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FormatspOFC OctNov13
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Formats
Television Business International
TBIvision.com
October/November 2013
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Formatsp04 Global Agency OctNov13.indd 1
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TB IFORM ATS INSIDE THIS ISSUE
18
6 DATA
EurodataTV unveils the numbers that show new light-hearted formats
are pulling in the ratings for global broadcasters
8 VIEWPOINT
22
Nordisk Film TV on why the Nordic region isn’t just about crime drama
12 SCREENWATCH:DATE NIGHT
10 PEOPLE
Warner Bros. head to Cannes on its ‘most authetic’ dating show yet
Millionaire creators launch venture;
Banijay restructures Finland;
Shine
America hires programming VP;
Shed US taps Firecracker for exec
18 TV MAKES A CONSCIOUS EFFORT
12 ZODIAK
Andy Fry ask if entertainment formats have become more caring
Zodiak Rights hits the market with a wacky Japanese gameshow and
high-end Belgian studio format Versus
22 REALITY ROUND THE CLOCK?
Is time running out for 24/7primetime reality series?
14 SONY
26 LAST WORD
Wayne Garvie says Sony Pictures Television’s latest slate comprises
everything from a Silver River gardening format to a reality horror show
VIMN’s Kerry Taylor on how social media influences reality TV development
CONTENTS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
For the latest in TV programming news visit TBIVISION.COM
TBI Formats October/November 2013
5
Formatsp06-7 Data OctNov13scJW
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TBIFORM ATS NEW SHOWS
FALL SEASON OVERVIEW:
EARLY TRENDS
Jul
ia Espérance, m edia consul
tantatEur
odataTV and servi
ce m anagerforthe New on the Air
program m ing servi
ce, analysesthe top new showsfrom the latestTV season and findsthatform atswith a positive m essage orlight-h
earted in tone are winning eyeballs
hether through comedy, challenge or music-based
shows, broadcasters are still looking to lift the
mood of the audience. As the economic
depression lingers, positive TV is still going strong
and the early fall season schedules hve been
packed with light-hearted launches. Scandi countries have built a
worldwide reputation for dark crime series in the genre that has come to be
known as Nordic Noir. However, several successful comedy launches this
season prove its not all gloom in Northern Europe.
W
The Danish sitcom Tomgang, about three friends hanging out in a
kiosk discussing their relationships, broke records on TV2 Zulu for its
premiere with a share six times higher than the primetime slot’s average.
On the same channel, the hybrid sitcom Sjit Happens gives the viewers
a chance to see their funny stories reenacted on TV by actors. They submit
the stories online and, the evidence would suggest, that the audience seem
to being enjoying the chance to see their memorable moments centre
stage. The premiere episode more than doubled the slot average.
The trend for offbeat comedy is not confined to the Nordic territories. In
TOP NEW LAUNCHES:EARLY FALL SEASON
Country
Ch annel
Orig inal Title
G enre
L aunch D ate
Timeslot
D enmark
TV2 Z u lu
Tomgang
S itcom
01/09 /2013
P rimetime
S ou th K orea
M net
W in
R eality competition
23/08 /2013
P rimetime
D enmark
TV3
S tars in D anger
19 /08 /2013
P rimetime
U nited S tates C able
A& E
M od ern D ad s
R eality show
21/08 /2013
P rimetime
C hina
Z hejiang S at
I’m Not A S tar
26 /08 /2013
P rimetime
U nited K ingd om
C hannel 5
W entworth
D rama series
28 /08 /2013
P rimetime
D enmark
TV2 Z u lu
S jit H appens
S itcom
09 /09 /2013
P rimetime
Q ué bec
C anal Vie
P imp M on G arage
R eality show
21/08 /2013
D ay time
R u ssia
Frid ay
Z vez d anu ty e
C omed y show
24 /08 /2013
A ccess P rimetime
Belgiu m North
2BE
That A wk ward M oment
W hen M om E nterted
C omed y show
02/09 /2013
P rimetime
C hina
H u nan S at
S hining D ay s
D rama series
27 /08 /2013
P rimetime
Netherland s
R TL 5
H et W ild e Oosten
R eality soap
29 /08 /2013
P rimetime
S ou th K orea
TVN
P efect S inger Vs
Variety show
30/08 /2013
P rimetime
G ermany
R TL
D ie Z wie - G ottschalk
& Jau ch G egen A lle
G ame show
09 /09 /2013
P rimetime
Belgiu m North
VIE R
The M illion P ou nd D rop
G ame show
31/08 /2013
P rimetime
M ethod ology : best performing new program premiere in terms of mark et share, compared to the slot average.
P eriod : A u gu st 19 - S eptember 16 , 2013
Based only on fiction and entertainment
Finished formats are ex clu d ed
6 TBI Formats October/November 2013
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TBIFORM ATS NEW SHOWS
North Belgium, the comedy series That Awkward Moment When Mom
Entered, featuring sketches about excruciatingly awkward situations that
people end up in, did not go unnoticed on channel 2BE with a share that
doubled that of the slot.
Talent shows remain a force to be reckoned and are looking to
differentiate themselves with original concepts. Several local formats have
seen the light in Asia this fall, and all have registered strong results, at least
doubling their respective slots. In the South Korean WIN on music
channel Mnet makes viewers fully responsible for the candidates’ fate, as
two teams of trainee singers fiercely compete to become the next Korean
singing star. Also in South Korea, Perfect Singer VS on CJ E&M’s pay TV
channel TV Variety Network is proving popular. The format features teams
of professional and amateur singers, who have their performances
measured with the help of a device measuring their ability to hold a tune
and keep rhythm. China is betting on another type of candidate in I’m Not
A Star, which features celebrities’ kids competing against each other
through singing and dancing challenges.
Beyond these new formats, established entertainment brands are still
going strong and continue their spread worldwide. In Denmark, the diving
competition Stars in Danger made waves and headlines with excellent
results for its premiere on TV3, as did the Belgium adaptation of Money
Drop on VIER, showing that gameshows are still one of the stalwarts of the
entertainment genre, especially when the aim is to win big. TBI
INTERNATIONAL TREND SETTERS
Format Type
Prog ram
Av Sh are (% )*
Ch annel
Av Sh are (% )*
Added
Sh are*
Original
13.1
2.2
495%
Original
1.6
0.3
4 33%
A d aptation
19
4 .3
34 2%
4 .5
1.4
221%
Original
Original
4 .1
1.4
19 3%
Original
12.6
4 .8
16 3%
Original
5 .4
2.2
14 5 %
Original
8 .1
3.5
131%
Original
1.6
0.7
129 %
Original
14 .2
6 .4
122%
Original
8 .8
4
120%
Original
9 .8
4 .5
118 %
Original
1.7
0.8
113%
Original
24 .6
11.8
108 %
A d aptation
17 .4
8 .6
102%
* A ll ind ivid u als
S ou rce: E u rod ata TV W orld wid e/R elevant partners
W hile many of the shows referenced in E u rod ata TV’s analy sis are ju st
lau nching, others have a proven track record in international mark ets.
The strong d ebu t of S tars in D anger (pictu red ) in D enmark comes
as its d istribu tor Banijay International cu ts a slew of international
d eals for the d iving series.
In S cand inavia, it had alread y been pick ed u p by TV3 in S wed en
and TV2 in Norway by the time the D anish d eal was annou nced in
M ay. In R u ssia C hannel One will has tak en an 8 x 6 0mins ru n of the
entertainment format, with R u ssian prod u cer R ed S q u are on
prod u ction d u ty.
In L atin A merica S ony P ictu res Television represents the format and
has sold it to C hilean commercial broad caster C hilevisió n, which took
a 12x 120mins version of the format. The local version is titled S alta
S i P u ed es (Ju mp If Y ou C an).
Fox has also ru n the show in the U S where it was prod u ced by
Bu nim/M u rray, which is part of the Banijay G rou p. The Tu rmspringen
format was originally created by G erman prod u cer Brainpool, which
Banijay acq u ired in 2009 . The format has stok ed controversy, spark ing
a formats row with E y ework s, which also lau nched its celebrity d iving
format, C elebrity S plash, at M IP C OM 2012.
E nd emol’s M oney D rop format, meanwhile, was top of a recent list
measu ring the valu e created by TV formats in E u rope and E nd emol
was also the lead ing d istribu tor by overall valu e created by TV
formats in 2012, followed by FremantleM ed ia and then ITV S tu d ios
G lobal E ntertainment. M oney D rop generated U S $ 213.4 million of
valu e in 2012 ahead of 2011 winner C ome D ine W ith M e in second
with U S $ 19 4 .6 million.
7
Formatsp08 Viewpoint OctNov13jwSC
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VIEWPOINT, JACOB HOULIND CEO AND PETER HANSEN CCO, NORDISK FILM TV
VIEWPOINT
JACOB HOULIND CEO & PETER HANSEN CCO, NORDISK FILM TV
NORDIC CREATIVITY:MORE THAN JUST NOIR
n the last few years, scripted
programming from the Nordic region
has been getting a lot of press, and with
good reason: shows such as The Killing,
Borgen and The Bridge are blue-chip
dramas at the very top of their game.
But Nordic TV isn’t just about moody
detectives and winter landscapes. In fact this is
one of the most imaginative and daring markets
in the world, and long before Sarah L
und made
ugly sweaters a must-have fashion item it was
leading the charge in industry creativity. Y
ou
might be surprised to know that some of your
favourite shows from American, British and
European screens actually originated up here in
the far north.
Take Survivor – the granddaddy of the
competitive reality genre. Nowadays any
commissioner would see ‘hit’ written all over this
idea, but back in the late 1990s, when Charlie
Parsons and Bob Geldof were pitching it to UK
broadcasters, that wasn’t the case. Or, even if it
was, the risk associated with producing an
untested and slightly wacky paper format was too
great. In fact it was Swedish broadcaster SVT
that first decided to take a chance on Survivor,
with local indie Strix producing the first episode
of the local version Expedition Robinson in 1997
.
And guess what?It was a big hit.
As often happens in this part of the world,
success in one Nordic country led quickly to
I
local adaptations in the others, so Denmark’s
version launched in 1998, and Norway’s in
1999. It wasn’t until a year later, in 2000, that
Mark Burnett got the first of what currently
totals 26seasons on CBS in the US.
Of course, our broadcasters have plenty of
homegrown ideas to choose from too, many of
which have become major international format
successes. Friday TV’s Minute to Win It and
Clash of the Choirs;The Farm and The Bar,
both created by Strix;our own formats 7
1
Degrees North, FC Nerds and Sensing Murder;
the history of Nordic production is one of highly
creative content being commissioned by bold
broadcasters, which then spread around the
world. Not only that, but Nordic countries are
frequently first-mover markets on format
adaptation, being among the first to produce
local versions of shows such as Dancing with
the Stars and The Voice.
How was this environment created?A lot of it
is down to sheer siz
e – this is a case where the
little guy comes out on top. Our small, relatively
wealthy, relatively well-educated populations are
very critical and not afraid to voice their
opinions. Like many small communities,
Nordic countries are fiercely proud of their
identities and their citiz
ens like to see
themselves on screen. Broadcasters feel that
demand and it pushes them to take risks on
formats, rather than playing it safe with
Itwasin factSwedish broadcasterSVT
thatfirstdecided to take achance on
Survivor, with Strix producing the first
episode ofExpedition Robinson in
1997. And guesswhat?Itwasabig hit.
acquired content from abroad.
Another feature of a small population base is
a lot of movement between professional fields,
bringing the skills acquired in one area to
another. That means that in the TV industry we
have a lot of people with backgrounds in things
like journalism, law or business. They have a
whole new set of experiences to bring to us oldtime TV producers and a different view on the
world that results in a different kind of creativity.
This goes for commissioners too, who are
thinking outside the box and are asking more
questions than just how a show rated in other
countries as they make decisions about what to
take on.
For a company like Nordisk, or our friends at
Strix among many others, if one of our
production companies is developing an idea for
a local broadcaster then it’s important for us to
know that this idea could be adapted by the
other producers within our group. That in turn
leads to an instant multi-territory track record,
paving the way for format adaptation in other
parts of the world.
Take a show like Mentor, for example, a new
show from Nordisk Denmark that will be going
on air on DR1 in August. DR has taken a huge
risk with this format, putting a brand new show
in its biggest entertainment slot just at the
period when Danes are returning from
summer holidays. At the same time throughout
the show’s development we have been
consciously ensuring that it has strong format
pillars and a lot of room for Nordisk’s producers
in Norway, Sweden and Finland to also put their
own stamp on it, because one of our goals is
always to have a hit not just in one country, but
in four – and then of course in many more.
The march of Nordic scripted content across
the world is a great thing for everyone. The
follow-on effect of this will hopefully be that it
causes our great format business to become
even stronger. TBI
Formatsp09 Shine OctNov13.indd 1
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M ONITOR PEOPLE
ON THE MOVE
TBI takesa look atthe latestcom ingsand goingsin the internationaltelevi
sion form ats
businessand reportson who’
sm ovi
ng where
The creatorsofWho Wants to be a Millionaire?and formerbossofHatTrick and Celador
have joined forcesto launch anew firm, Boxatricks. MichaelWhitehilland David Briggs
created Millionaire, which wenton to become aglobalhitand willbe creative directors.
COLMAN HUTCHINSON willtake the same title. FormerHatTrick Productionsand
CeladorProductionsexecSteve Springford willbe the Boxatricksmanaging director.
HatTrick hasrecruited Andy Rowe from Endemoland he willjoin the UK indie producer
nextmonth. Rowe’
srecentcreditsinclude execproducing six episodesofTotal Wipeout for
BBC One in the UK. HisappointmentasexecproduceratHatTrick comessoon after12
Yard founderDavidYoung rejoined the company to develop and coproduce new formats.
Banijay Group hasappointed anew CEO foritsFinnish businessfollowing the departure of
PetteriAhomaa, who isjoining localbroadcasterChannel4. JOONAS HYTÖNEN hasbeen
appointed chiefexecofarestructured Finnish businessand took up hispostin September.
FormerbossAhomaaisreturning to the Finnish sportsbroadcasting sectorwith Channel4.
Banijay’
sFinnish prodco SolarTelevision isnow known asBanijay Finland.
Talpahasrejigged itsinternationaldepartmentgiving Etienne De Jong apermanentrole,
making him head ofinternationalproduction. De Jong haspreviously worked atEndemol
and All3Media’
snow defunctWhite Smoke. OtherchangesatTalpainclude Gepke
Nederlofbeing appointed head ofsalesand André Ademaappointed businessdirector.
ShineAmericahasrecruited Robin Feinberg asVP, programming and RACHEL DAX
asVP, production. Feinberg hasworked on seriesincluding LegallyBlonde andThe Biggest
Loser and willoversee currentunscripted programming initiativesforShine America. Dax,
who wasformerly head ofproduction forHigh Noon Entertainment’
swestcoastoperations,
willhelp oversee allday-to-day production atShine’
sUS arm.
Ben Silverman’
smultimediastudio Electushashired ABC Entertainmentalternative
entertainmentexecCorie Henson to become executiveVP, unscripted television. Henson
previously oversaw production ofABC unscripted seriesincluding Dancing With the Stars,
SharkTankand Extreme Makeover.
WarnerBros.-owned Shed Mediahashired two new programming executivesasitseeksto
ramp up itsreality programming activity in the US. DAN SNOOK joinsShed MediaUS from
FirecrackerFilmswhere he wasseniorVP, development.AtShed he willtake on the same
role. Also joining isDave Kuba, who comesfrom High Noon. He willtake on apostofVP,
development.
NBCUniversal-owned Monkey Kingdom hasrecruited anew executive producer,Ollie
Brack, from FremantleMedia’
sUK prodcoTalkback. He willwork acrossUK-based
producerMonkey’
sentertainmentand alternati
ve formatsforthe US and UK markets.
NBCU said he willplay an instrumentalrole in creating talent-led shows.
MERETE MORTENSEN isstepping down from herposition asmanaging directorofthe
Danish arm ofScandinavia’
sMetronome to launch herown company within the Shine
Group. She isimmediately being replaced by Metronome Productions’vice MD and
directorofprogrammesKentNikolajasen atShine’
sCopenhagen-based production
company. Mortensen’
snew company willlaunch atthe end of2013.
THE PRIME TIME FORMAT THAT WILL
PUSH YOUR STARS
TO THEIR LIMITS!
WITH
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Formastp11 Armoza OctNov13.indd 1
16/09/2013 15:45
Formatsp12 Zodiak Monitor OctNov13scJWsc
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M ONITOR ZODIAK RIGHTS
FORMATS IN FOCUS:ZODIAK RIGHTS
odiak’s two big format launches
for MIPCOM stretch from the
wacky Japanese-originated end of
the market to the premium highend studio format world.
Zodiak inked a development deal with
regional Japanese broadcaster ABC last year
and heads into MIPCOM with the first fruit of
that effort. Unlike some of the other deals
between western and Japanese companies, the
agreement was focused on working up original
concepts rather than mining a catalogue for IP
that could be reworked for western audiences.
Grab It. Hold It. Count It!, the show in
question, is about to launch on ABC, meaning
that Zodiak will go into the market with
finished episodes of the Japanese show for
buyers as well as supporting ratings from the
first episodes.
The concept fits with the inventive, craz
y
ideas the market has come to expect from a
Japanese-inspired show. In each episode
several two-person teams travel to a celebrity’s
wacky mansion – actually a TV studio – and
attempt to grab real bank notes in various
weird and wonderful ways, for example, while
dangling from a crane. They then have to hold
on to the cash and in the final stage, count it,
while an array of distractions take place all
around them. How accurate the couple is in
adding up the money they have grabbed
decides how much they get to keep.
“
There’s a lot of cash on screen,”says
Barnaby Shingleton, head of entertainment,
Zodiak Rights. “
It’s very wacky and looks
different to if a similar concept had been
produced in the West, there’s a lot of craz
iness
and slapstick in there.”
The set is reversioned to suit the celeb who
is hosting and Shingleton says it is scalable and
can be made cost effectively, not least because
of the tone of the show. “
It’s like Killer Karaoke,
it can look a little rough around the edges, but
that’s part of the comedic feel and its charm.
We think of it as a companion piece to Killer
Karaoke, which we have sold around Europe,
into Asia and will be launching in Mexico
soon. It’s not just another talent show and its
not emotionally costly to watch, and I think
people want that at the moment.”
Z
Zodiak’s other big launch is Versus
(pictured), which is a high-end studio format
for primetime family audiences.
The RDF format was picked up by Frenchlanguage Belgian free-to-air broadcaster RTBF.
It is being produced by Belgian production
company Kanakna.
The whole audience plays the game in which
a series of finely balanced duels take place, for
example World Champion cyclist Philippe
Gilbert racing a postman in a bike race – the
twist being the professional rider is on the
postman’s 40kg bike and the postman on the
Tour de France rider’s 7
kg racing machine.
Other challenges in the RTBF version
include Miss Belgium taking on a lumberjack
in a log-chopping contest – she has a chainsaw,
but has never used one before, and he has a
regular saw. Some duels are studio-based and
others staged and shown on VT.
The audience decides who think is the
winner and if they are right, move on to the
next round. The remaining participants after
eight challenges share the cash priz
e. If all
the contestants are eliminated the previously
ejected participants get back into the game and
it continues.
The show requires a healthy budget, not
least because of the amphitheatre-esque set,
and is likely to end up with big broadcasters or
the larger channels from smaller territories.
As well as having the French-language
version and fresh ratings for MIPCOM,
Zodiak has made an English-language minipilot that is fronted by presenter Gabby Logan.
“
It’s an important format for us as a lot of
Zodiak’s companies, RDF, Kanakna and
Zodiak Rights, are involved,”says Shingleton.
Buyers will get an up-close view of the show
at MIPCOM with Zodiak planning a full runthrough in the Palais on the Tuesday of the
market (October 8). TBI
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M ONITOR SONY
SONY SHOWS OFF ITS SIX PACK
Sony’
screati
ve bossWayne
Garvie talksaboutSony
PicturesTelevision’
senlarged
slate offormatsforMIPCOM
ony Pictures Television has been
bulking up and its growing stable of
production companies are creating
a pipeline of formats for the
international market that can sit
alongside the US scripted shows that come out
of LA. This MIPCOM the return on investment
in prodcos can be seen in the formats slate.
This time a year ago it had one major new
format for buyers in Cannes, the Israelioriginated physical gameshow Raid the Cage.
This year it has six formats, including the first
new show from Silver River, Daisy Goodwin’s
UK-based factual entertainment-focused prodco,
which it bought last March.
The headline grabbing properties in the new
line-up are physical horror gameshow Release
the Hounds, in which terrified contestants
must escape from a pack of dogs, and Milky
Way Mission, a Dutch-originated show that
puts contestants through astronaut training
and fires the winner into space.
Milky Way Mission is produced by SPTowned prodco Tuvalu for Dutch public
broadcast channel Ned1 and sees celebrities put
through weeks of ultra tough space training.
“
These are extreme physical and mental
challenges, they go underwater and experience
extreme G-force,”explains Wayne Garvie, chief
creative officer, international production, at
SPT. “
The contestants battle each other to win a
ticket to space and to be an astronaut. There
have been other space shows but they don’t
actually send people to space.”
Release the Hounds (pictured) is a one-off
horror event show from SPT’s Gogglebox for
ITV2 in the UK, which will air it at Halloween.
“
This show is genuinely a breakthrough,”
Garvie claims. “
The horror genre is ubiquitous
in movies and in youth and gaming culture, but
no-one has done it on TV. We said why not take
the genre and make a reality TV competition.”
In the show three people are taken to a creepy
stately home and, as day turns to night, face various
horror-related challenges that employ the jumps
and frights fans of the genre love. The winner
S
receives a key that unlocks a priz
e chest and gets to
leave the house. The twist at that point is that they
only keep the cash they have won if they can make
it out of the grounds of the stately home, while
being pursued by a pack of dogs, which Garvie says
is “
terrifying”
.
He notes the show is too edgy for most
broadcaster’s primetimes, but the youth demo
it appeals to will make it interesting for a range
of channels. “
There are interesting things
happening with new platforms,”he adds. “
This
is one we might want to talk to a Netflix about”
.
The Daisy Goodwin-produced show,
meanwhile, was originally born out of the
producer and author’s notion of taking the
genteel hobby of flower arranging to TV. It was
subsequently developed into competitive
gardening show Grow, Make, Eat, which has
been commissioned by BBC Two in the UK, the
channel that launched another show about an
outwardly sedate pastime, cake making, with The
Great British Bake Off. Nine pairs of contestants
compete across a whole (horticultural) season and
face vegetable growing, flower arranging and
other green-fingered challenges. Presenter Fern
Britton fronts the UK show.
Ordering the series, Emma Willis,
commissioning executive documentaries, BBC,
said the moment is right for it as people rein in
spending: “
With the cost of living continuing to
rise, it’s the perfect time to make the most of
our gardens and allotments and get growing
with a purpose.”
In terms of international sales the pressure is
on SPT’s team and interested buyers to get a
deal done quickly because the nature of the
show means shooting must start by, and run
through, the spring.
Also in the lifestyle vein, SPT is launching
Grillmaster at MIPCOM. The show was created
by Titan, part of MTG’s latest acquisition,
production group Nice Entertainment, and has
already launched on TV2 in Denmark and TV4
in Sweden. In the show amateur chefs take on
each other in various barbecuing challenges to
win a publishing deal and the title of Grillmaster
of the Y
ear.
“
Grow, Make, Eat and Grillmaster reflect
people’s authentic passions, these aren’t
artificial competitions,”Garvie says.
The other two shows are Joker, from SPT’s
French prodco Starling, which makes it for
France Té
lé
visions’ France 2.
The French pubcaster has just ordered
another ten episodes of the series, which puts a
twist on the traditional quiz by having
holographic ‘jokers’ interacting with
contestants. There is also a factual format,
Teach the Impossible, following talented young
teachers in tough inner city schools. TBI
LAU
UNCHING AT
T
YO
OUR JU
UDGEMENT
T
YOU
YO
UR DECISION
THEIR
H R DUEL
MIPCOM stand #LR4.02
zodiakrights.com
Formatsp15 Zodiak Versus OctNov13.indd 1
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M ONITOR SCREENWATCH
SCREENWATCH:DATE NIGHT
DEALS ROUND-UP
L A -based Endemol Studios is
remak ing French crime d rama
E ngrenages (ak a S piral) for U S
au d iences. The show lau nched
in France on C anal+ in 2005
and is now into its fifth season
with a six th in d evelopment. It
has pick ed u p international
au d iences on BBC Four in the
U K and Netflix in the U S .
THE SHOW:Date Night
THE PRODUCER:Twenty Twenty
THE DISTRIBUTOR:WarnerBros. InternationalTelevision Production
THE BROADCASTER:Channel4
CONCEPT:A dating form atin which hidden cam erasrecord the first
m eeting ofsinglesthathave m etonline
he UK has been good to the dating
genre, and broadcaster Channel 4 has
fared well with shows in the genre.
Just this year, it has commissioned
shows including Bryan Elsley-penned
drama Dates, while groundbreaking disabilitythemed series The Undateables has won plaudits.
Warner Bros. International Television Production
is taking one of Channel 4’s latest venture in the
genre, Date Night (known in the UK as First Dates),
to the international market as a finished programme
and a format.
The series seeks to play with audience
expectations of dating shows by borrowing from the
hidden camera and ob-doc genres.
Each episode sees different couples who have
arranged a date on the internet meeting for the first
time in a restaurant in which every detail is captured
on hidden fixed-rig cameras. If the dates are
unsuccessful, the singles advertise themselves to
viewers at home, who can then appear on the
following week’s show.
“
Date Night is by far the most authentic dating
show you will see,”says WBITVP’s senior VP,
creative, format development and sales Andrew
T
Zein. “
Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall on
someone’s first date?Every person has either gone
through the experience or will do so. This format
gives unprecedented access into these dates as
hidden cameras capture every detail.”
The first episode, which took 833,000 viewers
(4.3% overall share) on Channel 4 on launch night
(June 20), saw 1,050 men appeal to date a 23 year-old
cheerleader and dance coach called Fahye.
A second season has been commissioned for next
year and WBITVP is billing it as a “
unique and truly
authentic dating format”
. Twenty Twenty, which
Warner Bros. owns through its UK powerhouse
Shed Media, is the producer.
“
Dating is a universal theme and this format is a
simple and intriguing concept, brilliantly executed,
easily replicable which we feel will travel well
internationally. We will be taking it to MIPCOM and
presenting it to all our buyers. There is already
interest from a number of territories,”says Zein.
He and his team will be targeting “
any”
primetime slot available, notifying buyers of the
added caveat that “
the interactive element of the
format means that people can keep talking about the
show even after the credits have rolled”
. TBI
Y ou th-sk ewed d rama The O.C .
has been remad e in Tu rk ey.
Broad caster Star commissioned
a local version from Tu rk ish
prod co Ay Yapim. The Tu rk ish
remak e is the first time the
W arner Bros.-owned series has
been mad e ou tsid e the U S . The
show aired on Fox in the S tates
for fou r seasons starting in 2003.
Hat Trick has ink ed a d eal with
Outline Productions. Ou tline
previou sly had a d eal with
Warner Bros. International
Television Production to sell its
new shows, bu t H at Trick
International will now shop these
internationally (ex clu d ing the U S ).
Ou tline is one of the few
remaining U K ind ies, which
mak es factu al entertainment
series inclu d ing u pcoming BBC
Two series Tom K errid ge’s P roper
P u b Food and six -part BBC One
show The Big W ild life R evival.
Broad casters in D enmark and
Iceland have acq u ired straightto-series format remak es of
Sky Vision-d istribu ted factu al
entertainment format It’s L ove,
A ctu ally . The 10x 30mins format
sees y ou ng cou ples talk
cand id ly abou t all aspects of
their relationships. It was
originally prod u ced by Fever
Media for female-sk ewing S k y
L iving in the U K . 365 Media in
Iceland and D enmark ’s TV2 will
now get their own versions.
60’ entertainment format
A Zodiak Media / ABC Japan coproduction
MIPCOM stand #LR4.02
zodiakrights.com
Formatsp17 Zodiak OctNov13.indd 1
18/09/2013 11:14
Formatsp18-21 Conscience OctNov13jwSC
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GENRE FOCUS RESPONSIBLE FORMATS
ITV Studios’ The Audience
TV MAKES A CONSCIOUS EFFORT
Cruel critiques and manufactured conflict have been replaced by supportive smiles, warm
hugs and a belief that shows should seek to transform someone’s prospects or help them grow
emotionally in an ongoing raft of caring sharing formats reports Andy Fry
here was a time between 2003
and 2009 when factual and
entertainment formats seemed
to focus almost entirely on the
darker side of human nature.
While no one could question the popularity of
shows like Big Brother, Wife Swap, Hell’s
Kitchen and Holiday Showdown, all of them
were guilty during this period of manufacturing conflict in pursuit of ratings. Mostly, they
stayed on the right side of the
ethical line, but occasionally a format was
guilty of turning a blind eye to bullying and
humiliation, earning a category of shows the
T
rather unflattering epithet ‘car crash television’.
At the same time that the media was questioning the morality of such shows, there was
a nasty streak running through more
traditional entertainment genres. Talent show
judges like Simon Cowell seemed particularly
mean while quiz show hosts were praised for
belittling contestants. One chat show host in
the UK, Jeremy Kyle, even attracted the attention of the legal system, with Judge Alan Berg
calling his show “human bear-baiting.”
This edginess has not disappeared from TV,
but there has been a shift in the tone of the formats business over the last three to four years.
Cruel critiques have mostly been replaced by
supportive smiles, warm hugs and a belief that
formats should seek to transform someone’s
prospects or help them grow emotionally.
The formats business did not start out being
brutal and bitchy with early shows such as Pop
Stars and Survivor supportive of participants.
The change came when the market became
more competitive in the middle of the last
decade and formats became tougher and more
edgy to try and stand out.
The shift back in the direction of positivelycharged formats came with the downturn in
the global economy, says Banijay International
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managing director Karoline Spodsberg.
“Things started getting really bad for people in
about 2009 and haven’t improved in a lot of
cases, so viewers started looking for more
positive stories to take their mind off what was
happening in their day-to-day lives.
This doesn’t mean the tough stories have
disappeared because there are always networks
that need to shout to attract attention, but the
overall mood is different.”
This shift is apparent in two ways. Firstly, in
the emergence of new kinds of entertainment
shows where the entire narrative arc is built
around positive pay-offs such as rewards and
rehabilitation. And secondly, in the tone of
established entertainment genres such as talent, dating and quiz shows. Spodsberg says:
“The Voice, for example, brought about a shift
in the way talent show judges relate to contestants. So at Banijay we decided to go a stage further with Mentor, a new show we’re bringing
to MIPCOM.”
In this case, says Spodsberg, it’s the mentors
who face the chop if an act doesn’t do well. “It’s
an idea that came from Thomas Blachman,
who had been a controversial and outspoken
judge on the Danish version of The X Factor
for nine years. He decided it was time for the
mentors to step up and take responsibility. If
they don’t prepare the talent properly, they pay
the price. We don’t have any of the public
casting element you see in other shows. We
just start with great performers. So it’s all
about how they are prepared.”
The emphasis on personal responsibility
resonates quite widely with recent trends in
the format business. In the UK version
FremantleMedia format The Apprentice, Alan
Sugar now goes into business with his chosen
contestant, rather than giving them a job within his organisation. In All3Media’s Undercover
Boss, the head of the company learns tough
truths about what it’s really like to be at the
coalface of his or her business and is expected to
change their behaviour accordingly. In
Zodiak’s Secret Millionaire, society’s more
fortunate citizens learn that poverty is not
always the result of indolence or lack of
ambition and are encouraged to help people
get their lives back on track.
Secret Millionaire has played a key role in
the emergence of formats with a social
conscience, because it demonstrates that
shows dealing with social morality can be
ratings winners if constructed carefully and
can also travel as formats. “The idea came
about because Channel 4 wanted to talk about
poverty in Britain,” says Barnaby Shingleton,
head of entertainment at Zodiak Rights. “If
they’d done a documentary on poverty they’d
have got an audience of about 1.5 million, but
by turning the subject into an engaging
narrative with human interest stories they got
a show that put the same tough issues in front
of four million people.”
The show has been remade in numerous
markets including the US, Canada, Australia,
the Nordic region and Germany, but it hasn’t
always been an easy pitch, admits Shingleton,
“Some broadcasters started with the misconception that the show is simply about rich people
giving poor people money. But when they
realise it is about the personal journey, and that
the rewards don’t have to be financial, they
tend to come round. In the end, it has proved
to be a property that can also work well for
commercial broadcasters such as ABC in the
US, RTL in Germany and Nine in Australia.”
All3Media International is another distributor that has made formats with a conscience a
key part of its portfolio: “I think there are more
shows around that want people to feel good
and that are designed to help them change in a
positive way,” says managing director Louise
Pedersen. “We’ve had Undercover Boss,
Making Australia Happy and Village on a Diet
in the last few years. And at MIP 2012, we
picked up a You Deserve This House, in which
a deserving person or couple is taken away for
the weekend while a makeover team – including
those that the homeowner has helped over the
years – set out to transform their house.”
The evidence from the market suggests that
Banijay International’s Mentor is launching at MIPCOM with a spin on the judge-contestant relationship
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formats with a conscience can work for any
kind of channel although a public
broadcaster might be the obvious fit.
“We’ve picked up a very interesting Channel
4 show called The Agency, in which Mary
Portas helps people who have retired get back to
work,” says Hat Trick International sales
director Sarah Tong. “It’s a very formattable,
engaging, character-based show that tackles the
issues of ageism in employment. But because of
its subject it’s more likely to work for pubcasters
than youth-focused commercial channels.”
Nordic World sales chief Jan Salling is
armed with similar shows: “I think buyers
know what kind of shows they’re going to get
from the Nordic countries,” he says.
“Audiences here like formats that make a
difference or have something we can all learn
from, so they tend to have a strong public
service feel to their narrative.”
Shows on Nordic World’s slate include
Speedomania, which is about helping bad
drivers change their ways; Bye Bye Bullying,
which sees a celebrity go into a regular school
to try and help stop bullying; and Dining With
the Enemy, in which people from opposite
sides of a conflict explore the potential for
resolution over a meal. “They’re shows we’re
really proud of because they do good and make
a difference,” says Salling. “But they’re
probably most suited to an established public
broadcaster that doesn’t need to scream loudly
to get noticed.”
That said, Salling stresses that shows like
these can attract good ratings and generate a
lot of attention in other media. “Bye Bye
Bullying caused a lot of debate in the Nordic
media. In that sense, it plays a similar role to
shows like Jamie’s School Dinners. It gets
people talking and alerts politicians to issues.”
Different in tone are shows that try to take a
moral agenda into primetime commercial
schedules. A good example is One Good Turn,
created by Media Factory for Romania’s Prima
TV and now distributed by Small World IFT.
“One Good Turn is a primetime show in
which hidden cameras reveal how people
behave when confronted with real life
dilemmas,” says Small World IFT senior VP,
format sales and development Luci Burnley.
“The most courageous and honest people get
cash prizes while studio hosts win points if they
correctly predict the reactions of members of
the public.”
A simple scenario might be ‘how many people would return the money to a shopkeeper
that gave them too much change?’ “The beauty
of the format is that it takes a genre we’re all
familiar with, hidden camera, and gives it a
new twist. So it’s having a positive impact on
people’s lives but is still watchable television.”
In a similar vein is Red Arrow International’s
Channel 4’s The Agency aims to help retired people back into work
You Deserve It!, a Dick De Rijk format in
which contestants win money on behalf of a
deserving person. Launched in the US in 2011,
it has since been remade in markets including
Spain, the Middle East, China, Vietnam and
parts of Eastern Europe.
A key lesson from that show, according to
Red Arrow International’s senior VP, format
acquisitions and sales Henrik Pabst, is that
“audiences are happy for people to win but they
really want them to deserve it within the terms
of the game. The game has still got to be competitive even if the idea is to give money away.
Shows like The Biggest Loser work because the
audience likes to see people rewarded if they
have worked to achieve something.”
Pabst cites The Hundred Mile Challenge, a
Canadian format in which families are
challenged to source all their food locally, and
The Undatables, a UK format which follows a
group of disabled people who sign up to a
dating agency as good examples of formats
with a conscience. “For me, these are signs
that we have been moving away from trash TV
towards stories that focus on the issues faced
by real people,” he says.
ITV Studios director of international
formats Mike Beale has also seen a growth in
socially responsible formats since the
downturn started. “In the last year or two we’ve
had The Audience, about a group of strangers
helping someone sort out a problem in their
lives; the return of Surprise Surprise, a classic
reward format which is warm and fuzzy TV at
its best; and Keeping the Nation Alive.”
Surprise Surprise benefits from the fact that
it has a proven track record, says Beale. “The
show has a strong feel good factor. But it also
benefits from the current trend towards tried
and tested formats – particularly ones that have
secured a recommission from their originating
broadcasters. Another point worth making
about the new version of Surprise Surprise is
that there’s a much greater emphasis on
rewards going to deserving people.”
Keeping the Nation Alive is a format from
ITV-backed UK prodco The Garden that ITV
Studios markets internationally. An insight
into the tough day-to-day decisions that have to
be made by national health systems, Beale says
it represents an interesting new role for TV:
“In difficult economic times, politics tends to
get polarised into strong opinions from the
right and left wing. So shows like these have a
key role to play in helping people make their
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own decisions. There have been a number that
provide viewers with an objective look at areas
like health, education, welfare, immigration
and the banking system.”
Intervention is the granddaddy of the
formats with a conscience. The A+E factual
series in which addicts confront their darkest
demons and are encouraged to find a route to
redemption has been on the air in the US for
eleven years. However, it has just ended, which
doesn’t seem to fit with the growth in this
category of programming. Christian Murphy,
senior VP, international programming and
marketing, A+E Networks offers an
explanation for the show’s withdrawal from
US schedules: “When Intervention started in
2005, a lot more people in the US were feeling
good about themselves. But as times got
tougher people migrated towards shows which
have a lighter touch – for example shows like
Storage Wars and Duck Dynasty.”
Having said this, continues Murphy,
Intervention has started to find a new lease of
life outside the US, with Canada, Brazil and
Mexico making local versions. “A+E in the US
is an entertainment network, so the fact that
Intervention may not feel right anymore
doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work in other
countries or for other kinds of networks. In
some cases, you have countries that aren’t
experiencing the same kind of downturn as
the US. In others, you have countries that
perhaps have only just opened up to the
possibility of airing this kind of show.”
Murphy’s point is echoed by a number of his
peers, who argue that formats with a
conscience will only work if they gauge the
audience reaction right. If they make viewers
reflect too much on their own domestic problems, they’re likely to be a turn off. If they leave
viewers resenting the show’s beneficiaries or
questioning whether they really deserve to be
rewarded they’re equally unappealing. Maybe
this is why a lot of broadcasters take the easier
option of using established formats with
celebrity guests and getting them to donate
their winnings to a well-respected charity.
Is the move to less abrasive, more
responsible formats a permanent change and
where do people go if they want to see vile and
vulgar television?
Beale’s view is that “it’s probably cyclical. As
people get a bit more comfortable I think we’ll
see the return of edgier shows, maybe in about
2015 or 2016.” Zodiak’s Shingleton agrees: “I
THE FRONTLINE: NEW FORMATS WITH A CONSCIENCE
In Go Back to Where You Came From, SBS
Australia confronted the issue of prejudice
against migrants by sending six Australians
on the reverse of journeys that refugees took
to reach Australia.
In Nordic World’s U-Turn, people are helped
to reduce their dependency on medication by
making better lifestyle choices.
Dream Builders is a Banijay format in which
homeless people are helped to convert an
empty building into a home.
Why Don’t You Speak English? is a BBC
Worldwide format in which first-generation
immigrants live with a local family for a week
in order to learn English. After a week, the
roles are reversed.
ITVSGE is representing an Israeli show
called My Dream Wedding in which a
deserving young couple who can’t afford their
dream wedding are helped to create it by
their local community. In the US it is for TLC,
having been developed by ITV Studios and
Israel’s Reshet.
FremantleMedia International is coming to
MIPCOM with A New Beginning, a format that
looks to empower women who have had
difficult lives, working with them to repair
physical and emotional damage.
Optomen’s Great British Budget Menu
focuses on families struggling with food
prices. Three chefs go into financially
challenged households where they shop and
cook on tight budgets.
Elsewhere, Small World IFT is distributing
a Canadian format called Operation: Vacation,
in which the most deserving members of the
community are sent away to enjoy a surprise
holidays by their friends and family.
think there are some cultural trends which are
here to stay, for example the new openness to
towards people with disabilities that has come
about since the London 2012 Olympics. But in
general I don’t think we’ve seen the end of formats
that are short on conscience or morality.”
Some commentators believe that lowest
common denominator content has just moved
to different places.
Pabst, for example, believes trashy TV has
switched from factual entertainment to scripted reality. The benefit of this from a channel
point of view is that they can show the same
kind of sleazy behaviour as before without
risking censure from media regulators.
Others suggest that car crash TV has found
a more natural home in the unregulated world
of the internet. “You can see so many people
being ridiculed on platforms like YouTube that
I think TV channels have had to go a different
way,” says Spodsberg. “I think they’ve focused
more on relatable characters with the result
that audiences get closer to them and care
about them more.” TBI
21
Formatsp22-25 Reality OctNov13jwSC
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GENRE FOCUS UNSCRIPTED TV
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REALITY ROUND
THE CLOCK
NBC’s large scale live event gameshow Million Second Quiz
has just ended after nearly 12 days of continuous competition
and handing out the biggest prize in network history. But what
does the show say about the future of the future of primetime
reality shows? Jesse Whittock reports.
tephen Lambert’s London-based
development team first conceived
NBC’s Million Second Quiz after
the reality TV guru had decided
that 2013 schedules were lacking
“something really big and ambitious”.
The Ryan Seacrest-presented and
coproduced show finished its first run on
September 19 after 11 days and a half days, or
nearly 278 hours of continuous gameplay.
Sitting at the heart of NBC’s primetime
schedule each evening at 8pm, the All3Media
America, Studio Lambert and Ryan Seacrest
Productions series required a major
commitment from NBC Entertainment’s
alternative and late night programming
president Paul Telegdy. It was, and is,
according to All3Media America president
Lambert, “the biggest and most ambitious new
entertainment format I’ve ever worked on and
certainly the biggest and most ambitious
entertainment format in the world this year”.
That accolade would normally go to the latest
launch of reality shows such as Big Brother,
and though that format still finds new homes,
MSQ’s inception suggests network executives
may be taking primetime commissioning in a
new, more daring direction.
It also marked a new type of format
blending the jeopardy of a gameshow, the
spectacle of live event programming, roundthe-clock live-in elements from the reality
genre and digital interactivity. In Lambert’s
words, the concept was to “turn a quiz into a
sporting event with very broad appeal”.
S
He adds: “We hit on the idea it could be two
weeks long, and realised it would end up a mix
of quiz and reality. Then we had the notion that
the four best players would live there 24/7 and
only the best would survive until the end and
convert their winnings into hard cash.”
In that sense, the show marks the latest
evolution of the 24/7 programming category, as
contestants on the show were put into four
battle rounds an hour every hour during the
million seconds. Players around the country
competed digitally before, during and after each
programme to gain a spot at the massive
Manhattan rooftop hour glass structure and a
chance to win millions of dollars.
But, according to Banijay International’s
managing director Karoline Spodsberg, many
broadcasters still see classic reality formats as a
key primetime programming alternative, as
“they are still commissioning them”. The key
reasons for the endurance of primetime reality
programming can be attributed to the cheap
cost, attractive young adult target
demographic, room for product placement
experiments and local casting opportunities as
seen in shows such as Jersey Shore and The
Only Way is Essex, she adds.
Lambert himself has created numerous
experiments in the reality genre and is behind
show including Channel 4’s short-run Seven
Days and now Gogglebox, a UK format that
films people as they watch and react to
primetime TV.
“I never understand how people think you
can reach saturation point [for unscripted
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Siberia is an example of how primetime reality programmes even permeate drama
programming],” he says. “The only limit is the
limit of your imagination and belief of what
can be done.”
Googlebox, he continues, is in some
respects a direct result of Seven Days’ failure to
rate. The latter show, an interactive Studio
Lambert format that filmed the locals of
London’s Notting Hill each week, was hyped
by many as Channel 4’s Big Brother
replacement, but failed to take off. It was
dropped after a season but Channel 4
executive producer Tania Alexander was sure a
reworked show would work. Gogglebox
launched earlier this year, has been
recommissioned and is now selling as a
format, notably to Bravo in the US, where a
three-part series launched in October.
“The success of TOWIE and Gogglebox
shows that real time docusoap and real time
documentary are genres people like. They
speak to that sense of being of the moment,”
says Lambert.
Endemol’s managing director, creative
operations Iris Boelhouwer agrees that reality
formats tap into that desire for the now.
For example, Big Brother took up on
Channel 5 in the UK after leaving Channel 4 in
2010 and has led to improved channel ratings;
and in the US the Endemol format was
recently commissioned for a 16th season in
the US on CBS.
“Everyone says Big Brother is old and
questions why it is still out there but we still
have new series launching in new countries
every year. For example, we launched in
Canada last year, where it got huge ratings and
a second season is coming, and there is a new
one in Vietnam next year.”
“Endemol has tried similar things in the
past to Million Second Quiz with 24-hour
quizzes, so the idea has been in the minds of
producers for quite a while. Ultimately,
everybody’s trying to crack that really new,
really refreshing new series.”
Spodsberg adds: “The opportunity – which,
as is so often the case, is also a challenge – is
to keep round-the-clock programming
relevant by bringing in elements of other
successful TV trends and by reflecting the
changing society that consumers of these
shows live in.”
Banijay’s latest foray into the competition
reality genre is Opposite Worlds, a Chilean
format from Channel 13 in which contestants
living in a house together are divided by a glass
wall – with one side offering a futuristic life of
luxury and the other the ‘past’ – a life of
hardship and adversary.
“We’ve sold Opposite Worlds into the US,
where a local version will launch on Syfy in the
new year, as well as Turkey, Croatia, Colombia,
and across the Middle East. There is a clear
demand for the genre,” says Spodsberg.
Electus CEO and seasoned reality producer
Chris Grant says the fact many classic formats
remain popular is down to familiarity. “The
fact is that wherever you find success with a
format, people are going to try to take
advantage of that success and find shows that
mirror it and squeeze some of that success.
Big Brother is at the forefront of reality
programming: it’s been here for so long and is
still going strong, so it’s no surprise [that is
remains a key schedule driver].”
Paul Lee, president of ABC Entertainment,
says networks are becoming increasingly
attracted to what he calls “four quadrant”
programming – shows that draw in young and
old, male and female audiences. “Our
established reality brands are showing
extraordinary resilience and buzz – show like
Dancing with the Stars, thanks to a great cast,
and The Bachelor. Shark Tank now has a
passionate four quadrant audience.”
Furthermore, it is wrong to see any
primetime programme as simply filling a onehour slot on a schedule in a world of second
screen interaction, online add-ons and
growing on-demand audiences, Lee adds.
“The reality is that shows now last for more
than hour on TV; they live on when our talent
tweets and on ABC.com and [on-demand
service] Watch ABC.”
Opposite Worlds is Banijay’s latest reality competition show
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Big Brother remains a key format in territories such as Brazil
ABC has, of course, been stung by the 24/7
reality TV genre this year. The Glass House,
which the network launched last year, was
immediately accused by rival CBS of being a
Big Brother clone and a court case was
brought against ABC and the producers, some
of whom were ex-Big Brother staff. In August,
ABC agreed to pay “financial compensation” to
the Eye network. Doubling the pain, Glass
House was a ratings dud.
Chris Philip, CEO of US-based indie
producer Sierra/Engine Television, says that
success breeds success regardless of genre. “If
one [network] announces they’re doing a
particular style, you’ll see everyone else throw
their hats in the ring. The nature of the
business is development executives really
don’t want to miss out on anything and
concept creators will try to be in that same
space naturally.”
The trick appears to be to make a new
version of an existing concept that is
sufficiently genre-bending that broadcasters
cannot pass it up. Sierra/Engine scored a
straight-to-series commission from NBC for
Siberia, a one-hour scripted series based on
the reality TV genre. Philip bills it as “Hunger
Games meets The Blair Witch Project with a
little Survivor”.
“At the end of the day, there’s a considerable
amount of acting in reality TV to keep shows
sensational. We thought, ‘why not give the
viewer exactly what they want’ and start killing
people to give them shock television.”
This attempt at reality-themed drama has
been attempted before. In 2008 scriptwriter
Charlie Brooker wrote the BAFTA-nominated
Dead Set, a Zeppotron-produced scripted
series for UK youth-skewed net E4 in which
fictional contestants on Big Brother became
embroiled in life-or-death battle against a
zombie invasion.
“The whole genre of reality is evolving into a
soft semi-scripted genre,” says Philip. “As it
matures, producers become desperate to
outdo one another. And the average person in
a reality show is trying to stay on the show –
they know exactly how to push the buttons and
say the right things.”
This is certainly true of scripted reality
shows such as TOWIE, Berlin: Day and Night
and Jersey Shore but Banijay’s Spodsberg
doesn’t see it becoming part of other types of
primetime reality shows.
“You’d have to be very careful going down
this route,” she says. “Authenticity is very
important to viewers, and even when it is clear
that some situations are constructed the
audience wants to feel that the interaction
between characters is spontaneous and real.”
For MSQ, the jeopardy is centred on the
four times hourly trivia battles that ultimately
decided the winner of the huge cash prize, but
Lambert notes: “You’ve got the game going
on but then there’s also the drama of people
living there.”
Distributor All3Media International will be
in Cannes launching MSQ to the global
business. Lambert says there will be three
versions offered: one designed to be in line
with a cost-effective competition reality
budget, another for networks with slightly
more money to play with and another much
closer to NBC’s massive investment.
“This isn’t cheap programming but you
could do a cheaper version,” he adds.
The format will appeal to channels looking
for “big-scale, event TV” to compensate for the
fact 2013 has offered no major sporting event.
The US ratings were disappointing,
presenting the sales team with an added
challenge when pitching the show. All3
International will have three MIPCOM days –
or 259,200 seconds – to convince buyers. TBI
25
Formatsp26 Last Word OctNov13jwSC
23/9/13
15:07
Page 26
LAST WORD, KERRY TAYLOR, SVP,YOUTH AND MUSIC,VIMN
LAST WORD
KERRY TAYLOR,VIACOM INTERNATIONAL MEDIA NETWORKS
HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS INFLUENCING
REALITY DEVELOPMENT
ove it or hate it, reality TV has
firmly cemented its place within
pop culture, becoming a firm
favourite with audiences and
content creators around the world
– spanning all ages and demographics. In the
UK, whether it’s Geordie Shore, Big Brother or
Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, reality has proved to
be one of the most brilliantly versatile,
adaptable and resilient genres of our time, with
its popularity showing no signs of abating.
It was back in the ‘noughties’ when the
reality phenomenon really hit the mainstream.
Through the conception of big budget formats
including Pop Idol and Big Brother, we – the
public – for the first time, became the small
screen’s biggest stars. Fast forward to 2013 and
a slew of reality favourites now pepper today’s
weekly listings, satisfying a mild curiousity for
some, a guilty pleasure for many and an
obsession for a whole lot more.
The genre has enduring appeal for younger
audiences, who have proved fanatically loyal to
TV shows cast from their own ranks and it can
be argued that today’s ‘millennial’ generation
is even more deeply engaged with reality than
those that have come before. This trend-setting
demographic - born between 1982 and 2004 is the first generation of digital natives, with
social media so deeply embedded in many of
their lives that some of them are literally
‘always on’. New connected devices enable
them to immerse themselves even more
deeply in their favourite shows such as MTV’s
Jersey Shore, Bravo’s Real Housewives…
franchise or E!’s Keeping Up with the
Kardashians.
The depth of this engagement has been
underlined by various research studies,
including a survey of the TV-related social
media habits of young viewers conducted by
L
MTV’s parent company, Viacom International
Media Networks. This study found that more
than seven out of ten young viewers were
interacting with other fans via a second screen
while watching their favourite shows and six
out of ten had followed or ‘liked’ a TV show via
social media. It also revealed that discovering a
show via social media made young viewers
much more likely to watch its live TV debut
and to continue watching the show past its first
season.
The TV industry has been quick to capitalise
on this synergy. More storylines are now built
into single episodes to allow multiple spin-offs
via social media. Social media is now at the
centre of marketing strategies, with additional
content designed to generate maximum
‘talk-ability’ (and therefore ‘share-ability’) and
fans are encouraged to contribute their own
content as well as influence campaign
elements through their social media activity.
Reality shows are among the most social on
TV, with huge numbers of fans and followers.
It’s therefore no surprise that the Second Sync
leader board of the most tweeted about UK TV
shows is often headed by a reality format, with
the likes of Made in Chelsea or The Valleys
outperforming higher rating soaps and
sitcoms.
Statisticians are still searching for a definitive
link between social media activity and TV
ratings, but I refuse to believe that the record
ratings that Geordie Shore has just delivered for
MTV UK in its sixth season are unconnected to
its large number of Twitter fans.
Of course, hunting out the latest gossip on
the cast of The Only Way is Essex, isn’t the
only use that millennials make of social media.
VIMN’s biggest ever research study amongst
this age group, The Next Normal, reaching
15,000 respondents in 24 countries, reveals
how the internet has increased millennials’
awareness of the world and their interest in
current affairs and societal issues.
The conscience of this generation has been
shaped by the tragic events of 9/11. Their
prospects have been blighted by the global
economic downturn from 2008. It’s therefore
no surprise that a majority of them are worried
about the state of the world. Allied to their
natural optimism, this concern translates into
a passion for pro-social causes and a
determination to make a difference.
Public broadcasters in the UK such as the
BBC and Channel 4, have long justified the
number of reality formats in their schedules by
seeking to give what are essentially
entertainment shows a sense of social
purpose. Think BBC3’s Extreme OCD Club or
Channel 4’s Bi-Curious Me. Commercial
broadcasters, including MTV, are now taking
advantage of the passion for pro-social causes
identified amongst millennial audiences to
commission a greater number of pro-social
‘reality’ documentary formats.
VIMN’s general entertainment catalogue at
MIPCOM is headlined by two reality formats
that fall firmly into the pro-social category.
Catfish: The TV Show has proved to be one of
MTV’s
most
successful
formats
internationally, attracting millions of young
viewers and widespread critical acclaim for its
insights into the impact of social media on
modern dating. We have high hopes that
Generation Cryo, which follows the child of a
sperm donor through the search for their
biological father, should be equally well
received.
After all, millennial audiences are searching
for meaning in their lives, and so increasingly,
they are expecting to find it in their television
programming too. TBI
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here - TBI Vision

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