CANNES, France — wedotv, the global free ad-supported streaming network, has partnered with Germany’s ZDF Studios to create and distribute a FAST channel dedicated to one title: South Africa’s groundbreaking drama series Legacy.
ZDF Studios is already representing the series globally, launching it on the market at Mipcom in 2023.
While many companies look to YouTube to build their IP and approach streaming services with large amounts of data about the results, wedotv: Legacy, a single IP channel currently created and distributed by wedotv, shows companies approaching IP in the opposite way. First released in 2020 on South Africa’s M-Net (a division of MultiChoice and now a Canal Plus company), the thriller, which depicts how a family is torn apart by a succession dispute, built a huge fandom in South Africa and achieved fame overseas. We are currently leveraging digital to reach new audiences.
“Legacy,” M-Net’s first telenovela, also came to mind with Spanish “Vows” and “Sueños de Libertad.” By bringing premium production values to the novella, it emphasizes a new path to success, yet the melodramatic heart of the telenovela is not hidden.
This involves the creators of the series and their fictional world. “Legacy” is produced by leading South African company Tsedza Pictures, whose series was created by Gwydon Beynon and Patu Makwalela, co-founders of the International Emmy Award-nominated telenovela “The River.”
The film is set in the mansion of the Price family, a world of dazzling luxury where patriarch Sebastian Price has built Legacy Investments into a billionaire behemoth. The family mansion is made of huge white marble and is full of pools and rose gardens. The women wear stunning fashion numbers, with Sebastian’s wife Dineo Price sliding down a flight of stairs in the opening minutes, flashing some revealing cleavage.
Sebastian chooses and rejects at least two successors in episode six. The first 15 minutes of 1 prompt his own murder, and a succession war begins with a bitter ex-wife and her unprincipled daughter Felicity, who will do everything in their power to stop Dineo from grooming his playboy son as his heir. Legacy swept the Best Television Novel and multiple other awards at South Africa’s 2021 SAFTA Awards.
Packed with South African A-listers and a particularly diverse cast, the series is headlined by Dawid Minar (Poppy Nonghena), Sean-Marco Forster (Warrior) and the late Michelle Botes (Isidingo), whose performance won the SAFTA Golden Horn Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
The award-winning blockbuster series “Legacy” (104 x 45 feet) transports viewers into the high-stakes world of investing millionaires. There, wealth is limitless, competition is deep, and family loyalty carries a deadly price. Behind the Price dynasty’s glittering façade lies a battlefield of power, passion, and betrayal. Wedotv and ZDF Studios announced at Mipcom on Monday, as long-buried secrets explode and nothing and no one is safe.
“When ZDF Studios came to us with the idea of a dedicated channel for ‘Legacy,’ we wanted to make sure the key elements of a successful single IP channel were in place: quality, quantity, story and a proven viewership generator,” said Philipp Rothermund, CEO of wedotv. “Legacy” has all of these important qualities. It’s also incredibly compelling and binge-worthy, allowing you to keep viewers drawn into the platform’s ecosystem, which is essential for advertisers. ”
“Creating and launching a ‘legacy’ channel like wedotv has a huge advantage: it has a built-in fan base,” says Florian Streit, Director of Drama at ZDF Studios. “A single IP channel works well because it’s instantly recognizable to fans. ‘Legacy’ is also a long-running series that maintains an exceptional level of quality across every episode.”
