Formats Trending This Fall

A slew of format adaptations have been making waves on social media this fall, with the trend-trackers at The WIT charting those with the greatest followings on Instagram. Rebooted treatments of formats such as Big Brother, Star Academy and Dancing with the Stars have been performing particularly well as of late.

The Argentinean adaptation of Big Brother, locally titled Gran Hermano, returned after a six-year break and notched up 556,000 Instagram followers after its debut on Telefe on October 17. The reboot sees a mix of famous faces and members of the public live together in a luxury house. It is hosted by TV presenter Santiago Del Moro, who has his own dedicated social media following of 1.9 million.

In France, an adaptation of the hit singing competition Star Academy returned to TF1 after ten years off air and amassed 385,000 followers after its October premiere. Journalist and entertainer Nikos Aliagas, who has 981,000 followers himself, fronts the new version of the show, which sees aspiring young artists train in an intensive academy and perform live each week for a panel of judges and viewers to decide who stays and who goes.

Following a four-year hiatus, Albania’s version of Dancing with the Stars garnered a sizable following—124,000—after its return on Top Channel last month. As local celebrities pair up with dance professionals for a ballroom battle, their performances are scored by a trio of high-profile judges, including former Miss Albania Valbona Selimllari, dancer and choreographer Kledi Kadiu and Dalina Buzi. Selimllari has 371,000 followers, Kadiu has 369,000 and Buzi has 43,000.

A new Spanish treatment of The Farm—Pesadilla en El Paraíso—also made waves when it returned in September on Telecinco. An adaptation last aired in Spain in 2011 under the name Acorralados, and before that, aired as La Granja in 2004 and 2005. In the latest version, 16 celebrities live together on a farm in the region of Cadiz, Andalusia, where they must work as normal farmers, tending to the animals and agriculture. It benefited from the social media followings of its hosts: journalist Lara Álvarez (2 million followers) and actor Carlos Sobera (105,000).

Canal 13’s Juego Textual (Text Game), a reboot of the Acoso Textual talk show format that last aired on the channel in 2010, debuted in October in Chile, hosted by actor and producer Sergio Lagos, whose own follower count sits at around 401,000. The reboot, which racked up 41,000 followers after its launch, sees eight women from the media ask questions to a guest, most often a man, on the themes of relationships, work and sexuality.

Though rebooted and competition formats have been by and large the most popular this season, in the drama department, FOX Turkey’s adaptation of the hit teen and YA series Beverly Hills, 90210, Darmaduman also found success after premiering in October. The Turkish treatment, which amassed some 52,000 followers, centers on Harun, who is forced to return to the family house in Istanbul with his entire family and two teenage children after years of estrangement. Its stars each have their own strong social followings: Aslıhan Malbora (1.5 million followers), Mert Yazıcıoğlu (1.3 million) and Hafsanur Sancaktutan (1 million).