s The Whoniverse Show and the multiplatform project Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker, so fandom is ready when the main show returns.
YouTube flips the sales pitch
Animaj, which revived Pocoyo and Maya the Bee, has built Pocoyo past a billion YouTube views a month. CEO Sixte de Vauplane described the sequence as B2C2B: build a direct audience first, then return to broadcasters and streamers with an audience to sell, not just a show. That flips the traditional pitch and gives producers more bargaining power.
Banijay’s chief content officer, operations, Lucas Green, said familiar formats such as Big Brother, MasterChef and Survivor – now part of a library of over 265,000 hours after the All3Media deal – are easier to extend into live events, sport and merchandise because audiences already trust them.
Signals to watch and ways to unlock cash
The panel advised going beyond ratings. Parrot Analytics’ Jaime Otero said the firm tracks search, social interaction, social video and content creation to spot “diamonds in the rough” such as Bluey and Money Heist, which started as okay local performers and then travelled.
- Demand multiple: TV built on existing IP earns 3.5x demand; movies 4x.
- Audience proof: A YouTube fandom can become the asset you sell to platforms.
- Liquidity: Easttree buys profit participations; Versos AI licences footage for AI training.
There are financing routes for rights holders that prefer cash now. Easttree Media, backed by funds managed by BlackRock, buys passive profit participations upfront. Versos AI turns raw and rough-cut footage into AI-training data, including multicam material, which studios are increasingly being asked to supply.
Lion Forge Entertainment’s adaptation of the picture book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, sold to Nickelodeon, will test the YouTube-first route with shortform before it becomes a full series. The message from Cannes: legacy IP is not just nostalgia – it is demand that can be measured, financed and sold.
Source: Deadline
