Seven.One Studios International’s Tim Gerhartz on the Format Landscape

It was recently announced that the BBC would be getting its own version of Stranded on Honeymoon Island, an adventure dating format from the Seven.One Studios International catalog. The news of the local U.K. treatment, to be produced by CPL Productions for flagship channel BBC One, was followed quickly thereafter with a double commission from Warner Bros. Discovery for Denmark and Sweden. Stranded on Honeymoon Island comes from Snowman Productions, which is also behind Seven.One Studios International’s megahit Married at First Sight. Tim Gerhartz, managing director of Seven.One Studios International, talks to TV Formats Weekly about the state of the unscripted formats landscape, the keys to maintaining long-running franchises and packaging shows in ways that will help with producer concerns.

TV FORMATS: What’s your view on the current state of the unscripted formats landscape? What are some of the challenges facing the entertainment sector right now?
GERHARTZ: The unscripted formats landscape is brimming with challenges—but also opportunity. Setting up new prime-time shows has become increasingly difficult amid the global economic downturn and reduced ad revenue, leading to tighter broadcaster budgets. Broadcasters want fewer, bigger shows and shows with a proven track record of success that can work across all platforms and hit their key demos. But one thing always remains true: They’re all looking for the next big thing.

TV FORMATS: Though there are plenty of challenges, what are the biggest areas of opportunity?
GERHARTZ: Amid these challenges, significant opportunities arise. There’s an air of optimism as broadcasters and platforms are more strategically focused than ever and know more precisely what they want—taking a quality-over-quantity approach. They want shows with broad appeal that will work in prime time on linear commercial channels and equally well on their VOD services. Loud, addictive reality shows like Married at First Sight really drive VOD take-up.

And we have the shows that they want—cross-platform hits that return season after season. Stealing the Show! grows ratings season after season for ProSieben and had its strongest ever premiere outing last season, with an outstanding 24.1 percent market share in the key 14-to-49-year-old demo, dominating Sunday evening’s ratings and easily winning prime time. Season eight launches soon.

Streamers, both global and local, are starting to seriously invest in unscripted content and, for us, are also a source of content. Our fun travel-reality format Reality Backpackers was a real hit earlier this year for Joyn, landing in the platform’s top ten shows on launch.

There is also an increased openness to international collaboration, co-commissioning and back-to-back commissions, allowing for bigger, more impactful productions. Stranded on Honeymoon Island was created by our sister company Danish producer Snowman Productions. We took it out to buyers, [and it landed] its first commission with DPG in Belgium, where it’s been a huge hit across two seasons. It has just been announced that BBC One in the U.K. has commissioned a series, making it their first prime-time dating format for their flagship channel. It has already already aired in Portugal (SIC), Germany (ProSieben) and the Netherlands (RTL) and has upcoming versions set to debut on Seven Network in Australia and the Czech Republic’s FTV Prima.

TV FORMATS: What types of unscripted formats are resonating best today? And what are you hearing from buyers and commissioners about the types of unscripted entertainment they’re looking for?
GERHARTZ: Reality, competition and dating reality formats are all hugely popular with audiences around the world. Reality and relationship shows such as Married at First Sight and Stranded on Honeymoon Island continue to thrive. Meanwhile, there’s also huge demand from secondary channels and streaming platforms for fun, intuitive and cost-effective shows like our new dating format Love Cost, produced by Minoria Absoluta and CCMA’s Televisió de Catalunya for 3CAT and TV3 (Spain). It’s a refreshingly simple format—a dating show where each episode, one hopeful participant seeks love among four suitors. But while two genuinely seek romance, the others are after a cash prize. The guest must put their intuition to the test to identify a true match. If they guess right, the pair wins a luxury getaway. But if they get it wrong, their pick walks away with €3,000.

TV FORMATS: You have quite a few long-running franchises in your formats catalog, including Married at First Sight and Stealing the Show!, and so many more. What is your approach to maintaining these formats over the years? And what makes them timeless?
GERHARTZ: The key to maintaining long-running franchises is predicated on their active management to ensure that they’re continuously evolving while staying true to what made them a success in the first place. This includes adapting to new audiences and formats. The elastic structure of shows like Beat the Channel and Stealing the Show!—which are constantly being developed with new challenges, elements and guest stars—allows them to stay relevant, reflecting current topics and trends. They’re also easily adaptable for different market needs. Beat the Channel, which celebrated its 50th episode earlier this year with a ratings-busting channel takeover on ProSieben, is set to launch in Spain soon, where it is produced by Boxfish TV for Antena 3. The Spanish version retains everything that works best about the show—the wild challenges and the money-can’t-buy prize of the 15 minutes of live television—but, in contrast to the original, will see two hosts, Roberta Leal and Iñaki López, who have never worked together, partner up, and Eva González take on hosting duties.

TV FORMATS: For a show like Stranded on Honeymoon Island, I understand there’s a “hub”-style production model that can be used. What are some of the ways Seven.One Studios International packages formats to help with producer concerns such as cost or tech?
GERHARTZ: We leverage innovative production models, such as the hub-style approach we’ve taken with Stranded on Honeymoon Island, to address producer concerns like cost and technology. This model ensures a quick turnaround and cost-effective production for broadcasters and enhances our ability to create and distribute successful formats globally.

Our approach is simple: We turn bold ideas into great projects, and great projects into successful brands. We have a robust development pipeline and a willingness to innovate, ensuring we remain at the forefront of the unscripted formats space. As with any industry, we’re always navigating various economic pressures, but our focus remains on quality content and strategic collaborations that will drive future success.

TV FORMATS: What kinds of formats are you looking to develop or acquire for your catalog? How will these complement the titles already in your slate?
GERHARTZ: We’re always looking at expanding and evolving the reality genre and combining subgenres to create new hybrid formats, as we have with Stranded on Honeymoon Island, which combines dating and adventure. It keeps the genre fresh and audiences hooked. Claim to Fame, from Love Is Blind producer Kinetic Content, melds house reality with pure competition; it’s been a hit with audiences and critics alike for ABC in the U.S. and is going strong in its third season, which launched this summer.

Looking ahead, we aim to develop or acquire formats that complement our current slate, where our focus is largely on reality, dating and social experiments, which have always been our calling card. Our primary focus is on the big, bold brands we are known for, as they are key revenue drivers. We have a proven track record of launching innovative, interesting, offbeat ideas that push the envelope, making them commercially successful—and the new mainstream.

We are always thinking ahead, working with both in-house and third-party producers. Developing the next number one hit has to be a priority for us, and we have a robust development pipeline. We contribute across the whole life cycle of a format, from initial creative development through to piloting of ideas, financing, securing the first commission and distributing and managing the rollout of a show globally.