Blockchain: BNP Paribas is supporting the future of the audiovisual industry
A world premiere! An investment fund specialising in audiovisual production (films and series) offers an investment path entirely based on blockchain: a new way of financing this sector impacted by the health crisis. This innovative financing model based on tokensation (the name taken from the token obtained in exchange for participation in the blockchain) will allow for more liquid, secure and transparent financing. This is a major innovation.
Audiovisual production, a rapidly evolving sector
The health situation has not spared the audiovisual industry, whose codes have already been changed: closed cinema theatres, productions at a standstill, etc. Faced with this unprecedented situation, BNP Paribas continues its commitment to the film and audiovisual industry.
At the same time, this economic situation has generated an explosion in demand for audiovisual content, in particular via VOD and SVOD platforms and TV channel audiences. The figures speak for themselves: the number of subscribers to VOD platforms rose from 88 million in 2019 to 133 million in 2020, with a projection to 197 million in 2025.
Despite the impact of the health crisis, the audiovisual industry as a whole is therefore emerging as a strong and solid growth market, a guarantee of profitability for private investors. However, these have become essential for a specific sector which is not always able to find adequate institutional funding for development. Faced with this challenge, Logical Pictures, a company that has been active for a number of years in the financing of films and series, with great success in France and internationally, is launching an investment fund with the support of BNP Paribas to help players in the audiovisual world: 21 Content Ventures, which provides an innovative response based on blockchain technology.
21 Content Ventures offers professional investors the opportunity to subscribe to its fundraising via a Security Token Offering, or STO. Each security is replaced by a token, a digital asset based on DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology, of which the blockchain is a part), offering many advantages in terms of liquidity and fund transparency. This is where BNP Paribas comes in. The combination of the Group’s various areas of expertise made it possible to design the interfaces of the management platform offered to investors, organise the subscription process, with the application of compliance rules via a secure KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti Money Laundering) path, and the marketing of tokens. This control over the securing of flows and the distribution process was directly managed by Portzamparc, the Group’s subsidiary dedicated to supporting private investors and SME-ISEs on the stock market.
Thanks to its combined expertise in digital banking practices and audiovisual financing, BNP Paribas was able to consolidate Logical Pictures’ innovative model. This support is inherent to the Group’s role and its commitment to cinema, a sector which, more than ever in the current context, must ensure its development by stimulating private investment. As Europe’s leading bank for the film sector, BNP Paribas was ideally placed to support Logical Pictures in the launch of 21 Content Ventures.
BNP Paribas has been supporting and financing the film industry for over 100 years!
Support for the film industry is part of the Group’s DNA. It dates back to the early 20th century. Today, BNP Paribas provides direct or indirect financing for one out of two films produced in France. The Group has formed an Image & Media Business Centre, where more than 60 experts work on film financing across Europe.
In Italy via BNL, in Belgium via BNP Paribas Fortis, and even as far as the United States, where BNP Paribas maintains special links with the largest production studios.
The Group is involved at all stages of the audiovisual value chain: production financing, support for creation, partnerships, festivals, innovation, etc.