ITV Studios Strikes International Deals for Barcroft Shows (EXCLUSIVE)

By Stewart Clarke

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Discovery and Seven Network are among the international buyers for Barcroft Media series after ITV Studios’s sales arm brokered a raft of deals for the shows.

Barcroft runs a suite of YouTube and digital channels and has short and mid-form content on platforms including Facebook Watch. It has had success repurposing these shorter shows into standard length series for linear TV. ITV Studios Global Ent. is distributing several of the linear shows and has struck new deals for them with free and pay-TV broadcasters around the world.

Australia’s Seven has snapped up “Hooked on the Look,” which will play as a 10-part half-hour series. Bell Media in Canada, Polsat in Poland, and Virgin Media in Ireland also picked up the show, which takes a look at people who have cultivated unusual looks and identities.

Discovery has bought motoring series “Ridiculous Rides” for Australia and New Zealand and “Born Different” for its channels in the Iberia region and Russia.

MBC in the Middle East and Viasat in the CEE region also acquired “Ridiculous Rides” and Ananey Channel in Israel and TVN in Poland have taken “Born Different.” Exotic pets series “Beast Buddies” has been sold to Thailand’s Cineplex and Marjan in the Middle East.

“We’re delighted that linear TV audiences around the world can now enjoy the amazing true stories that we’ve incubated and developed as successful digital series brands on our channels,” said Sam Barcroft, CEO of .