Nordic World Bolsters Format Catalogue

LONDON/OSLO: Nordic World has lined up format representation agreements with four Finnish independent producers: Yellow Film & TV, Story of…, Intervisio and Aito Media.

In its deal with Yellow Film & TV, Nordic World, which is an alliance of the Nordic region’s key broadcasters, will represent seven formats, including Blind Chef and Comedy Combat. Blind Chef, a celebrity-filled cooking contest show in which competitors can hear but not see the guidance of a top chef, is now in its second season; the first ten episodes tripled its prime-time slot average when it debuted on Finland’s Channel 4. Meanwhile, Comedy Combat, a 90-minute talent and improv comedy show, has been maintaining average shares of more than 50 percent on MTV3.

From Intervisio’s slate of shows, Nordic World will take on representation of the musical talent format Do-Re-Mi-Family.

As part of its pact with Aito Media, Nordic World will assume representation of Do You Want to Be an Astronaut?, featuring ordinary people in real-life astronaut training, and Your Mum Was an Ape, an educational format focusing on celebrity guests’ evolutionary history.

Jan Salling, the COO and sales director of Nordic World, noted: “Finland is incredibly innovative, but it also has the smallest budgets of all the Nordic territories. As a result, Finnish creativity has not yet received the international recognition it deserves. Nordic World believes that, by introducing the great ideas behind these formats to foreign players with bigger budgets and broader global ambitions, we can open up a market of huge creative and commercial potential.”