More worrying now are the signs that the pandemic’s streaming surge are beginning to tail off after the army of rivals challenging Netflix took a chomp out of its subscriber numbers.
The Squid Game streamer endured a 20pc share price fall at the end of last month when it added 2.5m subscribers in the first quarter of this year, down from the 4m amassed during the same period in 2021.
Now, the question is whether the sluggish performance from the world’s largest streamer was unique to the company, or symptomatic of a wider trend.
The latest subscriber numbers from Disney+ give little room for optimism. In November, the Marvel and Star Wars owner recorded its slowest growth since launching two years ago when it added 2.1m customers for a total of 118m.
Bassetti, who skis and helps run a vineyard he owns in Italy in his downtime, is sanguine about the levels of competition. He says: “For me, there will be 50 streamers in the future, but you may have a smaller streamer [for] just fishing content.
“It is not a matter of how many in my point of view because there will be financial rationale [to having smaller, focused, services].”
While the success of the streamers remains paramount to Banijay’s potential, Bassetti has not lost sight of the importance of traditional broadcasters.
The colossal production house has deep relationships with Britain’s public service broadcasters. The group makes Masterchef for the BBC; Location, Location, Location for Channel 4 and Secret Scotland with Susan Calman for Channel 5.
The conversation strikes a more sombre tone when it turns to the future of the BBC and Channel 4.
Auntie is bracing for another round of swingeing cuts that will impact its programme budget after culture secretary Nadine Dorries said the £159 annual licence fee would be frozen for the next two years before being abolished in 2027.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 is awaiting Ms Dorries verdict as to whether the Great British Bake Off broadcaster should be offloaded into private hands following a public consultation.
Bassetti is not just critical of the fall-out of such existential changes, but is also wary of the idea that European broadcasters should merge to fight the threats posed by Netflix.
“We are very supportive of the current status when it comes to the consultation over the privatisation of Channel 4,” he says.
“It has been very supportive of the creative industries and been successful in exporting many shows around the world.
“To change the natural DNA of Channel 4 that has supported quality and innovation, in my point of view, would be a mistake. Looking at this alongside the freezing of the BBC licence fee, then there is even more reason for concern about this market for the future.”
He added: “We need to take out the idea that in order to compete with streamers you need to privatise or merge. How can you compete with streamers? Even if you do [merge], you are so far from them.”
Bassetti says the better option would be looking to drive more profitability by tweaking their advertising prices or continuing to pursue smaller national subscription streaming services, like ITV and BBC’s BritBox.
If Zuckerberg’s dreams come true then the metaverse could provide an even greater threat to the world of terrestrial television than streaming, as broadcasters fight to stop younger viewers from tuning out to social media services such as Youtube and TikTok.
What may be a new battlefront for the BBC, can only be viewed as a gateway to riches if the company controls the rights to the content.
Banijay may be among the winners if Metaverse takes hold. Just don’t expect Bassetti to find the time to strap on his virtually reality headset anytime soon.
