Endemol Shine Pacts with CCTV on The Nation’s Greatest Treasures

Endemol Shine Group and CCTV are teaming up to co-create an international version of The Nation’s Greatest Treasures, which was commissioned by the Chinese broadcaster last year to showcase the country’s heritage and museums.

The studio show combines documentary and entertainment to tell stories about top museum artifacts, with viewers given the opportunity to vote for what they deem as the nation’s greatest treasure, In China, it reached more than 800 million viewers on linear and digital platforms. A second season is in the works for CCTV by CDIMC (CCTV Documentary International Media Co., Ltd.) The first season featured nine leading museums.

“As an operating company of Endemol Shine Group based in China, it’s our pleasure to be the bridge between the Chinese and the global content industry, leveraging on our Group’s creative and distribution network,” said William Tan, managing director of Endemol Shine China. “At Endemol Shine China we are committed to working with our local partners to ensure we create new content that can travel globally. The Nation’s Greatest Treasures was a huge hit here in China and we firmly believe our business is positioned to make it a global success.”

Lisa Perrin, CEO of Creative Networks at Endemol Shine Group, added, “The Nation’s Greatest Treasures truly uncovers a passion for heritage which is relevant to audiences everywhere. It’s a wonderful format that raises the profile of significant artifacts and ambitiously reignites interest into the heirlooms. The success the show has encountered in China is a testament to its ability to deliver audiences not only to linear and online programming but also to the museums themselves. We’re delighted to partner with CDIMC to bring the show to international buyers at MIPCOM.”

Yu Lei, producer and chief director of The Nation’s Greatest Treasures, noted, “The Nation’s Greatest Treasures is the very first studio docutainment show that focuses on museums and artifacts on CCTV and we were thrilled with the show’s success here in China. It is really exciting to turn the show into an international format to allow our international production partners to tell local stories about their national treasures and cherish their own culture. This is also what we have created this show for.”

“We’re incredibly proud of The Nation’s Greatest Treasures and the show’s brand-new storytelling techniques bring the treasures in museums to life,” said Li Xiangdong, general manager of CDIMC. “We believe that the international format will not only bring local treasures closer to the audience in different markets but will also spread Chinese culture around the world,”