LONDON: Banijay is losing one of its longest-serving dealmakers, but Carlotta Rossi Spencer is hardly disappearing from the industry. After 11 years at the super-indie, Rossi Spencer is stepping down to launch Impeto, her own international strategic advisory business, while staying connected to Banijay in a consultancy capacity.
It is a neat exit from a career that has tracked the entertainment group’s own transformation. Rossi Spencer joined Banijay Italy as head of formats and development before moving to London in 2015 as head of format acquisitions. She held that role until 2022, when Banijay shifted her focus towards branded content business development.
That move proved telling. As advertising, entertainment and creator economies increasingly collided, Rossi Spencer was tasked with finding ways for Banijay’s sprawling production ecosystem to generate new commercial opportunities. Her remit covered partnerships with advertisers, local labels and talent across the group.
In 2023, she took charge of Banijay Branded Entertainment, created to turn the group’s global production capabilities into solutions for brands at both local and international levels.
The strategy reflected a wider shift in television. Production groups are no longer simply selling programmes to broadcasters and platforms. Their intellectual property, talent and creative infrastructure can also become vehicles for brands. Rossi Spencer’s role sat squarely at that intersection.
During her tenure, she oversaw partnerships including a deal involving Launchmetrics and Banijay Iberia’s creative agency IMA, a strategic alliance with advertising specialist indie And So Production, and a development deal with presenter and producer Aidy Smith.
Banijay Entertainment chief executive Marco Bassetti described Rossi Spencer as a “key member of the team for over a decade”, highlighting her work across acquisitions, strategic development and the creation of Banijay Branded Entertainment.
Rossi Spencer’s next move is therefore less a clean break than a change of vantage point. Through Impeto, she plans to advise companies, creators and brands on business, content, branded entertainment and digital innovation strategies.
That could prove timely. As entertainment companies compete for attention across television, streaming, social media and branded content, the ability to connect creative assets with commercial strategy is becoming increasingly valuable.
Her departure also comes at a particularly significant moment for Banijay. The group completed its mega-merger with All3Media last month and has since begun the complicated task of integrating two major production and distribution businesses.
The merger has already triggered several senior exits, including All3Media International distribution chief Louise Pedersen, director of corporate development Steven Brown and chief operating officer Sara Geater.
Rossi Spencer is the most senior Banijay executive to leave the enlarged company so far. But her continued consultancy relationship with Banijay means the door is not being slammed shut. For a business navigating its biggest integration yet, retaining access to a veteran who understands both content and commercial partnerships could be useful.
For Rossi Spencer, meanwhile, the move marks a logical next chapter. She is taking the experience built inside one of the world’s biggest independent entertainment groups and turning it into a business of her own.
