Dori Media Group’s Scripted Format Success Continues

Nadav Palti, the president and CEO of Dori Media Group, talks to TV Formats about the continuing success of the company’s scripted formats.

Dori Media Group has a long track record of selling scripted formats in the international marketplace. For example, the company distributes the Israeli series Be’Tipul (In Treatment), which has been produced locally in 18 different territories. Lalola was licensed into more than 140 territories and is still selling. Split was sold to 80-plus territories, while Rebelde Way has been placed in more than 65 territories. Ciega a Citas has seen local productions in Chile, Spain, Russia, Poland and Germany, among other markets, and is now in production in China and Lithuania. Sos Mi Vida was acquired in more than 95 territories, and Esperanza Mía recently sold to Spain, Poland, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bolivia, Israel, Slovenia, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama and more.

“We see that a global trend for scripted shows, which started in the last few years, is growing, both for weekly prime-time and daily shows,” says Nadav Palti, the president and CEO of Dori Media Group. “Because of the change in the way viewers watch series ***Image***(bingeing), the demand for scripted shows is increasing. Also, the new OTT platforms have increased the demand for content, mainly for scripted. Therefore, the key to success is to meet the market demand as we are with the many new productions produced and being produced in 2016 and planned for 2017.” In 2016 alone, Dori Media Darset produced more than ten titles, Palti notes.

Recently, Dori Media Group has seen success with El Marginal, which was the Grand Prix Winner of the 2016 Séries Mania Festival. The series has been sold to France, Latin America, the U.K., Spain, Portugal and the U.S. Created by Sebastian Ortega, El Marginal is a co-production from Underground Producciones and TV Publica, which saw its ratings triple when the show debuted in Argentina.

The company has high hopes for the new dramas Complicated and Dumb to sell widely as formats. Complicated tells the story of a 40-year-old man with a wild past. He is now twice divorced with three daughters but still believes somewhere out there is the perfect love. The crime drama Dumb centers on a frustrated and stoned 30-year-old actress who goes undercover as a student in high school trying to help her arrested ex-boyfriend who was charged with drug dealing.

“The main challenge for Dori Media, as for all content creators today, is ‘glocalization’—to create a format that works very well locally but at the same time is global, can travel and be successful worldwide,” says Palti. “Dori Media’s catalog consists of content that travels worldwide. The ideas, concepts, story lines and even the looks of the casts in our dramas can be suitable all over the world. When we work on new productions for the local market we think of the global market as well, starting from the early stages of the production. This, of course, applies to Complicated and Dumb, and therefore the formats can easily travel worldwide.”

Dori Media offers its dramas as both finished tapes and as formats. “Different territories can choose according to their needs and budgets if they want to buy tapes or make a local production,” Palti explains. “From the first stages of production, the aim is for [us to have] programs that can travel.”

As Palti looks ahead, the plan is to “keep on growing with our current track-record formats along with new productions both in Israel and co-produced in Argentina.” He adds, “Dori Media is constantly aiming to be one step ahead, be innovative and to offer our clients the best content available.”