MIPCOM Spotlight: Nippon TV

With past hits that include Dragons’ Den/Shark Tank, Silent Library and Beat the Rooms, Nippon TV has a brand-new entertainment offering for the international marketplace: Red Carpet Survival.

The game-show format sees contestants act as bodyguards who must safely escort a VIP down the red carpet, even if it means suffering physical blows or surviving a series of crazy traps secretly set in their way. As soon as the red carpet is laid, whether it be at a university campus, airport or hotel, the game show begins. “It is a comical, fun format suitable for prime-time family viewing,” says Fusako Nagashima, head of formats, international business development, at Nippon TV. “It can be easily adjusted to local budgets and works with celebrities and different locations. The concept is simple but visually different and simply entertaining to watch.”

Nagashima adds, “Entertainment is in our blood, and Red Carpet Survival is created to open up a new era for entertainment.”

Nippon TV’s crime and mystery series Your Turn to Kill was created with international adaptations in mind, having 20 episodes, which is double the number for traditional drama series in Japan. “It is a format that viewers simply cannot stop watching episode after episode, with a flurry of social media debates to find out who the killer is,” says Keisuke Miyata, who handles sales and licensing, international business development, at Nippon TV. In the series, a newly married couple who just bought their first home is convinced that their happy and peaceful life together is about to begin. Little did they expect that the house would set the stage for a string of bizarre deaths. When a threatening note reading “Your turn to kill” arrives, a dangerous game is set into motion.

Miyata says, “Your Turn to Kill evokes the addictive nature of the viewers with its powerfully mysterious and frightening storyline.”