Guinness World Records & Banijay Sign Format Option

Guinness World Records (GWR) has inked an option deal with Banijay Group for its prime-time family entertainment format.

The year-long deal marks the world-famous brand’s biggest option deal to date and will span 15 key markets: the U.K./Eire, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Belgium, the Netherlands and India. The format has already been produced by Banijay Group’s Magnolia in Italy as five-part series, La Notte Dei Record, which premiered on TV8 in 2018.

The adrenaline-fuelled studio format features record-breaking in all its forms with hopefuls going head-to-head in record challenges as well as established record-holders vying to break their own world bests, all under the watchful eye of the official Guinness World Records adjudicator.

Karen Gilchrist, Guinness World Records’ director of visual content, commented: “Just like our book, record-breaking has broad family appeal, making it perfect appointment-to-view entertainment. Banijay’s contemporary approach to program making and their in-depth market knowledge makes them the perfect partner for this project and we’re really looking forward to working together.”

Carlotta Rossi Spencer, senior VP of format acquisitions at Banijay Group, added: “The partnership with GWR was a no brainer. With a brand that resonates worldwide, a format that is both scalable and hugely versatile, and an incredibly well-established audience and fan-base, the potential for a collaboration was obvious. Already we’ve seen the show perform well in Italy and are now looking forward to traveling it further across our footprint.”