On the third day of Natpe Budapest 2025, we caught up with Kanal D’s Sangerim Zhakhina, Sales Manager for CIS, CEE, and Baltics, and Önay Devrim, Sales Executive for CEE & Baltics, to discuss the company’s perspective on the market, their current highlights, and what makes this year’s edition so valuable for them.
What were your impressions of NATPE Budapest 2025?
“It was quite delightful for us. We had busy meetings, and it was rather a packed event,” said Önay Devrim. “In terms of content, we had the opportunity to have longer and more in-depth meetings with customers. In general, CEE and the Baltics are planned regions, so most companies had already made their programs in advance.”
Önay has also commented on the timing of NATPE Budapest 2025: “In this process, we started to talk about what companies could do from September onwards, which was actually an important opportunity to strengthen our relationships with customers and increase our investment for the future. It was a really good event. Especially for Hungary-based customers, it was much more meaningful for us to be here. It was a good closing for us before the new season. In July and August, customers usually focus on screenings. By the end of August, our busy period will start again. So this event was a great closing for us.”
“NATPE Budapest 2025 gave us a more personal touch, where we had longer meetings with our current clients. So we’ve got to give more details, unlike 30-minute sessions in MIPCOM,” added Sangerim Zhakhina. “These markets are also very important in order to study them more and understand their needs better. We also came very well-prepared; we did our homework and took notes before the meeting. Many clients were pleasantly surprised, saying things like, ‘You already know what we need!’ That was a great confirmation that we did a good job.”
Which titles have you been highlighting at NATPE Budapest 2025?
Önay Devrim: “We highlighted our newest titles like Family Burden, Farewell Letter, and The Secret of Pearls, and of course, our evergreens and strong library titles. People still ask about our library titles.”
Sangerim Zhakhina: “I also think that in CEE, there are a lot of thematic channels, and we paid special attention to our culinary show, Arda’s Kitchen, which fits perfectly into thematic or entertainment channels. We have highlighted the channels’ special slots between the Turkish series, where they can place our culinary show.”
Sangerim has also delved into their formats: “And the second highlight was the formats. Because this region is increasingly producing local originals, there’s a growing interest in adapting our successful stories, as we did in Portugal. I think it’s the new reality of the market: we can sell the finished content at the same time, but if you want to keep the production in-house and also have a strong story, you should look at our formats. In our package, we have new titles, a library, and adaptable formats for niche channels, including our culinary show, Arda’s Kitchen.”
