Emmy-nominated titles have traditionally been out of reach for local buyers. Many were commissioned as SVOD originals, tied up in volume deals, or reserved for their distributors’ own services overseas. But as studio licensing strategies evolve, second window deals for prestige content are becoming more visible.
Show Tracker data highlights some of the more recent second window deals of several past nominees have entered local markets.
Disney has been the most active in recent years, selling multiple seasons of its award-winning comedy ‘Abbott Elementary’ predominantly to broadcasters. ABC in Australia has acquired three seasons for BVOD service iView. Paramount has taken the title in South Africa (on BET) and Germany (on Comedy Central). In the UK, E4 has secured only two seasons. HBO Max is the only SVOD service to acquire the title in a second window after ABC.
ITVX’s deal with Disney for its originals has resulted in ‘Andor’, ‘The Bear’ and ‘Only Murders in the Building’ all appearing on the AVOD service in the UK, but ITV is not the only buyer of Disney second windows. Prior to the Disney buyout of 20th Century Fox, BBC Two benefited from an FX output deal which included ‘What We Do in the Shadows’. Once it was in Disney’s control, they opted to place the first window for later seasons on Disney+, selling to BBC Two later on.
‘Reservation Dogs’ has been sold in a non-exclusive second window to both CBC Gem and Crave in Canada. The series remains available on Disney+ in the same market. In Brazil, the first season was licensed to Globoplay. Disney now avoids exclusivity in second windows, meaning titles sold to third parties continue to stream on Disney+ in those territories.
The lauded ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoff ‘House of the Dragon’ from Warner Bros. Discovery has also been licensed to third-parties. After its initial run on Sky Atlantic under a multi-market deal, the series was later sold to Joyn in Germany. In Asia-Pacific, second windows have gone to Coupang Play in Korea (after Wavve) and to Sohu Video in China (following Tencent, which still licenses selected HBO content).
Paramount is also engaging in second windows for its previous nominee, ‘Yellowjackets’, licensing it to local buyer Wowow in Japan as well as Netflix for both the US and South African markets.
Even SVOD originals are being licensed out. All seasons of Amazon’s ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ have been acquired by M6+ in France and SBS On Demand in Australia - both AVOD platforms owned by broadcasters.
The first window remains challenging for buyers seeking top-tier US drama and comedy. But the second window is showing promise. The trade-off is clear: no exclusivity. Buyers must weigh the benefit of securing prestige content against the risk of audiences watching later seasons on the original SVOD platform.
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