Televisa Internacional’s Ricardo Ehrsam

Televisa Internacional’s format catalogue has experienced tremendous growth over the last two years. The company has launched shows worldwide across a range of genres, including successful titles such as the original Televisa format Little Giants and Stand Up for Your Country, the latter a result of a collaboration with Spanish producer La Competencia. And though the distributor has placed titles in 48 territories, Ricardo Ehrsam, the general director of entertainment formats for Televisa Internacional, notes that there is room to expand into new territories, notably in Northern Europe and the English-speaking U.S. market. Ehrsam talks to TV Formats Weekly about the success of Televisa Internacional’s formats this year, the company’s sales strategies and its projections for 2016.

TV FORMATS: How was 2015 for Televisa Internacional’s format business?
EHRSAM: It has been a very good year. We’re finally able to strengthen this venture, which we began two years ago, turning Televisa into a player within the world of entertainment beyond being a supplier of telenovelas. This was a busy year. We began by creating really good family content, and our various customers recognized that the product we brought to the table was a product they could use for their programming schedules. With the development of a catalogue currently made up of 28 formats, we have managed to provide solutions to our existing customers, offering them not only entertainment and telenovelas, but any content that fits their schedules.

Televisa [content] has landed in countries it has never reached before. We are very happy because in the last year and a half, we’ve generated a catalogue of 28 formats, of which about a third is successfully traveling the world. We are in 48 countries, including options or licenses for formats, which for us marks an excellent start in the entertainment space. This year we planted and cultivated a lot within the market, and we will see the harvest next year, as we’ve received notices that many of the formats that are now optioned will become licensed in 2016, in addition to the formats already being broadcast. October marked one year since the first season of Little Giants aired in Spain and from then until now, we’ve broadcast 18 seasons of two other formats in different countries. We’re currently on second seasons of some of them, besides seasons that have been signed up for the next year. So in short, you could say it has been a very successful year for us.

TV FORMATS: In what territories are the formats finding more success? What new regions are you hoping to penetrate?
EHRSAM: [In terms of broadcasts], we are in different regions around the world. In Latin America we had Laten Corazones broadcast daily in the last four months. We closed the second season of Stand Up for Your Country in Brazil. In Chile we had Little Giants. For Mexico and the U.S. Hispanic market via Univision we had Me Pongo de Pie. We are also in Portugal, Spain, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam and Italy.

We have negotiations next year to air [our formats] in South Africa, possibly also in France and the Netherlands. We are in negotiations with Thailand and if all goes well, we will air in the [English-speaking] market in the U.S. We’ve also inked deals to air in Hungary and Bulgaria.

What is our goal? The truth is that we would like to consolidate the entertainment-format space in the English-speaking U.S. market, because obviously this market is a catalyst for our global penetration, as [buyers notice] when a format is successful in the U.S. Our goal for 2016 is also to enter countries such as the U.K. and Germany, which look for very specific characteristics in their formats. We believe that in reaching these countries, we will be able to increase the rate of penetration of our formats around the world.

TV FORMATS: Do you have a specific strategy to achieve this goal?
EHRSAM: The entertainment-format area is growing, so we’re focusing on maintaining a local presence in various strategic countries, in addition to gradually closing co-production agreements with local production partners.

TV FORMATS: In early 2013, Televisa Internacional formed a partnership with Spanish producer La Competencia, resulting in successful formats such as Stand Up for Your Country and The Assembly Game. How has this partnership panned out? On what other projects are you both collaborating?
EHRSAM: Our partnership with La Competencia has been very successful. We feel that, as a team, we complement each other very well. La Competencia’s level of quality and creativity when it comes to the content it has generated has been first rate. We think choosing each other as partners was a very fortunate decision.

We continue to work on projects. For example, we have two very strong formats in the market that we are just starting to push. One is Mini Me and the other is The Wacky Old Games, besides the ones we currently have in the catalogue.

Moreover, Televisa has also partnered on certain formats with different content creators. When we find a property that we like, [we seek] partnerships specifically for that format.

TV FORMATS: Televisa Internacional’s catalogue is quite varied, with formats ranging from game shows to talent competitions and reality shows. What are the best performing genres?
EHRSAM: Talent shows have worked very well for us. Little Giants and Stand Up for Your Country have been the most successful so far, and we think Mini Me, which is the continuity of these two, will be equally successful. These three talent shows are our launching point right now. However, we are betting on two game shows, of which one has already aired successfully, Generation Gap, while on the other hand we have The Assembly Game, which will air in Mexico in 2016.

TV FORMATS: What will you be presenting at NATPE?
EHRSAM: Normally, Televisa doesn’t take new formats to NATPE. Instead, we continue the international launch of formats presented at MIPCOM. Our strategy is to show the formats presented at MIPCOM to our Latin American customers. We will continue with our strategy of seeking to close deals for formats our clients already know while also introducing them to new formats such as Mini Me, The Wacky Old Games, The Ticket and My Online Friends, which are the ones we launched at MIPCOM.

TV FORMATS: What are the plans for Televisa Internacional’s formats during 2016?
EHRSAM: Televisa will continue to pursue growth in this area. We believe there is still much to do. We will continue increasing our catalogue at the pace we’ve been going, with the purpose of having customers see us as a provider of solutions for their programming schedules, not simply as a content provider. [We will continue offering] an important variety of genres within entertainment and look to enter more strongly into territories where we currently have a footing, while also trying to enter new territories, particularly in Northern Europe and the English-speaking U.S. market.