March 2012
mipformats
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www.mipformats.com The official MIPFormats magazine
preVieW KEYNOTE Media Mastermind Fresh One’s Roy Ackerman
THE FRENCH MARKET France Televisions, TF1 and M6 explain acquisition strategies
SEE PAGE 4
SEE PAGE 6
Also inside: • MIPFormats Pitch sponsored by Warner Bros. • Format Boot Camp • MIPFormats Digital Screenings •Fresh Formats From Around The World, and more ...
COULD THIS BE THE NEXT HIT FORMAT IN YOUR MARKET? SEE PAGE 11
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MIPFormats Media Mastermind Roy Ackerman; The MIPFormats Pitch; Formats Boot Camp; Digital Screenings Library; Fresh Formats...
A round-up of the hottest formats in the international marketplace at MIPTV
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GLOBAL TRENDS Clive Bull indentifies the key trends for 2012
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GLOBAL VIEW Andy Fry looks at what formats are being seen around the world
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CHINA AND RUSSIA Are Russia and China ready to take the format world by storm? Marlene Edmunds reports
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The official MIPFormats magazine March 2012. Director of Publications Paul Zilk EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief Julian Newby Deputy Technical Editor in Chief Frederic Beauseigneur Graphic Designers Marie Moinier, Carole Peres Sub Editor Joanna Stephens Proof Reader Debbie Lincoln Contributors Clive Bull, Marlene Edmunds, Andy Fry Editorial Management Boutique Editions PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Publishing Director Martin Screpel Publishing Co-ordinators Nour Ezzedeen, Emilie Lambert, Amrane Lamiri Production Assistant, Cannes Office Eric Laurent Printer Riccobono Imprimeurs, Le Muy (France) MANAGEMENT & SALES TEAM Director of the Entertainment Division Anne de Kerckhove Director of the Television Division Laurine Garaude Sales Director Sabine Chemaly Director of Market Development Ted Baracos Conference Director Lucy Smith Marketing Director Stephane Gambetta Programme Director Karine Bouteiller Managing Director (UK / Australia / New Zealand) Peter Rhodes OBE Sales Manager Elizabeth Delaney Vice President Sales and Business Development, Americas Robert Marking Vice President Business Development, North America JP Bommel Sales Executive Panayiota Pagoulatos Sales Managers Paul Barbaro, Nathalie Gastone Regional Sales Director Fabienne Germond Sales Executives Liliane Dacruz, Cyril Szczerbakow Sales Manager Samira Haddi Digital Media Sales Manager Nancy Denole New Media Development Manager Bastien Gave Australia and New Zealand Representative Natalie Apostolou China Representative Anke Redl CIS Representative Alexandra Modestova English Speaking Africa Representative Arnaud de Nanteuil India Representative Anil Wanvari Israel Representative Guy Martinovsky Japan Representative Lily Ono Latin America Representative Elisa Aquino Middle-East Representative Bassil Hajjar Poland Representative Monika Bednarek South Korea Representative Sunny Kim Taiwan Representative Irene Liu Germany Representative (Digital Media Sector) Renate Radke Adam Published by Reed MIDEM, BP 572, 11 rue du Colonel Pierre Avia, 75726 Paris Cedex 15, France. Contents © 2012, Reed MIDEM Market Publications. Publication registered 1st quarter 2012. ISSN 1963-2258. Printed on 100% recycled paper
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WANT TO KNOW MORE? Media Mastermind Keynote Saturday, March 31, 17.20-18.00, Grand Auditorium
FORMATS PITCH
MEDIA MASTERMIND
WARNER COMMITS €25,000 TO WINNING FORMAT
Ackerman offers his recipe for creating an indie powerhouse
THE MIPFORMATS Talent Pitch is a pitching event for companies with innovative concepts for new, non-scripted entertainment formats. Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP), the exclusive sponsor of the MIPFormats Talent Pitch for 2012, has committed up to €25,000 to develop the winning project via one of its production companies, with the aim of developing the winning entry as a television project. “Through sponsorship of the MIPFormats event, we are seeking to uncover genuinely new and original genre-defining non-scripted concepts that have the potential to travel as a format to countries small and large, developed and emerging,” said Andrew Zein, senior vice-president of creative format development and sales at WBITVP. “We are looking for well-structured and tightly formatted concepts that can offer real security and production knowhow to our broadcast clients, and are capable of returning for multiple series. WBITVP will oversee the pre-selection to choose the final competition contestants. We are committed to offering production assistance and up to €25,000 to develop the winning project.” The MIPFormats Talent Pitch is open to all creators and producers from around the world to propose their new and original entertainment formats. Format concepts enabling cross-media and multiplatform productions as well as hybrid format concepts crossing the lines of programme genres, are encouraged to enter the event. The live pitching event takes place during MIPFormats in Cannes, March 31. WANT TO KNOW MORE? The MIPFormats Pitch Saturday, March 31, 10.45-12.00, Grand Auditorium
WBITVP’s Andrew Zein 4I
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HEN MIPFormats Media Mastermind keynoter Roy Ackerman joined Jamie Oliver’s Fresh One as managing director with a remit to grow and diversify the company, he brought 27 years of production experience across a range of genres with him. No surprise then, that two-anda-half years later, the company that was once “80 to 90% Jamie”, is now an indie powerhouse with a slate of productions spanning factual and entertainment, formats, art, documenta- Roy Ackerman ries and specialist factual. “It’s all about the talent,” he says. Ackerman gives the MIPFormats Media Mastermind keynote on March 31. Fresh One Productions recent increasingly eclectic output includes Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (ABC), God Bless You Barack Obama? (BBC); Jamie’s American Road Trip (Channel 4); the talent-led series An African Journey (BBC); Jamie Does... (Channel 4); The Delicious Miss Dahl (with Sophie Dahl, BBC); and Flying Saucer. “Flying Saucer is called Tabak Al Ta’er in Arabic. It’s a kids’ show mixing science fiction and food that we made for Al-Jazeera Children’s Channel, JCC,” Ackerman said. “Then there’s the feature documentary Black Beach: Simon Mann’s African Coup, which was made for the BBC and PBS, and is about the extraordinary coup in Equatorial Guinea.” Before joining Fresh One, Ackerman was creative director at Diverse Productions where his scripted films included the acclaimed Mrs Mandela, a drama portrait of Winnie Mandela (BBC/France 2/SBS); the RTS shortlisted docu-drama Killing Hitler (BBC2/History Channel); and the Grierson shortlisted star-studded drama Our Hidden Lives (BBC). Hit series from his time at Diverse include: Operatunity; Musicality; Ballet Changed My Life: Ballet Hoo!; and Play It Again, where celebrities learn a musical instrument. Ackerman sees his move to Fresh One as being a natural continuation of a rich, diverse career. “There’s a lot of music and culture in my professional life and that is what Fresh One wanted,” he said. “When I look at what Jamie had already assembled around him when I joined the company — the run of hit shows, the team, and the absolute authenticity with which he approaches everything — it is absolutely amazing. But now that there is more programming and more variety on the slate, Jamie’s previous 80-90% of Fresh’s output is now below 50%. I’m delighted with what we’ve achieved so far, and I’m very excited about the projects that we have coming up.” That includes a new, as-yet unnamed Idris Elba commission, more shows featuring well-known British presenters Jonathan Dimbleby and Jimmy Doherty, plus job-swap format The Channel 4 Mash Up, and Jamie’s Dream School.
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FROM TIM VAN AELST, CREATOR OF INTERNATIONAL EMMY AWARD WINNER „BENIDORM BASTARDS“
WHAT IF THE LEGAL SYSTEM CAUGHT UP WITH THE TIMES?
Come and see us.
MIPTV 2012
Stand H4.12
WHAT IF FOOTBALLERS REALLY EXAGGERATED?
Tel.: +33(0)4 92 99 87 72
www.sevenoneinternational.com
i neWs IN BRIEF
THE FRENCH MARKET
NEW DIGITAL SCREENINGS
French channels explain market strategies in the new world of TV
THE DIGITAL Screenings Library is a new feature of MIPFormats this year. The first and only international screenings library for formats, it has been introduced at the third edition by popular demand. The library will provide the 250-plus buyers attending the event with a wide selection of game shows, reality TV series and factual entertainment programmes from around the world. Buyers can screen from the digital library at the personal ondemand screening booths, while sellers are given access to screening reports on site giving information about who has been watching their programmes during the two-day event.
FRESH FORMATS ON SHOW ENTERTAINMENT and game shows, new hits and pilots will feature in the Fresh Format Screenings presented by The Wit’s Virginia Mouseler at 11.00 on March 30. Mouseler presents a second session the following day at 12.15, entitled New Factual Entertainment And Reality Formats. Speaking before the event Bertrand Villegas, co-founder of The Wit with Mouseler, said that the public still has a strong appetite for the talent shows — for example The X-Factor, Got Talent, Dancing With The Stars — that have dominated the schedules in recent years. “I think they’re going to persist,” Villegas said. “This season there’s been a major new hit in The Voice, so it’s clear that a new talent show is able to achieve success. Maybe there will be some twist, but basically the number-one format in the ratings will be this sort of contest.”
FOCUS ON CREATIVITY CREATIVITY & The Art Of Formats, a MIPFormats session on March 30 at 17.40, looks at the creative process inside the big production groups. How do they manage creativity, what’s the internal process to launch a hit, and how do such investments finally become profitable? Executives on the panel are Iris Boelhouwer, managing director, creative operations at Endemol, The Netherlands; Rob Clark, director of global entertainment development, FremantleMedia, UK; and Mark Fennessy, president, Shine FremantleMedia’s Rob Clark Network, UK. 6I
K EY EX ECUTIV ES at TF1, France Televisions, and M6, explain their acquisition and content creation strategies at a session on March 31, at 15.50. France is mostly considered as a buyers’ territory but with the rise of small digital channels, French producers are increasingly starting to M6’s Bibiane Godfroid see their own creations on screen and some are even starting to export. With the French market going through dramatic changes, this session will help delegates to understand the needs of the country’s major players, as well as those of smaller channels.
TF1’s Laurent Storch
France Televisions’ Emmanuelle Guilbart
Speakers include Bibiane Godfroid, managing director of programmes at M6; Emmanuelle Guilbart, programme controller at France Televisions; and Laurent Storch, head of production at TF1.
FORMAT BOOT CAMP
Industry leaders offer formats advice THE FIRST Format Boot Camp on Friday, March 30 at 12.00, focuses on format protection. Jonathan Coad, founder of the International Format Lawyers Association and partner at law firm Lewis Silkin — whose clients include BSkyB, FremantleMedia and MTV — will explain how “you protect your idea right from its ‘eureka!’ moment of conception until its emergence on screen”, and beyond. Later, at 16.00, the first of three live-learning sessions with formats protection body FRAPA, is Format Boot Camp: How To Make A Format Bible. In this session The Format People’s Michel Rodrigue and Justin Scroggie will explain the art and science of creating a format bible — the production manual and brand-protection tool that is now seen as a key element in the legal protection of formats. Kicking off the Boot Camp programme on March 31 at 09.00, David Lyle, FRAPA cofounder and CEO of National Geographic Channels, and Phil Gurin, president of The Gurin Company, will host Saturday’s workshop on how to make a sizzle reel. “New creatives in love with their projects often lose sight of the purpose of a sizzle reel,” Lyle said. “The
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perfect response from a buyer to a sizzle reel is: ‘Wow! Tell me more...’.” How To Negotiate, the final Boot Camp session at 09.50, is hosted by Patty Geneste, CEO and president of Absolutely Independent. Geneste will give delegates a master class in deal-making, including tips on how to negotiate with producers and broadcasters, how to protect your rights and how to think creatively at the bargaining table.
Jonathan Coad
SevenOneInternational
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PrOductnEWs Highlights of the formats on sale at MIPFormats and onwards at MIPTV …
The Devil’s Dinner Party (ITV Studios)
ITV STUDIOS UK REALITY
THE DEVIL‘s Dinner Party brings together six strangers who take part in a subtle popularity contest. The evening becomes a revealing game of endurance, conflict and competition. Guests get to know each other through a series of personal questions and eliminations until a winner emerges.
NORDIC WORLD
ENDEMOL
NORWAY
UK
COOKING
ENTERTAINMENT AND REALITY
A GOURMET restaurant in a maximum-security prison, run by hardened criminals? Jailhouse Cook may sound like fiction, but the latest reality format from Denmark’s Koncern — brought to market by Nordic World — has a serious social mission: to help reverse the trend that sees one out of every two convicts readmitted to prison within two years of release. Through eight intense weeks, a team of inmates is coached in everything from chopping veg to costing menus. The series chronicles the transformation not only of the harsh prison environment into an upmarket restaurant, but of the prisoners’ aspirations for life on the other side.
THE BANK Job is a game show, where rival players — having battled it out online to secure a place on the show — enter a bank vault filled with money and play a competitive game of knowledge, judgement and luck. Babes On The Bus features female singletons looking for a rural life. They tour the country by bus, visiting small communities, which aim to charm the women with beautiful landscapes and cute bachelors. The women decide whether to stay or move on. The show’s goal is to return to the city with an empty bus. Your Face Sounds Familiar is a talent competition in which celebrities impersonate iconic music performers. They select the artist for the following week’s performance with a buzzer as a multiple images pass in rapid succession. They could choose someone older, younger or even of the opposite sex.
BANIJAY INTERNATIONAL DENMARK DATING
DEVELOPED from the Norwegian version, Sons Of Norway, Descendants Of Love features single guys and girls who have moved away from their country of origin. The show’s team finds potential dates for them from their homeland. They write letters and four winners are invited to travel to the “new world”, and finally one is chosen.
HAT TRICK PRODUCTIONS UK COMEDY PANEL SHOW Jailhouse Cook (Nordic World)
A2G CREATIONS FRANCE
DCD RIGHTS UK REALITY
EACH episode of Do Or Die (4 x 60 mins) sees a different group of workers take on gruelling challenges in harsh environments. Calling on the help of workplace psychologist and survival expert, Dr Travis Kemp, the group is sent on what they believe is a team-building exercise. Instead, they are flung into a survival adventure. 8I
BEAUTY
NEW REALITY format and branded content show Beauty Academy (10 x 60 mins) was broadcast on Shanghai’s satellite TV channel Dragon TV. The talent show to find a star make-up artist started with a casting session in China’s six biggest cities, then continues with master classes, challenges, and tips, while embedding beauty brand Sephora’s colour codes and product lines. The second season is under development for broadcast later this year.
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THE ROOM 101 format has been reversioned for the UK’s BBC One, hosted by comedian Frank Skinner, who invites three celebrities each week to compete for his approval to banish their top annoyance into Room 101. Whereas previously the format depended on each guest discussing their individual nominations alone, the new show means that the three guests have to compete against each other in a series of rounds on specific topics such as sport, travel, modern life, growing up. The original Room 101 ran for 11 series between 1994 and 2007. Room 101 (Hat Trick Productions)
iproductneWs ALL3MEDIA INTERNATIONAL
SEVENONE INTERNATIONAL
STRIX TELEVISION
UK
GERMANY
SWEDEN
REALITY
COMEDY
GAME SHOW
DAY AND Night is a constructed reality show from German independent producer Filmpool. The action takes place in a trendy metropolitan apartment — originally in Berlin — home to eight young characters determined to make their mark in the city. Each episode spans 24 hours in the lives of these amateur actors. The first series (120 x 45 mins), broadcast on RTL2, attracted a strong social-media following, including a million Facebook fans. All3Media International launches the show at MIPTV.
BASED on the International Emmy-winning Benidorm Bastards, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (12 x 26 mins) sees actress Betty White orchestrate a band of fearless senior citizens as they roam the streets pulling pranks on the younger generation. Other international versions of the Benidorm Bastards include: Off Their Rockers (BBC/UK), Old Ass Bastards (ProSieben/ Germany), Pensionarsjavlar (Kanal 5/Sweden), Benidorm Bastards (RTL 4/The Netherlands), Rollator Banden (Kanal 5/Denmark), Bingobanden (TV Norge/Norway), Batrani si Nelinistiti (TV 2/ Romania), Les Detestables (V/Canada), and JeulGeoUn In Seng (tvN/South Korea).
STRIX launches family game show Game On! (12 x 45 mins( at MIPTV. Produced by the company´s new office in Tel Aviv, the show can take place anywhere — in a supermarket, a street crossing, a park or even at the airport. Using hidden cameras innocent passers-by compete in a variety of games in which only the two hosts and the viewers at home know are taking place. Examples include being the first to listen to a street performer, being the customer trying on the most dresses and go home with a dress for free, or scoring a goal playing street basketball and suddenly being surrounded by professional cheerleaders.
Day And Night (All3Media International)
OHM.TV
Game On! (Strix Television)
GERMANY GAME SHOW
RANSOM (13 x 60 mins) is a reality game show in which an anonymous citizen accepts the challenge of being kidnapped for four days in exchange for a cash prize of €200,000. The contestant has to overcome a series of obstacles, tasks and challenges in order to win the money in an intriguing atmosphere where the spectators become part of the game in a race against the clock to freedom. NOVAVISION FRANCE
Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (SevenOne International)
ZODIAK RIGHTS UK
DRG TV UK REALITY
ZODIAK Rights has acquired the format You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me! from Germany’s I&U TV Production. The challenge show showcases talented kids in a series of duels against local celebrities from the field of music, sport and culture, while a panel of celebrities bets on the outcome for a chance to win a cash prize for the charity of their choice. Zodiak Rights owns worldwide rights (excluding Germany) to the format.
SWAPPING the hustle and bustle of city life for the peace and tranquillity of the country is a dream shared by many. This is the starting point of Countryside Dreams (8 x 60 mins), the latest format from NICE Group company Titan TV, which follows four urban families on a life-changing rural adventure. Filled with enthusiasm, the families attempt to run existing country businesses, such as a farm, a small hotel and a restaurant. But will the reality of country life live up to the dream? Or will it prove to be a rural nightmare?
You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me! (Zodiak Rights)
Countryside Dreams (DRG TV)
GAME SHOW
GAME SHOW
NOVAVISION’s new format The QuizZz is already co-produced locally in Brazil (Los Bandeirantes), Sri Lanka (MTV Channel) and in India (a Gold TV production). The audience has to guess what an actor is miming, and the answer is revealed after the commercial break. The format, in two 30-second parts, is designed to keep the attention of the audience.
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KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES Format US TV’s #1 Hit Meet the Series’ Creator and Executive Producer
©2012 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. 0051
Pawn Stars® is the #1 show of all time on HISTORY®, achieving extraordinary growth since 2009, and averaging 6.2 million in 2012 YTD*. Cajun Pawn Stars™ launched in January on HISTORY, averaging 3.7 million, and growing every week. Meet Brent Montgomery, Pawn Stars creator, and the Leftfield Pictures team at MIPTV to hear how Pawn can work for your market. To set up a meeting, contact us at intl.pressrelation@aenetworks.com or visit A+E Networks at MIP TV, Stand G3-18.
*Nielsen M-Sun/8-11pm, Live+SD, 2012 data thru 01/16/2012.
**Nielsen M-Sun/8-11pm, Live+SD, 2012 data thru 01/18/12.
Feature FEATURES P13 ALL SINGING, ALL DANCING, ALL POWERFUL P17 TAKE YOUR PICK P24 THE NEXT FACTOR
The UK version of The X Factor 12 I
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FORMAT TRENDS
All singing, all dancing, all powerful The next big thing in formats looks likely to be the last big thing, but reinvented, refreshed, with bigger prizes and on at least two screens. Clive Bull identifies the key trends of 2012
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012 MAY well be a year to remember. It’s longevity: “There’s no doubt that competition in this gena leap year, an Olympic year and, depend- re is incredibly tough, but that reflects the enormous deing on your beliefs, either a year of spiritual mand out there for these types of shows. Music — whether singing or dancing — is a core element to pretty much transformation or an apocalyptic one. As far as the formats market is concerned, every culture and country across the globe, so formats in no one’s predicting the end of world, just a this field are very popular.” little bit of gentle evolution. The all-singing, all-dancing SPT has Dancing Nation in Asia and Latin America, talent shows look like retaining their commanding po- NBC recently finished its third season of The Sing-Off sition, with Idols, The X Factor and Dancing With The and there are new European deals in the pipeline for its Stars continuing to reach new parts of the globe, and the factual entertainment format, Cover Me. relatively new kid on the block, The Voice, showing star BBC Worldwide’s (BBCWW) Matt Paice, executive vicequality as well. But will the public start to lose their appetite for this president of international production, is confident that kind of show? “It’s a question we’ve asked ourselves, but Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) still has a bright future. there isn’t any evidence at all of these declining,” says “We’ve been doing multi-series format deals with broadTrish Kinane, president of worldwide entertainment at casters and even seen some bidding wars,” he says. “To my FremantleMedia. “In terms of our holy trinity — The X mind, DWTS is unique in that it’s the only major celebFactor, Got Talent and Idols — people are still watching rity talent format on the international market. I wouldn’t be surprised to see DWTS on air for another decade. them and the ratings are huge.” We’re announcing new territories all the time, recently It’s significant that Talpa’s The Voice has worked in from as far afield as Georgia and markets such as Germany and Panama.” the Netherlands, where talThe secret to maintaining a top ent shows are already domi“In terms of our holy spot, however, is to keep things nant. And the fact that there trinity — The X Factor, fresh. Paice believes shows like is still room for more in an poDWTS and I’m A Celebrity… tentially saturated market sugGot Talent and Idols — Get Me Out Of Here! have new gests there’s still plenty of life in people are still twists built into the format by virthe genre. Keith LeGoy, presiwatching them and tue of their ever-changing all-star dent of international distributhe ratings are huge” line-ups. “Part of the excitement tion at Sony Pictures Television Trish Kinane is the appearance of someone (SPT), feels the very nature of wildly unexpected,” he adds. these shows ensures their global www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2012 I 13
i feature All singing, all dancing, all powerful “Plus, every season someone different captures the nation’s attention and paves the way for a new type of celebrity to enter and do well.” FremantleMedia takes the business of looking for new ideas very seriously. It recently hosted an Idols Evolutions Conference in Sweden, which brought together key Idols producers from around the world to share ideas. The participants included Ken Warwick, executive producer of American Idol. Trish Kinane says: “We sat in Malmo and we looked at all the fresh ideas that people had tried in their territories around the world. Ken had a lot to say about how he reinvented American Idol to make it such a huge success. But equally, he went away thinking that other territories were doing some really interesting things too.” Karoline Spodsberg, managing director, of Banijay International, believes there’s a lot more to come from reality TV because the genre is so adaptable. She cites Banijay’s epic new offering Tempted, which launched at MIPCOM 2011 and tests the ethics of its contestants via a series of moral choices. “There will always be room for new formats where we challenge the cast in different scenarios,” Spodsberg adds. Deals have been struck for Tempted with MTV Russia and TET TV Ukraine. Both channels will strip the show during primetime. Options have also been agreed in Portugal, Italy and India. So will a big new idea break through in 2012? The continued success of shows like The X Factor and Idols means there are few opportunities for others to shine. There is a theory that in hard times the public takes
MTV’s Jersey Shore
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I’m A Celebrity … India comfort in nostalgia. The supermarkets have seen it with the surge in sales of retro food from the Seventies and Eighties. Likewise broadcasters are tending towards familiar formats. Endemol’s managing director of creative operations, Iris Boelhouwer says: “There is definite interest in our back catalogue and, for this very reason, we’re bringing Fear Factor back to Cannes this MIPTV. We’ve just seen the programme make a smashing return on NBC in the US. Fear Factor never really went away — it has been continually produced around the world — but it’s fantastic to see it successfully return in a major market like the US.” A ll3Media’s executive vice-president of formats, Stephanie Hartog, feels commissioning old favourites is not just about the feel-good factor. “I don’t know whether viewers want them, but I think broadcasters certainly do,” she says. “It’s the security of something that will deliver them with solid numbers.” FremantleMedia’s Kinane believes her company’s back catalogue of heritage programming will do well. “The classic formats will be coming back,” she
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“I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dancing With The Stars on air for another decade” Matt Paice
i feature All singing, all dancing, all powerful predicts. “We’ve had huge renewed interest in The Price Is Right. Lots of territories are looking at it again and our French version has revitalised and refreshed the format.” The revival of Blockbusters is another example, as is Play Your Cards Right, which is also enjoying renewed interest. Another effect of tighter economic times appears to be the growing trend in game-show formats for big cash prizes. And it looks like we can expect more of that in 2012. “We are dropping money, we are throwing money and we are raining money,” says Banijay’s Spodsberg, whose portfolio includes It’s Raining Cash. But Spodsberg points out that this won’t be true in all territories: “Bank notes on screen in some cultures are seen as a disrespectful way of treating money,” she says. If 2012 is the year of familiar formats and cash prizes, then perhaps we should look no further than Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, which has been around since the late Nineties and has sold to well over 100 territories. LeGoy believes SPT’s efforts to adapt the format to move with attractive way to tell a dramatic the times have helped to retain its story without the associated costs “If you aren’t appeal: “Big cash prizes will alof a full-blown scripted drama. already factoring ways be popular and in tougher Many observers believe 2012 will times even more so. Millionaire the dual-screen be the year that scripted formats is a case in point — it’s been runfinally find their feet. Banijay’s experience into your ning for more than a decade and is Spodsberg says: “One of the most formats, you’re more popular than it’s ever been. expensive things to put on screen already two steps There’s something magical about is drama. Scripted reality brings someone hitting the jackpot. We behind” some of the value of drama to the just had a million-dollar winner on Keith LeGoy viewer but in a much cheaper way. the Indian version and it instantly I definitely think it’s a genre we become news around the world — should watch out for in 2012.” not to mention an incredible ratings boost for the net- Banijay’s format catalogue includes The Day My Life work carrying the show.” Changed, which tells the stories of ordinary people whose But while the broadcasters are handing out cash prizlives are changed by a dramatic incident. It’s 100% scriptes, will their own budgets come under strain in 2012? ed but the characters within the show are amateur actors. Caroline Beaton, senior vice-president of internation“When you watch it, you get the feeling you’re watching a al programme sales at Viacom International Media documentary,” Spodsberg says. Networks (VIMN), does not believe there will be a “We absolutely think it’s a huge area,” agrees Caroline marked improvement — or decline — in budgets this Beaton, who prefers to call it “constructed reality” on year: “I think we’ll be following the same pattern we’ve the basis that the MTV approach to shows such as Jersey followed for a couple of years, which is that people will Shore and its UK equivalent, Geordie Shore, involves no invest in the content that they perceive to have a strong scripting. “We focus on strength in casting, and on creating track record and that’s as near as they can get to a riskenvironments and situations that are so dynamic and comfree hit. That’s why people love these big established for- pelling that we don’t need to script them,” she adds. “We mats that bring with them a ratings track record.” film literally hundreds of hours for every hour you’ll see on the screen. The trick is to really get under the skin of a very Saving money without losing ratings seems to be one mo- well cast group of people. Then the script writes itself.” tive behind the growing trend for scripted reality. It’s an Greg Quail, executive producer and founder of Quail
BIG BROTHER WILL NOT GO AWAY WHEN it comes to reinventions and new elements, Endemol’s reality stalwart Big Brother is a perfect example. According to Iris Boelhouwer, managing director of creative operations, Endemol is constantly looking at ways to keep Big Brother fresh. “Each year at the Big Brother exchange, executives from all over the world come together to share ideas,” she says. “It’s one of my favourite meetings of the year, sitting with over 30 top executive producers, sharing great ideas and coming up with exciting new stuff.” In 2011, 28 series of Big Brother aired in 87 countries, including new territories as far flung as Indonesia and Ukraine. The format also launched on new broadcasters in Sweden and the UK, and this year sees the show returning to Australia.
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i feature All singing, all dancing, all powerful Television, says programming with a local feel does it for Australian audiences: “I don’t see a slow down in reality TV in Australia, because it’s cost effective and continues to work. What I’m waiting to see is whether Australia will embrace scripted reality. The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) is an example of local programming workVIMN’s Caroline Beaton ing in its local market. The scripted-reality technique is a work of genius. It’s a very entertaining new way to tell stories.” But not everyone is convinced scripted has the potential to travel. BBCWW’s Paice wonders: “Is it simply a genre that can be replicated by local broadcasters without a bible?” But All3Media’s Hartog has great faith in Lime Pictures’ TOWIE becoming a brand and making it into several new territories. And she is also enthusiastic about another variety within the scripted genre that comes predominantly from Germany. These formats are less about would-be celebrities and more about dramatic storytelling, often stripped into daily shows. Filmpool’s The Trovatos — A Family Of Detectives, for example, had a 60-episode run on RTL and features a family of real private detectives tackling fictional cases. Also in All3Media’s portfolio is Just Sue Me, a scripted-reality format about legal disputes, commissioned for a long first run on Germany’s Vox. Set in Berlin, Day And Night is another scripted-reality hit about young people in the metropolis. It launched with 120 episodes on RTL2 and a further 200 further episodes have now been commissioned. The show also has around one million Facebook fans.
Banijay’s Caroline Spodsberg
BBC Worldwide’s Matt Paice
TV,” FremantleMedia’s Kinane says. “People loved it. I think that’s an area that’s going to grow.” It’s a trend that’s been discussed within the industry for years but, for Banijay’s Spodsberg, it is only now that the two-screen phenomenon is beginning to have a real effect: “When I walk in on my kids and they’re watching TV, they never have just one screen on at a time — it’s always the television, the computer, the phone... that’s how young viewers are consuming television today.” So the search for big format that takes 2012 by storm goes on. As All3Media’s Hartog puts it: “People are always looking for the next big idea. But I don’t think looking for it means you’re going to find it. More likely than not it, will drop into your lap when you’re least expecting it.”
And that’s the other widely predicted area of growth in 2012 — the so-called dual screen experience whereby viewers watch TV while going online. “If you aren’t already factoring this into your formats then you’re already two steps behind,” says SPT’s Legoy. “Social media, online extensions and the whole dual-screen experience has opened up new avenues for format-owners to create new revenue streams, extend their products and draw audiences into their shows.” There was a genuine dual-screen experience in the French version of The X Factor. What looked like a glowing orange box on the television screen was in fact an interactive online studio operating at the same time as the live TV show. “People at home were sitting there with their iPads interacting with that little orange studio at the same time as they were watching the main show on the
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SPT’s Keith LeGoy
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THE 31-LEGGED RACE THE 31-Legged Race is a heart-warming event that was developed for television, produced and aired by TV Asahi, one of Japan’s largest terrestrial broadcasters. It is a race in which 30 elementary school children run in a row for a goal 50 meters ahead, with their ankles tied with straps and their arms around each others shoulders — as in the more conventional three-legged race. The race started off as a strand in a popular show called Challengers Of Fire, which was aired for four-and-ahalf-years in primetime. As the race became popular, TV Asahi decided to further develop this show as a stand alone, entitled
The 31-Legged Race
The National Championship Of Elementary School 31-Legged Race. It was programmed as a year-end special for 14 years from 1996 to 2009, and attracted viewers of all ages. Now available as a format, it has been licensed in China and Thailand. And this year, the format will travel further — for example to Vietnam and Malaysia. The event in Thailand has now been running for seven years with more than 300 schools entering the preliminary rounds, and that number is growing annually. Honda is the sponsor for the event in Thailand and Canon in Guangzhou, China.
i feature WORLD VIEW
Take your pick Now that the global formats industry has truly come of age, there is a lot to choose from. So what formats are channels buying around the world and how are they scheduling them? Andy Fry goes on a world tour of some key TV territories
T
HE FORMATS business is a global phenomenon. It doesn’t matter whether you look at emerging TV markets like Vietnam or developed TV markets like the US, broadcasters in virtually every territory have embraced the reversioning of game shows, talent contests, reality-elimination formats and long-running scripted series. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that some formats are gamechangers. They can transform aging, also-ran networks into dynamic and popular market-leaders. One of the earliest examples of this was the debut run of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on ABC in the US. From bottom of the network rankings in the late 1990s, ABC rose to the top thanks to Millionaire audiences of 30 million an episode, according to ABC. Subsequently, it was no real surprise to see the SPT-owned quiz format reversioned in more than 100 countries worldwide. The second is that formats can be very efficient. With all of the production and editorial wrinkles ironed out in some other territory, buyers can go to their channel chiefs with modestly-priced shows that will run for years. Knowing all this doesn’t make the broadcaster’s business easy. For a start, you have to spot a hit format before your rival.
Leave it too late and you’ll spend the next decade trying to come up with an answer to blockbuster formats like Idol or The X Factor or Dancing With The Stars. Neither can the broadcaster of a hit show afford to be complacent. It’s easy to run a hit format into the ground — as some networks did with Millionaire. It’s also easy to miss out on new creative wave because you’re putting all your energy into protecting existing franchises.
L’Amour Est Dans Le Pre, the French version of UK format The Farmer Wants A Wife, for M6 www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2012 I 17
i feature Take your pick AUSTRALIA IN AUSTRALIA Network Ten got a ratings boost when it green-lit a local version of MasterChef in 2009. The Shine-distributed show attracted 3.74m metropolitan viewers to its final in 2009, then a record 3.96m for the 2010 final. In 2011 the finale audience slipped back to 2.67 million (Source: OzTam). Analysts cite two reasons. The first was the fact that Ten increased the number of weekly episodes for Series 3. The second was Ten’s decision to split the Sunday night final in two. Part of the reason for doing this was so that Ten could launch a new show called The Renovators in the gap. Why did it do this? Because rival Network Nine had success with DIY show The Block, which peaked at 3.43m viewers for its own final. Nine, under CEO David Gyngell, is now trying to press home its advantage by spending a record-breaking A$120m on shows in 2012. There are two main parts to is on air with great success. Also doing well is Strictly Gyngell’s strategy. Firstly, to strip strongly-promoted, Come Dancing, which will be produced this year its well-produced locally-made reality shows at 1900. There ninth edition. The Brazilian networks are constantly will, for example, be a new run of The Block and a new looking for new projects to enhance their line-up. But show called Excess Baggage. He if a format does well it can be proalso wants to confront Network duced for several seasons such as Seven h it Aust ra l ia’s G ot Big Brother, Strictly, Fear Factor, “Telenovelas are still Talent. To this end he is reviving Wipe Out and Sound Mix Show.” in first position but Endemol’s Big Brother and has According to Athayde, “SBT, then come reality acquired new John De Mol forBand and TV Record have inmat The Voice. Presenting to adcreased their format business in shows and game vertisers, he called the 2012 line the last two years, but TV Globo shows” “the best bunch of programmes is still the biggest”. In terms of loMonica Athayde and most expensive schedule cal tastes, she says: “Telenovelas Nine has ever had.’’ are still in first position but then come reality shows and game shows as an entertainment for the whole family. Both are the trends in the Brazilian market for the moment. Current reality series include Big Brother Amazonia and Mulheres Ricas (Rich Women).”
BRAZIL
IN 2001, Endemol entered the Brazilian production market by forming a joint venture with local media giant Rede Globo. Through this vehicle, it went on to produce local versions of Big Brother, Operacion Triunfo and Fear Factor (in-house formats) and Dancing With The Stars (3rd party) for Brazil’s market-leading broadcaster. Endemol continues to be the dominant format producer in the country. But a sign of how the market has changed came in 2009, when it set up a separate outfit called Endemol Brasil, to make local version of shows for other channels. The most notable buyer is SBT, which has ordered local versions of The Money Drop and 1 Vs 100 from Endemol. SBT has also acquired game show format Wrong Number from Israeli company Dori Media. In terms of current trends, Monica Athayde, managing director of Endemol Globo says “Big Brother Brasil 12 18 I
FRANCE AS IN the US, the key format story in France right now is the future of big entertainment shows. M6 rested Idol to give The X Factor a slot in the schedule but the latter didn’t do very well. Not discouraged, M6 has FremantleMedia preparing a 2012 edition of Got Talent. Meanwhile, commercial rival TF1 is testing the waters with a local version of The Voice, to be produced by Shine France during 2012. The Voice replaces Star Academy, an Endemol format that aired on TF1 until 2008, when a slide in audience led to its cancellation. Interestingly, Star Academy is now on its way back thanks to DTT channel NRJ12, which will air a revamped version in September.
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The X Factor Australia
i feature Take your pick Monica Galer was recently If there’s another notable trend named CEO of FremantleMedia coming into 2012 it’s the success “Korean broadcasters France. She says Got Talent is that Star Plus is having on Friday are always looking to not the company’s only big show: nights with Survivor India. Not develop localised “Farmer Wants A Wife on M6 is only is Survivor one of the few foran amazing success. It doesn’t do mats to gain similar ratings to the content” so well in English-speaking marsoaps, it is also one of the few enJoyce Yeung kets, but the French audience retertainment shows that is not hostally like the authenticity of the ed by a Bollywood star. Despite show. In fact, it’s a show that does this, it has rated just as well as rival franchises such as Just Dance and Total Wipeout. well for us in numerous European countries.” French broadcasters used to be suspicious of the fact that Underlining the view that formats are perceived as gameFremantleMedia and M6 have the same parent (RTL), changers, Imagine TV has acquired Talpa’s The Voice. admits Galer. “But not anymore. We made 150 episodes of Family Feud for TF1’s access primetime slot last year, which was great news. And we also make Question For A Champion and Password for France Televisions.” Galer has been briefed to grow the FremantleMedia business in France and sees cable/DTT as a big opportunity. She also wants more success in primetime but admits it is difficult because of the strength of US drama series and the fact that French audiences like lengthy entertainment shows. She cites an example: “Take Me Out is a format which we developed in France. We’ve sold it in 17 countries including the UK but haven’t been able to get it on air in France because of this issue of episode length.” In terms of major developments going forward, she points to Canal+’s acquisition of Bollore Group’s free-to-air channel business: “A powerful new player in the free-toair television market is an interesting development.”
Dancing With The Stars, Indian version
INDIA MAKE no mistake, long-running dramas and live cricket still rule the roost in India’s all-important Hindi PayTV households. But formats have an important supporting role to play. Viacom/Network 18-backed channel Colors, for example, broke into a market dominated by Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television and Zee by re-versioning franchises like Fear Factor, Got Talent and Big Brother (which is now in its fifth run, entitled Big Boss locally). Perhaps because of its US backer, Colors has always been quick to introduce new formats. In 2012, for example, it has picked up SPT’s talk show format The Dr. Oz Show. SPT calls it “the first time a US talk show format will be produced in India and the first formatted medical show to air in the region”. Speaking about the decision to buy the format, called All Is Well locally, Colors CEO Raj Nayak said: “The Dr. Oz Show is our attempt to bring to Indian audiences a useful show that creates awareness on health and wellness — something that has not been on air here.”
KOREA PART of Korea’s attraction is that it is such an advanced TV market, meaning there are lots of thematic channels to do business with. Joyce Yeung, general manager and senior vice-president for BBC Worldwide (BCWW) sales & distribution, Asia, says: “Korean broadcasters are always looking to develop localised content, so it’s an important market for format sales.” BBCWW’s big success has been the production of a local version of Top Gear by CJ E&M for use on their male skewed XTM channel. “It’s performed really well for them — so much so that we’re now looking to distribute the Korean version to other Asian countries,” says Yeung. “The show has been re-commissioned for a further two series, and Top Gear China also launched on Hunan TV.” CJ E&M is emerging as a key partner for a number of distributors. Aside from Top Gear, it also picked up Shine www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2012 I 19
i feature Take your pick TV in Egypt, shot in Cairo, with episodes to be scheduled daily. At the same time, SPT Arabia has sealed a deal to make 20 one hour episodes of Jeopardy! in Lebanon for Pan-Arab Satcaster, MBC Group. Commenting on the deals, SPT Arabia president Ziad Kebbi said: “Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy! are iconic game shows, so it’s very exciting to offer Middle East broadcasters and audiences their own versions. Expansion into non-scripted programmes is an important step in SPT Arabia’s growth strategy.”
“Expansion into nonscripted programmes is an important step for SPT Arabia” Ziab Kebbi
Korean version of Top Gear International’s MasterChef for its O’live channel. Also important is Mnet, which is to air a Korean version of The Voice. Echoing Europe, success in one Asian market often leads to deals in others. MasterChef has been adapted around six times while BBCWW’s Dancing With The Stars has been adapted for Hunan TV in China, IVM in Indonesia, VTV3 in Vietnam and MBC in Korea. Bum Cho, head of production at MBC Plus Media, said: “Dancing With The Stars has proved extremely popular in Asia and around the world, so we expect the show to become must-watch TV for viewers of all ages in Korea too.” Korea is also known for its drama exports — with Japan currently spending around $82m a year on Korean drama. Some of this is formatted but most of it isn’t.
MIDDLE EAST UNTIL now, the majority of non-scripted format deals in The Middle East have been pan-regional. But SPT Arabia has just clinched a territory-specific deal for US classic Wheel Of Fortune. The deal will see it produce 240 half-hour episodes of Wheel Of Fortune for Hayat 20 I
Kebbi’s reference to non-scripted is to distinguish these productions from a July deal which saw SPT Arabia licensed local episodes of comedy format Everybody Loves Raymond to Dream TV in Egypt, Murr Television in Lebanon, and Saudi Arabian IPTV service, Intigral. More generally, SPT has been a pioneer in the reversioning of scripted drama and comedy formats — taking its classic US shows into markets like Russia and France.
THE NETHERLANDS THE NETHERLANDS is a hot-house of format creation and export. And not surprisingly the shows its producers try to sell abroad also do well on home turf. A case in point is John De Mol’s The Voice, a big hit for commercial channel RTL4; attracting around three million viewers for its first two seasons. RTL4 is home to most of the big talent shows (X Factor, Got Talent, etc.). Unusually, perhaps, it tends to air some of these events on Friday nights not Saturdays. RTL’s main commercial rival is the channel family consisting of Net 5, SBS6 and Veronica. SBS6 is the biggest of the three and hasn’t really been a heavy user of formats in the past (though it did pick up SevenOne International’s My Man Can at MIP 2011). Net5, targeted at women, airs MasterChef and recently acquired All3Media’s Shampoo Wars (renamed Next Hair Guru in Holland). Airing in primetime on Tuesdays, the show has raised the station average for females 20–34 by 13%. Veronica has a version of Undercover Boss which has done well, says head of acquisitions Rozan Hamaker.
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i feature Take your pick The big story with this group was its 2011 acquisition by Sanoma and De Mol’s Talpa Media. At purchase, De Mol said: “The transaction offers three TV channels for Talpa Content and Talpa Productions to create formats for.” Subsequently, Sanoma and Talpa have poached Remko Van Westerloo from RTL4 sister channel RTL5 to be director of programmes. This is significant, since Van Westerloo has a deft touch when it comes to youth-oriented content. When he settles in, it’s easy to imagine that the channels may become launch-pads for a range of Talpa formats. As for pubcaster NOS, it has strong franchises like Test The Nation, which runs on Ned 1. An Eyeworks show, it scored a record 1.8 million viewers in its 12th edition. NOS plays its part in Dutch format innovation via TV Lab. Launched in 2009, the TV Lab is a novel concept that involves broadcasting a huge array of new pilots over the course of a few days. TV Lab proved so successful that in 2011 TV Lab became a European Broadcasting Union-backed initiative. TV Lab aired 19 pilots in 2009 and let the audience decide which they liked. Of the 19, seven were commissioned as series.” When Holland wants foreign formats, the UK features high on its list. BBCWW’s Home Is Where The Heart Is, created by Love Productions, is heading for RTL4.
Tempted, sold to Russia by Banijay
RUSSIA/UKRAINE
The Russian version of Money Drop RUSSIANS like scripted drama and comedies best. But entertainment formats have a role to play across most of the major channels. FremantleMedia, for example, has covered the bases — licensing formats such as Got Talent and Hole In The Wall to Channel One, Let’s Dance to Rossiya and Project Runway to MTV. Endemol has placed formats like Deal Or No Deal, 1 Vs 100, Operacion Triunfo, Wipeout and Money Drop in the market. Money Drop is evidence that Russian networks are increasingly willing to take risks. Russia was the first territory outside the UK to pick up the format and it has done well, playing successfully in Saturday night primetime on Rossiya. The big story in Russia right now is the surprise reversal in fortunes at market-leading commercial broadcaster CTC Media. Over the last several months, slow revenue growth and sliding audience ratings have resulted in the departure of CEO Anton Kudryashov. With Russian ad revenue still on the rise, analysts are blaming CTC’s problems on its reliance on expensive overseas content (formats and completed shows). Under interim boss Boris Podolsky, the company is expected to shift towards lower-cost in-house productions in 2012. More positive for foreign format owners is the rise of second-tier channels like Muz TV, which acquired My Parents Are Gonna Love You from Banijay International and Snog, Marry, Avoid from Endemol. Banijay also sold racy format Tempted to MTV Russia — confirming that there is demand for quirky youth-oriented formats. Commenting on the decision to buy Tempted, Anastasia Korchagina, head of acquisitions at MTV Russia, called www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2012 I 21
i feature Take your pick it “provocative and fast-paced,” adding that “our audiences are showing a keen interest in this type of content”. Foreign firms also need to note the growth in format exports to neighbouring Ukraine. Often managed by Russian producers, serious take up of formats began four years ago when STB rose up the audience rankings with shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Got Talent. Perhaps inspired by that, Ukraine channels have done around 50 format deals in the last two years. One of the most active is 1+1, which has just acquired The Voice. TET TV, meanwhile, is remaking Banijay’s Tempted.
UK THE UK is a great exporter of formats — and also a great user of them. Ad-funded channel ITV has two of the biggest hits in the shape of Got Talent and The X Factor, which act as schedule tent-poles in spring and autumn respectively. But The X Factor is run close by the BBC’s homegrown mega-franchise Strictly Come Dancing. Echoing developments in other markets, rival networks are seeking to establish their own talent shows. BBC1 controller Danny Cohen, for example, decided to sign up John De Mol’s new format The Voice for the UK (echoing NBC’s assault on Fox Network’s American Idol in the US). Historically, the BBC has tended to restrict its format acquisitions to cerebral content such as The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den (Strictly Come Dancing was a BBC origination not an acquisition). But under Cohen it has relaxed that approach, bringing in Endemol’s Wipeout and SevenOne’s Benidorm Bastards as well as The Voice. Expect that trend to continue after a dismal showing by homegrown game show Don’t Scare The Hare in autumn. Channel 4 dropped Big Brother to free up cash for commissioning, but the Endemol franchise was revived by Channel 5 and relaunched as a celebrity-based show. Series one delivered Channel 5 its fourth best audience ever, leading to a rapidly-assembled second series. This too is outperforming the network’s average by some distance. As for Channel 4, it recently commissioned a second run of Bank Job, a multiplatform game from Endemol-owned indie Remarkable TV which will feature prominently at MIPTV 2012. Broadcast live from a bank, the only way to play for real money is by qualifying through an online game, says Remarkable managing director David Flynn. In series one, 200,000 took part. “The online game is hugely addictive,” says Flynn, though he goes on to stress the importance of live play — something that has worked well on The Money Drop too. “Nothing can compare to the intense pressure of playing the game for real money, live on Channel 4. Everything can change up to the last second.” 22 I
The Bank Job, shot in real banks
USA THERE IS only one format story of significance in the US right now — and that is the attempt by NBC’s version of The Voice to take on Fox’s flagship American Idol. Created by John De Mol and produced for the US by Mark Burnett, the second season of The Voice launched directly after Super Bowl on February 5. Format anoraks will recall that CBS did the same with Undercover Boss and was rewarded with monstrously high ratings (38 million viewers). This issue will have gone to press by then, but NBC will hope for something similarly impressive if
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i feature Take your pick
American Idol 2012 judges
“Nothing can compare to the pressure of playing the game for real money, live” David Flynn
it is to combat Idol. Now in its 11th season, the Fox show continues to record healthy audiences with 21.6 million (Nielsen) in January 2012. This was down year-on-year — partly due to its airing just one month after the finale of Fox’s first-ever The X Factor. If there’s another format story of note, it’s reformatting UK dramas for US screens, with Showtime’s Shameless and Syfy’s Being Human having done well here.
THE NUMBERS GAME ENDEMOL’s Deal Or No Deal has been adapted in around 70 territories, it has become a mainstay in numerous markets. In the UK, ad-funded network Channel 4 has aired 1,800 episodes in access primetime since the show’s October 2005 launch. Dutch pubcaster NOS has a number of strong franchises including Test The Nation, which runs on Ned 1. An Eyeworks show, it scored a record 1.8 million viewers in its 12th edition.
PAN-REGIONAL THE NEED to find meaningful production efficiencies, combined with the growth of cross-border channel families, has paved the way for a growth in pan-regional formats. In 2011, Endemol partnered Simon Fuller’s production company XIX on ¡Q’viva! The Chosen, a music and dance talent show targeted at 21 Latin American countries which stars Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. In Asia, Ice-TV has struck a deal for an Asia-wide version of CBS Studio’s format Top Model. The Hong Kong and Singapore-based producer Ice said that production will start on Asia’s Next Top Model in early 2012. Ice-TV is also preparing a pan-regional version of French format The Biggest Gameshow In The World. Broadcasters including TV5 (Philippines), RCTI (Indonesia), Channel 5 (Thailand) and VTC9 (Vietnam) have already signed up.
On Australia’s Network Ten, the Shine-distributed show MasterChef attracted 3.74 million metropolitan viewers to its final in 2009, then a record 3.96 millionr for the 2010 final. For Bank Job, the multiplatform game show from Remarkable TV, viewers have to play an online game. For series one some 200,000 took part in the qualifying rounds. The show is broadcast live from a bank.
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i feature CHINA AND RUSSIA
The next factor Two of the world’s most dynamic territories — China and Russia — have climbed aboard the formats train in recent years. Are these the next big territories for trading in this unstoppable TV phenomenon? Marlene Edmunds reports
The Best Years Of Our Lives (Endemol)
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ORMAT deals and local adaptations are a comparatively new, but now commonplace in both China and Russia, many involving major players such as Endemol, FremantleMedia, Sony Pictures Television, Shine International, Talpa, Banijay, SevenOne International, All3Media, Eyeworks, ITV Studios and Absolutely Independent. It is China, however, with its one billion-plus population, that is causing the most excitement in format circles. Today, China’s home-grown formats do not travel beyond its borders, but the expectation is high that, someday in the not too distant future, they will. China last year had some 10 formats on air, mostly international, but media analysts believe that number could 24 I
rise to as many as 30 this year. And that’s despite concerns about the Chinese government’s increasingly tight regulations concerning content, which will affect the formats industry. The good news, however, is that China’s crackdown on piracy has generated a new confidence among foreign players that their formats will be protected. Originality and marketing are at the core of the challenges that China is facing if it wants to take its own format IP international. Chinese TV stations as well as producers are increasingly focusing on coming up with original ideas, according to Jean Dong, managing director of Zespa Media, which has offices in both Beijing and London. Zespa Media’s main client is the
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“Our job with CCTV is to help nurture a new generation of producers who are a lot more innovative and creative” Jean Dong
i feature The next factor Chinese state-owned broadcaster CCTV. Dong says that Chinese formats are in the “sprout” stage in terms of creativity. “Our job with CCTV is to help nurture a new generation of producers who are a lot more innovative and creative,” she adds. “Zespa has been enlisted to run master classes and to really teach them the ropes.” Chinese producers and IP-owners also need to learn marketing skills, Dong says. “There is still a stiffness, a less than free-flowing feeling, in the way titles are marketed,” she observes. With China’s 5,000-year-old history of invention, a capacity for originality is not at issue. What is at issue is culture, and an educational system that has traditionally discouraged creativity, individuality and being unique. Dong says, however, that Chinese media organisations are now working hard to change that. Both Zespa and Enlight Media — one of China’s largest producers — recently became members of FRAPA (Format Recognition And Protection Association). Joining FRAPA has a knock-on effect that speaks to China’s future ambitions in the format world, says Michel Rodrigue, a founding member and board member of FRAPA. Rodrigue works with Enlight in his role as advisor and formats broker for The Format People. He says the fact that Enlight is a publicly traded company has helped to gain it trust internationally. Joining FRAPA has also
Russia’s version of US health talk show, The Dr Oz Show
Branded-entertainment format Date My Car given the company recognition as a committed format player in China, as well as access to a new community of format creatives. Enlight’s aim is to build its own IP. “We are assisting the company in making sure that the genres it selects will sell abroad,” Rodrigue says. “For example, restrictions on prize money determine some of the choices. Formats like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? wouldn’t work in China, but game shows, and dating and cooking formats can.” Rodrigue reports that Enlight is also looking at hybrid shows. The independent production company has been recommissioned by CCTV to produce Shine International’s Clash Of The Choirs and, at press time, was in production on the second series of The X Factor for Liaoning TV. Enlight CEO Wang Changtian says his company has a 300-strong staff of directors and producers. “There are more and more talented people joining us now and we welcome the creativity that we believe will come out of that,” he adds. Other format players also believe that is just a matter of time before China catches up on the creative front. Asian media veteran Robert Chua, FRAPA board member and founder of Hong Kong-based Health and Lifestyle Channel, says he was “before his time” when his interactive format Everyone Wins by Robert Chua Productions became one of the first formats to enter both mainland China and Hong Kong. “The Chinese format industry is growing rapidly, with many new overseas formats, both copycat or inspired, airing on TV in China,” Chua says. He also predicts that, while formats are a relatively new concept for the Chinese, they will quickly catch up with the rest of the world. With its widespread mobile-phone culture, the Chinese are also keen on technology-driven formats. Banijay International has signed a deal with China’s first online
“It’s only a matter of time before Chinese producers turn the business model around 180 degrees and start exporting their own creativity” Jan Salling
CHINA’S TALENT POOL ENDEMOL has produced a number of formats with China, says Arjen van Mierlo, CEO of Endemol Asia. Among the most recent are The Best Years Of Our Lives with Anhui Satellite. While Endemol, not surprisingly, is keen to keep hold of its own rights, Van Mierlo says the Chinese industry’s increased interest in owning IP is more an opportunity than a threat, in that it increases interest in, and raises awareness of, the value of formats in general. “China’s increasing talent pool is also interesting, since we are always looking for good ideas,” he adds. “For Endemol Asia, it would be great if the ‘next big thing’ came out of China.”
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i feature The next factor TV portal, QIYI, to produce its branded-entertainment format Date My Car. The portal will produce 20 x 30 mins episodes of the show for a sponsor. Shanghai Media Group’s (SMG) children’s arm, Toonmax Media, has inked a partnership agreement with Finland’s motion-control games system producer Ball-IT for the fitness gaming format, Blobo, aimed at kids, teens and families. SMG will produce and broadcast 26 episodes of the interactive, fitness-focused TV game show in China in the second half of 2012. Nordic World’s chief operating officer and sales manager, Jan Salling, whose company represents Blobo, also predicts that it won’t be long before the format trade in China is a two-way street. “As they import more and more, the Chinese are fast learning the format trade. It’s only a matter of time before Chinese producers turn that business model around 180 degrees and start exporting their own creativity — their own IP,” he says. Russia has been a hot territory for some of the world’s biggest formats since the early years of the millennium. Like China, piracy issues have held the industry back but, these days, format sales are buoyant and adaptations abound. Currently, format factories such as Zodiak Vostok’s Mastiff Russia, founded in 2010, churn out local adaptations of hit formats, but also come up with their own original content. Mastiff is headed by managing director Anton Goreslavsky, whose credits include Wipeout, Survivor and Russia’s Got Talent. Mastiff’s local rendition of Zodiak Media Group’s That’s My Kid! aired on CTC in 2011 and has been recommissioned for three more seasons.
Scripted format Real Life
Sony is involved in the Russian format market through Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Russia and its subsidiary, Lean-M. Maria Smirnova, vice-president and general director of SPT Productions Russia, notes that Sony’s strategy is to work with its creative talent in Russia on local development. “We bring in additional help from international consultants on a project-by-project basis,” she says. Formats include The Most Important Thing, a Russian version of The Dr Oz Show and The Veronins, adapted from Everybody Loves Raymond.
“Ideas that were developed for Russia can travel outside of Russia. There are great chances for us to be successful in other territories” Maria Smirnova In terms of indigenous content, few Russian formats have taken flight outside the territory. Red Square’s Special Mission, however, has recently attracted international attention. The format sees celebrities training as soldiers and taking on military missions and endurance tests. The winners end up with real military ranks. Sweetport Investments’ game show Igra has also generated interest. The format involves two teams living in a warehouse and competing against each other in a computer game, with real avatars carrying out their orders.
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Russian dramedy series Krem
i feature The next factor have to have some universality. Smirnova reports that SPT has They can’t be based just on loalready had some “positive ex“Unique elements are cal celebrity appeal or talent, or periences” with its locally develrequired in order for local humour.” oped formats. “Turkey optioned formats to travel — and She adds: “Russia isn’t quite the rights for our dramedy seat this stage yet. That said, in ries Krem, which was developed those elements have to a couple of other areas, such by our local team and produced have some universality” as scripted reality, we are now for Rossiya channel in Russia Marina Williams developing formats that have and 1+1 in Ukraine,” she says. raised interest in territories “In other words, ideas that were including Poland, Bulgaria, developed for Russia can travel outside of Russia and I believe there are great chances for Kazakhstan and Ukraine.” One is the format Real Life, a multi-episode scripted reality us to be successful in other territories.” show about relationships of all kinds. It is a show, Williams Endemol is also active in Russia via WeiT Media, which believes, that could travel. “We first developed it for Russia and then sold it into Kazakhstan and the Ukraine,” she adds. is 51% owned by Endemol and the rest by local producer Timur Weinstein. The joint-venture company develops its Endemol is also heavily involved in adapting formats own IP, mainly formats aimed predominantly at Russia for the Russian market. Local versions of The Money Drop, for example, have been produced in Russia, and surrounding territories. Marina Williams, CEO of Central and Eastern European Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The show is set to go back on operations for Endemol Group, has a brief that involves air on Rossiya this spring for its fourth season. “Wipe identifying local talent, building partnerships for the pro- Out and Operation Triumph have also been successful duction business and encouraging local creatives to de- on Channel 1 Russia and we have adapted a number of velop IP that works for the Russian market and possibly youth-oriented formats for Muz TV and DTV, including Snog Marry Avoid?, Fool Around With My Girlfriend travel beyond it. “There is very little IP coming out of Russia that sells and Conveyor Belt Of Love,” Williams says. internationally in the format area,” Williams admits. Williams adds that, when Endemol IP is adapted, the for“Unique elements are required in order for formats to mat IP stays with Endemol International but the rights travel and to work internationally, and those elements for the finished version go to the local joint venture.
FORMATS ACQUIRED BY CHINESE TV STATIONS, PURCHASED FROM FOREIGN COMPANIES THE YEAR FIRST AIRED ë Go Bingo CCTV-2 (1998) ë Who Wants To Be A Millionaire CCTV-2 (2000) ë Inter Cities CCTV-5 (2005) ë Strictly Come Dancing Hunan TV (2007) ë Just The Two Of Us Hunan TV 2007) ë 1 vs 100 Hunan TV (2008) ë Wipe Out Hunan TV (2008) ë Take Me Out Hunan TV (2009) ë Hole In The Wall CCTV-1 (2010) ë China’s Got Talent Dongfang TV (2010) ë My Man Can Jiangsu TV (2010) ë Sing It Dongfang TV (2011) ë Clash Of The Choirs CCTV-1 (2011) ë X Factor Liaoning TV (2011) ë Ciao Darwin Liaoning TV (2011) ë Last Choir Standing Southeast Fujian TV (2011) ë This Time Tomorrow Southeast (Fujian) TV (2011) ë Generation Show Shenzhen TV (2011) ë Dating In The Dark Guangdong TV (2011) ë Top Gear Hunan TV (2011) ë TV Tonight’s The Night Zhejiang (2011) Source: The Format People
The Veronins, Russia’s Everybody Loves Raymond www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2012 I 27
tips &tools NEW DIGITAL LIBRARY Screen a choice of entertainment programmes for 2 days. Buyers can access the first and only Digital Library for international non-scripted and format programmes via individual screening booths.
Pick up your viewing smartcard with your badge at the MIPTV Registration area before proceeding to the screening rooms. ë Screening hours Friday, March 30 Saturday, March 31
ë Take meetings at the MIPFormats lounge, open to all visitors and features a meeting area, coffee service and free WiFi.
Please remember to wear your badge at all times during the market.
ë Meet face to face with the international formats community at the Format Launch Lunch and the MIPFormats Closing Drinks, Sunday, April 1.
REGISTRATION HOURS Friday, March 30: Saturday, March 31:
PROMOTE ë Make headlines with breaking news of major deals and announcements through the News Team. @ julian.newby@btinternet.com
MARKET HOURS Friday, March 30: Saturday, March 31:
8.00-19.00 8.30-19.00 10.00-19.00 8.30-19.00
ë Upload market-related press releases to the Online Media Centre at www.mipformats.com
ë Venue Palais des Festivals, Level 1 & 3, Esplanade Georges Pompidou, 06400 Cannes.
2 YOUR TRIP TO THE MARKET
4 AT YOUR SERVICE
LOUNGES ë MIPFormats Lounge: open to all visitors. Features include a meeting area, coffee service and WiFi access.
ë Each buyer can review a list of the content they have screened during the event.
For transportation and accommodation, please refer to the MIPTV Preview enclosed or the MIPFormats website www.mipformats.com ë The free MIPTV shuttle bus service runs between hotels located outside Cannes and the Palais des Festivals during MIPFormats. Schedules are available in hotels as well as the accommodation desk in the Registration area.
These lists are available at two stations (location to be confirmed).
3 MUST-HAVES & MUST-KNOWS
10.00-19.00 8.30-19.00
The screening booths areas: level 3 will be available exclusively for buyers. “Lists of buyers who have screened programmes” & “Content lists for buyers” ë Production and distribution companies with programmes listed in the Catalogue and digital library can view the names and contact information of the buyers who have screened their programmes.
Important: “Final lists of buyers who have screened your programmes” during MIPFormats and “Content lists for buyers” will be available by request as from Sunday, April 1 (14.00) to Wednesday, April 4 (18.00), at the Palais des Festivals (location to be confirmed). 1 PREPARE FOR THE MARKET
MEET ë Identify and connect online with new business partners in the Online Community at www.mipformats.com
Access to MIPFormats is with your MIPTV badge. REMEMBER THE ESSENTIALS Pack your badge or e-ticket and the original invoices for your French VAT refund (under certain conditions). COLLECT YOUR BADGE You will receive an e-ticket by e-mail a few days before MIPFormats. Print this e-ticket and scan the barcode at a self-service delivery point in the MIPTV Registration* area to collect your badge. *Buyers can collect their badges and smartcards from the Registration area. *Journalists, reporters and photographers can collect their badges at the press registration desk at Protocol.
SERVICES ë Customer Service Help Desk: available all year long to provide customised assistance. +33 (0)1 41 90 44 41 / 42 @ customerhelpdesk@reedmidem.com ë Left luggage: available if you wish to go directly to MIPFormats from the airport. TELECOMMUNICATIONS ë WiFi connections: free WiFi is available at the MIPFormats Lounge. Alternatively, WiFi sessions are available for purchase on the “Palaisdesfestivals” network for all other areas. ë Mobile Phones & 3G Data Cards rental: contact Cellhire to rent a smartphone, SIM card or 3G data card during MIPFormats. www.cellhire.fr/reedmidem
Download the free app from http://road.ie/mipworld to keep the essentials right in your pocket, including information about conferences, events, speakers and more. 28 I
preview magazine I March 2012 I www.mipformats.com