(Special Report)
Digital MIPTV is often called the ‘Non-scripted week’. Many of the events, news and meetings happened about factual, docs and formats. What can we say about new trends on these segments? Mainly, that the big global OTTs are finally exploding about them, but these can be great or terrible news, if the right holders don’t think their strategy well.
At the FRAPA Members Meeting, where the worldwide format association joined online about 50 companies, it was a good time to check the trends. Nick Smith, EVP Formats at All3Media, said: ‘With The Circle, a social media popularity contest with strong potential, we had to decide if licensing it to Netflix worldwide, or moving on our own. Netflix is a great screen and reach everywhere, but usually develops one or few versions for all the territories. The other option was to sell separately and to generate local versions and strategies. Finally, we decided to go with Netflix, to generate a new experience and to push the OTT sector mature on non-scripted formats. Any case, when the contract finishes, the rights will be back’.
Amazon moves different, is more like the broadcasters and itgenerates local versions for main markets, as with Bachelor in Japan, Love Island or Celebrity Hunted in Europe. Discovery+ is even more as linear TVs, developing 4-5 successful local versions in different European countries. Smith: ‘What will happen in the future? We have HBO Max, Hulu, Roku, Britbox, Peacock, and the A-VODs, many new players coming. If we want a more global formats market, we have to get the OTTs embedded and to evolve with them’.
David Caramella of UK K7 stressed (in FRAPA too) that this year there are two new types of formats arising: The guessing Games, as Traitors at RTL4 The Netherlands, This is my house at BBC1 in UK, or Who is my chef? at Workpoint TV Thailand… the aim is to discover something: who is the traitor, who is the owner of a house or the chef. And Wacky Game Shows, as Marble Mania in SBS6 The Netherlands, The VOID at ITV in UK or Stacking IT, from ITV and Nippon TV (Japan). Mad games, crazy physical situations.
At Fresh TV formats by the beginning of MIPTV, it was stressed that though producers thought a lot of new ideas during the pandemic, broadcasters made an ‘apology’ of the old formats, to get sure results. Once more, well known and proved is better, in uncertain times.
The top successful format at the pandemic has undoubtedly been Banijay’s The Masked Singer, which hides celebrities with very visual disguises and they act and sing till to be discovered. This format joins all the hits of the moment: guessing, wacky, feel good, shine walls and celebrities. The use of famous people is a key factor in the covid world, because generates big impact with less people.
Factual and docs, as kids, were some of the genres with better performance during the pandemic, because they can be produced easier within safety protocols. The covid-proof formats, with development through Internet, are preferred too. Digital synergies are much wanted. All in all, production is just taking speed worldwide, and the countries —as Germany and the Nordics— where the lockdowns were weaker, have taken a good advantage. One concept pushes these trends: what seems to be temporary now, promises to stay for a long time in Unscripted.
By Nicolás Smirnoff
