Dori Media Licenses uMan to Banijay

TEL AVIV/PARIS: Banijay Entertainment has picked up the rights to develop Dori Media Group’s interactive reality format uMan in six territories in Western Europe.

Dori Media has sold the rights for France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark. It previously sold the format to Buongiorno in Spain and to Greece. Launched in Israel as Megudalim in July 2009, the format airs for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Based on an idea developed by Dori New Media and produced by Dori Media Darset with Cellcom, it sees eight contestants enter a "Lab" for 21 days during which their every move is controlled by viewers. In its home territory, 7 million viewer votes were cast online in 21 days.

Nadav Palti, the president and CEO of Dori Media Group, commented: "We are very proud that uMan was sold to all these territories in Europe, in addition to the Spanish version, which is already in pre-production stages. We attribute these sales to the fact that uMan is an innovative and unique international format, which can be easily adapted in different countries and cultures around the globe. We intend to make uMan, a multiplatform product developed by Dori New Media and Cellcom, to one of many unique products with the ability to attract the most desirable audience: teenagers."