MIPCOM: The Week in Formats

Format IP owners in Cannes last week were firmly focused on showcasing low-cost, flexible solutions for cash-strapped broadcasters and platforms seeking broad, four-quadrant entertainment options. And game shows and quizzes dominated the news coming out of the market.

Indeed, BBC Studios hosted an entire event to tout its assortment of new and returning game shows, where Sumi Connock, creative director of formats, highlighted the importance of the genre to broadcasters’ schedules. “It’s the most-adapted format genre ever,” she said, “with the top three most-adapted formats of all time coming from game show. We’ve seen significant growth over the past 12 months. In 2023, a quarter of new format adaptations were game shows. This year, that number has grown to a third. To date, five of the six top traveling formats are all game shows, including our own The 1% Club.”

Kate Phillips, director of unscripted at the BBC, added, “TV is going through a tough time. Quiz and games, first of all, are cost-effective. We can record four or five episodes a day. You could literally record a series in two days if you wanted to. Also, it gives you a bit of certainty: They are your blocks in the schedule, and you know the audience you’re aiming at. Particularly with daytime, it can be a habit-forming thing. In these uncertain times, quiz and game give certainty.”

Last week also saw BBC Studios secure its first international license for the game-show format In With a Shout with W9 in France.

There were several games and quizzes on offer in the well-attended Treasure Box Japan event presented by Broadcast Program Export Association of Japan (BEAJ)’s Makito Sugiyama and The WIT’s Virginia Mouseler, with commentary from Empire of Arkadia’s Fotini Paraskakis and Small World’s Tim Crescenti.

Japanese creativity was also on display on the main stage of the Grand Auditorium last week as James Farrell, head of international originals at Amazon MGM Studios, and Akihiko Okamoto, president and representative director of Japanese content powerhouse Yoshimoto Kogyo, discussed their long-standing partnership that resulted in the global hit LOL—Last One Laughing. Okamoto, speaking via translator Matthew Ireton, noted, “When I heard that Amazon was launching in Japan, we thought it was a great opportunity to make something for the world. With that in mind, [we] created this show.”

The format is “heavily” adapted for each market, Farrell explained. The French and Italian editions, for example, play to a four-quadrant audience, while the upcoming U.K. edition “is more potty humor,” he said, while “in Mexico and Colombia, it skews more edgy. But it’s the number one show in pretty much all those places because it does adapt itself to the local sense of humor.”

Another format that has proven its strong ability to play to multiple markets over the last few years is All3Media International’s megahit The Traitors, which is now headed to South Korea in a deal with Luyworks Media and Something Special. Other game shows that made news last week included Mattel’s Pictionary, with Whisper North making a version for ITV in the U.K.

It was also a good week for factual entertainment and lifestyle formats. Global Agency, with a lavish event in St. Tropez, lifted the lid on Celebrity Dreams, in which famous people reveal hidden aspirations to be an actor, singer or artist or meet someone influential from their past. Spark Media Partners and Cineflix Rights inked their first format deal for the Château DIY brand, bringing the show to Australia with a local treatment. The Canadian version of Old Enough!, co-produced by TVO and Blue Ant Studios and based on the Japanese format from Nippon TV, was renewed. And Studio Lambert’s Buy It Now is to be adapted in India by Rose Audio Visuals.

As the week came to a close, K7 Media’s latest Tracking the Giants: The Top 100 Travelling Scripted Formats report highlighted the latest developments in that space. With exclusive new data covering January 2023 to June 2024, the report found that BBC Studios’ Doctor Foster leads the charge in scripted formats, having recently traveled with five new adaptations across Japan, Thailand, Germany, Slovakia and the Middle East. Next up for that format is Greece, which is also set to see its own version of the comedy format Ghosts. Meanwhile, NBCUniversal’s classic drama Monk is on its way to India with a version being prepped for Disney+ Hotstar.

Catch up on these stories and more on TVFormats.ws.