As commissioning budgets continue to tighten, and with content powerhouses feeling the economic squeeze, there is renewed pressure to think laterally in the international formats business.
“Producers are struggling to survive. People need to up their game and think outside the box in terms of their business models and how shows are made,” says Jan Salling, co-chairman of the Format Recognition and Protection Assn. (FRAPA) an organization that seeks to protect the rights of format creators and head of BBC Studios Nordic, international production and formats. “The old distribution model is broken.”
He adds: “The days when streamers invested to establish their brand without thinking about a return are over. Everyone is looking for a return on their investment and slimming down to accommodate the new situation in the market.”
Nevertheless, for those attending Mipcom hoping to find a format capable of delivering audiences and advertisers at scale, there will be no shortage of content in the unscripted space be it reality, game or dating shows. “I’m excited about this year’s market,” the BBC’s director of unscripted, Kate Phillips, says. “With a combination of new formats breaking through and [the recently settled] writers’ strike there is a renewed interest in unscripted formats.
“Broadcasters are willing to take more risks and back new, original ideas, which is what we got into the business for in the first place.”
It was Phillips who commissioned Dutch format “The Traitors,” a breakout hit, and a critically acclaimed show for the U.K. pubcaster. When it bowed last December, “The Traitors” was the BBC’s biggest new entertainment launch for two years. Buoyed by social media, the show scored spectacularly with younger audiences. Inevitably, the success of “The Traitors” has galvanized the market in adventure reality shows and sparked something of a mini-boom in copy-cat content.
“At Mip we saw four or five ‘Traitors’-like formats and there will be more at Mipcom,” predicts Salling. “As a global format protection organization, it’s good for FRAPA that the original format is always the most successful and the derivatives are always less so. That is good for creativity.”
With reality behemoths “Survivor” and “Big Brother” both returning to screens in the U.K a bellwether territory for the international marketplace it is tempting to conclude that networks and platforms are playing safe as they return to tried- and-tested formats. The truth is more nuanced.
And as James Townley, Bani- jay’s chief content officer, development, stresses: “These shows need to stay fresh. A 2015 version of a format and a 2024 version of that same format are very different things.”
At Mipcom, Banijay, whose blockbusters include “Big Brother” and “Deal or No Deal” also being rebooted in Blighty is showcasing a number of unscripted shows.
Among them are Endemol Shine Australia’s “The Summit,” in which contestants compete to reach the top of a mountain; travel reality show “Rush,” also from Endemol Shine Australia; and “Buddy Games,” in which six teams of friends compete in a series of mental and physical challenges. The U.S. “Buddy Games” is hosted by Josh Duhamel and bowed on CBS this September; the producer is Bunim Murray Prods.
“We’re seeing more and more reality shows coming out of the U.S.,” says Townley. “I also think we’re seeing quite a few hybrid formats.”
One example is the intriguingly entitled “Deal or No Deal Island,” commissioned by NBC from Endemol USA, in which the game show is grafted with elements from a “Survivor”-style reality show. “It’s about to start filming. I can confirm there are boxes, and I can confirm there is an island,” notes Townley cryptically.
It looks like there will be no shortage of game shows at Mipcom. Mike Beale, managing director of global creative and production support at ITV Studios, says that alongside the revival of “heritage formats” like “The Voice” and “Come Dine With Me” are other, newer shows such as music quiz “PopMaster,” which will be making its debut at Mipcom.
“There is demand for value for money formats, including game shows, as channels look for volume and efficiencies,” he says. “Broadcasters and streamers are more risk-averse as audiences have more choice. Launching a new show is hard. The success of ‘Barbie’ says it all. It’s difficult to launch a new idea so you tweak an old one.”
“PopMaster” began life as aradio show hosted by its U.K. creator, DJ Ken Bruce, and transferred to TV, made by ITV Studios-owned shingle 12 Yard Prods. “We’re seeing the rise of the smart quiz or something a bit niche coming through as people want something a little bit harder,” observes Beale.
Not that this kind of fare is easy to perfect. “Game shows are incredibly difficult to get right. They look incredibly simple, but having worked in development I know how hard they are to get right,” cautions Vasha Wallace, exec VP of global acquisitions and development at Fremantle Intl.
“Audiences love game shows. They are very interactive. You can shout at the screen. For our broadcasters, they offer value for money because you can do them in a studio and do a lot of them together. They are also very advertiser-friendly,” Wallace notes.
Among the new formats Fremantle is unveiling at Mipcom are reality shows “The Lost Ones,” “Mama Mia: I Have a Dream” and “The Piano,” a breakout hit for the U.K.’s Channel 4 earlier this year that has already been commissioned for Seasons 2 and 3.
“Interestingly, all our new for- mats at the market are reality shows. This reflects the growing appetite for reality,” explains Wallace. “In northern Europe and the U.K., we’re seeing a strong appetite for reality in all its different guises, while in Asia it’s still very much studio-based formats like game shows, entertainment formats and talent shows.”
Feel-good reality shows appear to be back in vogue, especially those that can attract different generations. “Reality is not just a genre for young people,” ITV CEO Carolyn McCall recently told the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention. “Most reality TV will get quite a spread of people.” A case in point is ITV’s dating show “My Mum, Your Dad.”
“A few years ago, I was being asked for noisy, edgy reality shows and now it’s broad-appeal, family shows that are resonating,” says Wallace.
She adds: “Nowadays I believe that a good idea can come from anywhere. Having said that, the whole time I’ve been at Fremantle, which is nearly two decades, the territories that produce the most shows that travel have not changed No. 1 is the U.K., second the U.S. and third the Netherlands.”
The BBC’s Phillips agrees: “A hit format can come from anywhere.
… For a while Israel was the place to go for formats, then South Korea. Holland led the way for years, then the U.K. and Belgium. All those countries have their moment in the sun.”
She continues: “There is a lot of clever creativity out there and a lot of people doing smart formats on challenging budgets. I always think when you’re working on tight bud- gets you can come up with some of your most brilliant ideas.
“To me, it’s not about something looking expensive and spectacular, it’s about what have they done which is clever within it, what is the unique selling point? “How do you sell it in a sentence? What is it bringing that is unique? Because every idea has been done before. The trick is making it distinctive in a very crowded, competitive marketplace.”
