TV Formats: 2010 Year in Review

NEW YORK: World Screen takes a look back at the highlights of the format industry in 2010.

The format landscape experienced quite a bit of change throughout this past year, with rapid consolidation playing a large part in the shifting business. It was barely two weeks into 2010 when Banijay Entertainment announced its acquisition of U.K.-based Zig Zag Productions [a deal that would be reversed later in the year], while a few months later it snapped up Bunim-Murray Productions in the U.S. Also, Zodiak Entertainment over the summer announced it would acquire RDF Media, creating a global powerhouse with production companies in more than 20 territories and annual sales exceeding €500 million ($661 million).

ProSiebenSat.1 Group set up a new holding company, Red Arrow Entertainment Group, in an effort to increase its international production, program distribution and development activities. It initially consisted of production outfits Producers at Work, Magic Flight Film and Redseven Entertainment; the talent agency Redseven Artists; SevenOne International; and the development partnerships with Dick de Rijk and Phil Gurin. Red Arrow went on to invest in the U.S. outfit Kenetic Content; set up a Nordic operation, aligning with Pontus Gårdinger to launch Snowman Productions; and score a first-look deal with Los Angeles-based production company Genetic Entertainment.

John de Mol’s Talpa Media made an aggressive push to expand its geographic reach early on in the year. In February, Talpa struck a deal with Warner Horizon Television to jointly develop new series for U.S. cable and broadcast networks based on reality and game-show formats created and owned by Talpa. This was followed up with a slew of expansion efforts in March. The company set up co-owned joint ventures in Spain (with Boomerang TV Group), Portugal (with CBV), Australia and New Zealand (with Shine Group), as well as in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden (with Nordisk Film TV) and Italy (with Sony Pictures Television’s Toro Produzioni). Talpa went on to secure a partnership in Germany with Schwartzkopff TV, a subsidiary of German media company Axel Springer. The company followed this effort by making a Russian investment, taking a minority stake in Mir Reality. Talpa has also now teamed with Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) for the U.K. market, and, most recently, made moves into the Middle East and North Africa in a deal with Sony.

Indeed, there was a trend of the big players continuing to get bigger, whether it was by acquiring smaller, boutique companies or by establishing new partnerships around various parts of world. FremantleMedia entered into a creative exchange alliance with Japan’s Fuji Television Network aimed at the co-development and co-production of new TV formats for the global market. A few weeks later it acquired Dutch indie FourOne Media and bought up the remaining stake in Danish production outfit Blu to take full ownership.

Endemol, meanwhile, kickstarted its 2010 expansion efforts by picking up a controlling interest in WeiT Media, a Russian production company headed up by Timur Weinstein. A first-look deal was established between Endemol and French TV for all future titles and creations. The company scored a JV for the Malaysian market with Astro Entertainment. A new headquarters in Stockholm was set up to launch Endemol Nordic, giving it a stronghold to produce local treatments of global formats across the region. Increasing its U.S. presence, Endemol took a majority share in Authentic Entertainment, an unscripted producer behind such hits as TLC’s Ace of Cakes and Toddlers & Tiaras and Bravo’s Flipping Out. Endemol Netherlands took a minority stake in the Dutch company Human Factor TV.

Sony Pictures Television (SPT), too, had its eye on expansion. The company set up a joint-venture production company in Brazil, called Floresta. The São Paulo-based operation represents SPT’s scripted and non-scripted entertainment formats in the region. SPT also upped its investment in Dutch indie Tuvalu.

It wasn’t just about expansion and consolidation, however. The flurry of new entrants into the formats arena also shook things up. A number of U.S. studios have thrown their hat into the ring, investing in local production abroad as well as in their format-distribution businesses. Notably, Warner Bros. took a majority stake in Shed Media, which includes Shed Productions, Ricochet, Twenty Twenty, Wall to Wall, Shed Scotland and Shed US.

The format majors also faced increased competition from a number of the independents. Sparks Network’s framework is built on the premise of having local member companies from different countries around the world. This year, Sparks added a new member company from Finland, Susamuru, and is eyeing further expansion into the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets, signing a representation and co-operation agreement with a new joint venture set up by its Madrid-based member, Zebra Produccions, and Luis Villanueva’s Somos Distribution.

The Turkish outfit Global Agency scored a major deal with India’s Miditech, which has localized global format hits such as Idols, Deal or No Deal and Extreme Makeover. Miditech will produce shows for Indian broadcasters using the formats developed by Global Agency and, in turn, Global Agency will distribute Miditech’s formats to the international market. A. Smith & Co. Productions and Taiyo Kikaku entered into a partnership to develop, produce and distribute content for TV, Internet and other media that will target the U.S. and Japan. The two originally partnered on the hit ABC series I Survived a Japanese Game Show. Now, as part of the new alliance, A. Smith & Co. will adapt Taiyo Kikaku’s formats in the U.S. and other markets, and Taiyo Kikaku will work on A. Smith & Co.’s formats to fit into Japan and other Asian territories.

Also increasing competition in the formats arena, a slew of Latin American distributors have diversified their catalogues, adding entertainment shows and scripted formats—among them Globo, Telemundo, Televisa, Caracol and Telefe. Dori Media Group has been extending its slate beyond telenovelas as well. The newly established Engine Entertainment tapped Michel Rodrigue, known as "the father of formats," to head up its dedicated division, Engine Formats. Further adding to the competitive landscape, Discovery Communications was at MIPTV with a format slate for the first time ever, offering the chance to adapt a number of its flagship factual shows.

Part of the arena’s allure is formats’ ability to generate big buzz. Perhaps one of the most talked-about formats, Idols continued to grab headlines throughout the year. When Simon Cowell announced he was leaving American Idol at the end of this season, many were left to doubt the show’s sustainability. As time went on, an overhaul to the judging panel saw Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi out, replaced by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez. Nigel Lythgoe is returning as an executive producer for the show’s upcoming 10th anniversary season, which kicks off this month. The show will face competition this season from a new singing competition based on a popular Dutch format that is being launched by reality show pioneers John de Mol and Mark Burnett with Warner Horizon Television. Cowell is also bringing the smash hit British show The X Factor to U.S. audiences this fall.

Perhaps 2011 will provide the answers as to whether the big can get bigger, or if companies will instead be turning to creative pacts and first-look deals rather than mergers and acquisitions. Either way, innovation will be the key to success this year, as independents will need to be exceedingly creative to survive. Both the behemoths and the indies are sure to spend 2011 trying to come up with the next big hit that the industry has been waiting for. A host of new countries are becoming more adept at exporting their own format ideas, so the concept for the next global phenomenon could be coming out of Asia, Latin America or a range of other territories that have been ramping up their efforts in the format arena.

TV Formats will continue to cover all of the latest developments in the format industry throughout the year with our two new resources: the TV Formats Weekly newsletter and the relaunched TVFormats.ws. Spun-off from the flagship WorldScreen.com as its own stand-alone, state-of-the-art website, TVFormats.ws is dedicated exclusively to news, video, features, interviews and profiles about the creation and adaptation of formats and the evolution of the segment’s leading companies and new entrants. TV Formats Weekly, delivered to your inbox every Monday, will supply a wealth of information on all of the latest trends and developments in the formats genre. These new resources follow the launch of the inaugural TV Formats Distributors Guide at MIPCOM. World Screen also hosted a packed panel discussion in Cannes at MIPCOM, moderated by group editorial director Anna Carugati, which featured FremantleMedia’s Rob Clark, Shine’s Alex Mahon, Banijay’s François de Brugada, Endemol’s Tom Toumazis and Embassy Row’s Michael Davies discussing some of the key issues facing the format industry, including the quest for the next breakout hit and the role played by social media.

Visit TVFormats.ws to access news and information about the latest developments in the format industry each day.

To sign up for the TV Formats Weekly, please click here.