By Lou Pizante, The Experientialists
For years, Banijay has dominated our screens — whether its Big Brother contestants self-destructing or Peaky Blinders make crime look stylish — making us laugh, cry, and seriously overestimate our ability to pull off 1920s gangster chic.
But apparently, television wasn’t enough. No, Banijay has decided to crack open reality itself with Banijay Live Studio, a bold new venture into out-of-home entertainment, crafting experiences ranging from virtual reality nightmares (Black Mirror, obviously, in partnership with Univrse) to life-sized action games, immersive exhibitions, and, let’s be honest, probably a dystopian obstacle course based on late-stage capitalism.
But here’s the real shift: Banijay isn’t naive; what they understand, better than most, is that turning IP into a location-based experience isn’t just about slapping a brand name on a building.
Screens are passive. Location-based entertainment is operationally complex, logistically demanding, and requires expertise far beyond media production. It requires expertly crafted experience design, well-executed operations that create a consistent guest experience, and a feasible business model—nothing kills “immersive magic” faster than a bankruptcy filing.
That’s why Banijay has been acquiring the right expertise, bringing in industry veterans who specialize in transforming intangible properties into unmissable, real-world experiences.
Banijay brings the right people on board
One of its biggest moves? Acquiring Balich Wonder Studio in June 2023, the powerhouse behind some of the most ambitious live events on the planet. These are the people who take massive spaces, thousands of performers, complex storytelling, and government-level security concerns, and turn it into a seamless, awe-inspiring live event.
If you’ve ever watched an Olympic opening ceremony and wondered, “How did they pull this off without at least one country accidentally declaring war?”—well, the “how” was probably Balich.
Then there’s LOTCHI, the French start-up proving that history and high-tech don’t have to be enemies, which Banijay acquired just last month.
While most immersive experiences are built from the ground up, LOTCHI asks: “Why build new worlds when you can remix history?” Their signature experience, Luminiscence, has already drawn 350,000 spectators to France’s most sacred spaces, reimagining 800-year-old cathedrals as multimedia masterpieces.
And to make sure it all actually works, they brought in Tristan Desplechin, the guy who looked at a movie theater and thought, “This would be better if the audience was physically inside the film.”
As the founder of Dream Factory, France’s first immersive cinema, Desplechin made a career out of turning passive moviegoers into accidental method actors. Now, he’s bringing that same “what if reality, but more?” energy as head of Banijay Live Studio.
The future of entertainment
If this all sounds like a well-calculated bet on the future of entertainment, that’s because it is.
Out-of-home entertainment is projected to grow 7% annually until 2027, which means that while traditional media is busy fighting streaming wars, Banijay is out here building entire worlds for people to step into.
And let’s consider that for a second. The fact that Banijay has one of the biggest IP catalogs in entertainment means we’re standing at the edge of an era where every piece of media could become an experience.
But where does it stop? Will immersive experiences remain a space for creative risk and original storytelling, or are we heading toward a future where only established screen IP gets the green light?
One thing’s for sure: Banijay Live Studio is redefining how we interact with entertainment—and possibly our entire sense of reality. And if that doesn’t excite you, well, don’t worry. They’ll build a world where it does.
