Europe’s top tv, radio and program production company RTL has bought the German rights to the Untold Arctic Wars documentary series. The series has spread around the world this autumn.
Untold Arctic Wars, the winner of best history documentary at the World Media Festival in Hamburg and finalist at the Berlin International TV Series Festival, continues to conquer the world. The series has already aired in Finland, Norway and Denmark.
In Norway the viewing figures are remarkable. Compared to the same slot’s figures a year ago, we’ve doubled the number of viewers. So it’s safe to say we’ve succeeded.
Anna-Reeta Eksymä, screenwriter and showrunner
In Europe, the series has been acquired in all the Baltic countries, Eastern European countries, the Netherlands, Belgium and most recently in Germany by Europe’s top media giant RTL. Previous buyers include prominent companies like The Walt Disney Company, National Geographic and Al Jazeera in the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa.
I feel we’ve finally made a breakthrough into the international market, in terms of economic success as well.
Teemu Hostikka, Executive producer
Significant breakthroughs in Asia
In Asia, Untold Arctic Wars has been acquired by major streaming services in South Korea and China, two separate companies in both countries. In addition to Chinese iQIYI, Bytedance, the parent company behind TikTok, bought the rights to the series. In South Korea, the rights were acquired by SBS as well.
We're talking about platforms used by millions, as unknown as they may be to us here in Finland. We’re continuing to work closely with our distributor TVF International, and I still feel this is only the beginning.
Teemu Hostikka
RTL Group is a leading entertainment company across broadcast, streaming, content and digital, with 56 television channels, eight streaming services and 36 radio stations. The Group’s families of TV channels are either number one or number two in six European countries. RTL Group is also the owner of Fremantle Group.
Untold Arctic Wars is a Yle Original series produced by NTRNZ media. The first season focuses on the events of World War II from an arctic perspective. The series has been sold to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, China, the National Geographic channel in the Benelux countries, Al Jazeera’s History Channel and RTL, the biggest television company in Europe. It is distributed by TVF international. The series won the main prize in the 2022 World Media Festival – Television & Corporate Media Awards and was a finalist at the Berlin International TV Festival. The production of the second season is underway.
