MIPTV: The Week in Formats

NEW YORK: This MIPTV proved to be a busy one for those working in the formats sector, with deals signed in a wide swath of territories.

Both scripted and non-scripted formats were in high demand, as the market continued its search for “the next big thing.”

Global Agency believes it has found just that, the next global entertainment juggernaut, with The Legend, which made its debut to a packed house closing out MIPFormats. Following the premiere, the company reported interest in the format from broadcasters in France, Turkey, China, India, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

Asia was, indeed, a hotspot this market. Keshet International licensed its game-show format Trade Up to Beijing Tong Chang Tong Ying, which will see a Chinese version head into production soon for broadcast on CCTV-2. China’s Shenzhen TV commissioned IPCN to produce a local version of the reality format Dragons’ Den. China’s Sohu.com and online streaming service TV.Sohu aligned with Armoza Formats to co-develop the lifestyle format The Running Show, which was launched in Cannes. The Spanish scripted series The Department of Time is also now set for a Chinese adaptation.

Territories across Europe were quite active on the format-licensing front. Armoza landed deals in Italy, for the studio game show The Bubble; Germany, with the culinary-themed docu-reality series The Foodies; and in Lithuania and Poland, selling the prime-time entertainment show I Can Do That! The Keshet International game show BOOM! is getting an Italian treatment, thanks to a deal with Endemol Shine Italy. Warner Bros. International Television Production sold the format rights for the Ellen DeGeneres-produced unscripted comedy/variety series Little Big Shots into the U.K. and Spain. Meanwhile, RTL in Germany signed up to adapt the Talpa format Dance Dance Dance.

Over in Russia, news broke during MIPTV that the Scandi thriller The Bridge is getting a local treatment from Endemol Shine Group partner Weit Media. Russia’s NTV Channel commissioned 20 episodes to run over two seasons, with a story that begins when a body is found on the Narva Friendship Bridge between Russia and Estonia. Endemol Shine Group’s factual hit Hunted was also commissioned in Russia, where it will be adapted for NTV.

Dating made quite a bit of noise as a popular genre at the market. FremantleMedia used MIPTV as a launch pad for its new Israeli dating format Hear Me. Love Me. See Me., which comes from the creators of Take Me Out and Farmer Wants a Wife. A special panel was dedicated to the topic of marriage, dating and relationship shows, Real Love: Dating, Marriage and Real Reality, as part of the Focus on Germany strand at MIPTV. Moderated by World Screen’s Anna Carugati, the session shined a spotlight on the hit formats Married at First Sight and Kiss Bang Love. The panelists—who hailed from Red Arrow International, Snowman Productions, FYI and K7 Media—agreed that authenticity was key to the success of both shows.

Carugati moderated another formats-focused session at the market, this one profiling two hit formats that originated in the U.S.: A+E Networks’s 60 Days In and Viacom International Media Networks’s Lip Sync Battle. The session, New Creative Boom in the U.S., discussed what’s driving the success of these two shows that were commissioned by U.S. broadcasters and are now being rolled out as formats worldwide. The shows are very different in tone: 60 Days In follows seven individuals who volunteer to spend 60 days undercover in a jail in order to shed a light on corruption at the facility, while Lip Sync Battle is an entertainment series that sees celebrities take to the stage to perform various songs, done with a bit of humor.

With real reality, entertainment and scripted all seeing solid demand from buyers, MIPTV indicated that there’s not one genre or one territory that’s dominating the format business currently. TV Formats Weekly will be keeping an eye out for the next big breakout hit.

Catch up on these stories, and more, on TVFormats.ws.