Dining Across Dayparts

With Come Dine With Me, ITV Studios Global Entertainment has realized the strong potential of formats stripped for daytime.

Mixing together bold personalities and culinary exploration into a competitive format, Come Dine With Me has been a top title for ITV Studios Global Entertainment. The Come Dine With Me format has traveled the globe, yet the show’s concept remains very similar to the original that debuted on Channel 4 in the U.K. more than five years ago.

"Since its launch, the show remains very true to the original format," says Jayne Redpath, the senior VP for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at ITV Studios Global Entertainment. "The only significant development being that the show is now produced as a one-hour weekly peak-time format as well as a 30-minute format to be stripped across the week. Come Dine With Me has proven to be a huge success in both."

Redpath says that one of the key things the company has learned through adapting Come Dine With Me is that daytime matters. "There can be a tendency to focus solely on the huge prime-time formats; of course these are very important to any distribution business, but good business can be done with daytime formats too. Plus, strong daytime formats can work in peak."

The show watches as a group of strangers take turns hosting a dinner party for their fellow contestants. Each competitor then secretly critiques and scores their experience, with the winner revealed at the end of the last meal.

"Come Dine With Me is as much about people as it is about food," notes Redpath. "Each contestant’s personality and quirks are revealed through the contestant’s interactions, their behind-closed-doors criticisms and what their fellow contestants learn from their homes. Coupled with the irreverent voiceover, it’s compulsive viewing."

There are more than 30 local versions of the format, including in Germany, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Poland, France, Israel and South Africa. "For broadcasters around the world it’s an important staple in their schedule," says Redpath. "VOX in Germany has now shown well over a 1,000 episodes across seven series, four series have aired in Spain, three in Australia, to name just a few territories. The point is, Come Dine With Me is a high performing, high volume and cost-effective format, which continues to get re-commissioned by broadcasters and which we continue to sell."

Redpath explains that ITV Studios Global Entertainment used the show’s British success as a springboard for international sales, as the company does with many of its formats. "As we all know, budgets continue to be squeezed, so being able to pitch a format with proven success in one territory is becoming more and more crucial," she adds.

The format requires very little adaptation for local markets, says Redpath, with the most notable tweak being the voiceover. "In every territory we maintain the wicked comments, but of course the tone needs to be adjusted somewhat to suit local audiences. In the U.K. we can get away with being a little naughtier than perhaps we can in other territories."

Going forward, Redpath says the plans are to keep selling the show into new territories and continue working with the current broadcast partners to make sure Come Dine With Me remains an asset in their schedule. She’s also keen on continuing to expand the franchise in other areas, such as merchandising. "Come Dine With Me is a strong brand which offers opportunities off air," says Redpath. "Our consumer-products team has already had success in this area and we would expect to see more of that."