{"id":15121,"date":"2025-06-02T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T20:49:08","slug":"tv-formats-festival-recap-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Formats Festival Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

The anecdotal assessments we\u2019re hearing of risk aversion in the formats landscape today were borne out by research presented by the trend-trackers at The WIT at the inaugural TV Formats Festival last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Geneva-based research company behind the popular Fresh TV sessions has a wealth of information about content rolling out worldwide in its database. The market has tended toward known IP post-Covid, with more returning brands and reboots than new concept rollouts, Caroline Servy, The WIT\u2019s managing director<\/a>, said in her data-packed session.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe counted a total of 380 new format adaptations generated by 249 different formats, which is a relatively low average of 1.5 adaptations by format,\u201d Servy said. Returning formats represent 10.2 percent of all new and returning shows this year.<\/p>\n

While referencing risk aversion, Servy said commissioners are still looking for new-ish concepts; 36.2 percent of adaptations in the last year were based on formats less than 5 years old; 15 percent were based on formats launched in 2023.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s keynote sessions touched on risk aversion and responses to it from the perspectives of the biggest names in the business. Our opening keynote was delivered by Matt Forde, newly elevated to president of global production at BBC Studios,<\/a> as the company doubles down on gains in this sector of its business.<\/p>\n

The segment, Forde said, \u201cis a true multi-genre business. Everything ex-U.K. is now global production, and we will deliver in different genres, even within unscripted. In addition to our day-to-day, Saturday night, shiny floor gaming and quiz, we\u2019re now pushing into reality with shows like The Honesty Box<\/em>. And we\u2019ve seen a lot of success with scripted shows. We\u2019ve proven that we can deliver these great shows to local audiences. Is there more to do? This is our opportunity to continue to grow across more territories, grow deeper into the individual genres, and branch out to be true studios for local audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

ITV Studios is also in growth mode, benefiting from its dual structure with two managing directors scaling its formats business: Mike Beale, who oversees the global creative network, and Lisa Perrin, at the helm of international production<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe creative network is across non-scripted development for the entire group\u2014U.K., U.S. and the international group,\u201d Beale said. \u201cWe\u2019re tracking everything that\u2019s coming through various stages of development with broadcasters or streamers or within the group itself. Over the last two or three years, we\u2019ve seen the growth of collaboration between labels, both in the development and production of ideas going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perrin pointed to the deep well of talent across ITV Studios\u2019 production footprint, noting, \u201cMike and I work closely on the strategy about how and why and where we roll out formats first and where the best places are to do it. We\u2019re joined not only in how formats are rolled up but also in the deal-making and where to potentially pitch them first. That collaboration is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. International Television Production is tapping into its deep library and its network of 20-plus production businesses as it drives its remakes business globally<\/a>. Andr\u00e9 Renaud, group VP for format and finished sales, weighed in on defining success in formats today, increased demand for reality fare and scaling scripted adaptation opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good format should be unique, adaptable, scalable, returnable and also have some sort of great entertainment or storytelling that audiences are looking for,\u201d Renaud said. \u201cThat\u2019s ultimately what you look for. It is still true that the world\u2019s most traveled formats come from the U.K., the U.S. and the Netherlands. We have those strong, long-established bases in each of those countries. But ideas do travel from everywhere. You need to be able to see the trends and try to be ahead of them. Reality is one of the things that we\u2019re looking at now. Entertainment is still high on the agenda too.\u201d<\/p>\n

ZDF Studios is exploring entertainment, factual entertainment and quiz shows as it looks to expand this sector of the business, overseen by Ralf R\u00fcckauer, Director Unscripted<\/a>. \u201cWe are not a major and we\u2019re not a tiny independent production company,\u201d R\u00fcckauer said in his keynote session. We can choose partners in different countries. We don\u2019t have a network of production arms that we have to feed. We\u2019re free to think about the best partner for a specific format in different countries and territories.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the second day of the festival, we shifted our focus to the Asia-Pacific, exploring this growth region as both a buyer and exporter of formats. All3Media International has established itself as one of the most successful global format giants in the region<\/a>, finding success with scripted remakes, affordable studio shows and buzzy reality.<\/p>\n

The streaming wave in Asia coincided with the gains in All3Media\u2019s scripted footprint, said Sabrina Duguet, executive VP for the Asia Pacific. \u201cThere was such a high demand for local production and local drama. But to be honest, not enough writers to fulfill that requirement. It was at a time we started having some fantastic scripted series in the catalog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the global interest in Korean content, the TV Formats Festival heard from Jin Woo Hwang of Something Special about the prospects for Korean remakes across scripted and non-scripted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe K-content business is gaining fame at the moment; nevertheless, behind these successes, domestic production costs have tripled over the past five years,\u201d Hwang said. \u201cThis is causing many difficulties locally. The global expansion has become inevitable. South Korea has the weakness of being a single-language country. This poses difficulties for global expansion. Something Special strongly believes that formats are the key to overcoming this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Fuji Television Network\u2019s Ryuji Komiya discussed how Japan\u2019s visual creativity has helped it overcome barriers to growing its international content business. \u201cLanguage has been the biggest obstacle for Japanese IP owners to overcome,\u201d Komiya said. \u201cSo it\u2019s essential for us to be able to create formats that are visually entertaining or non-verbal. People say, Do you have any crazy Japanese game shows? Japanese formats, in general, are visually entertaining to watch, even if you don\u2019t understand the language. So, language is a challenge. But I think we overcame that, turning that into an opportunity for us to create an original format that is visually entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missed any of the TV Formats Festival? Watch all the sessions on demand here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mansha Daswani recaps the major themes from the inaugural TV Formats Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":15083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,69],"tags":[4199],"class_list":["post-15121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-tv-formats-festival","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nTV Formats Festival Recap - TVFORMATS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TV Formats Festival Recap - TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mansha Daswani recaps the major themes from the inaugural TV Formats Festival.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-02T12:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-03T20:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/05\/TVFormatsFestival-525.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/\",\"name\":\"TV Formats Festival Recap - TVFORMATS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-02T12:00:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-03T20:49:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/tv-formats-festival-recap-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TV Formats Festival Recap\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\",\"name\":\"TVFORMATS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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