TV FORMATS SCREENINGS FESTIVAL (FALL 2022)

By all accounts, the format business is back in growth mode following a challenging few years amid the pandemic. As our latest TV Formats Screenings Festival indicates, dating, game shows, talent and engaging factual entertainment remain in vogue. If you’re on the hunt for a scalable, replicable, flexible format to entertain audiences with, check out the new and returning brands below. Clicking on the show title will take you directly to the trailer.

Tapping into the resources of its sister companies and third parties, All3Media International has assembled an enviable format catalog to meet the needs of diverse buyers across the globe. Its six offerings in the TV Formats Screenings Festival reflect the breadth of the company’s slate. The high-end game show The Traitors delivers “thrilling challenges, fascinating group dynamics, constant plot twists and plenty of scheming and double-dealings,” says Nick Smith, executive VP of formats, highlighting partners such as BBC One in the U.K. and Peacock in the U.S. Also on offer is the iconic This is Your Life, which has “shown its staying power decades later, continuing to prove its ratings-winning success,” Smith notes; as well as the cooking competition Kitchen Nightmares, a format that “offers a fascinating look at the ins and outs of the restaurant business,” Smith notes. The family-friendly talent competition Last Singer Standing from ShinAwiL, Optomen Television’s “feel-good” Sort Your Life Out and Modest TV’s dating format Date or Drop, renewed by RTL in Germany, round out the offerings.

ZDF Studios is bringing to market the game show Quiz Hunt, which has been a long-running hit on ServusTV with more than 450 episodes produced. The show, airing on ServusTV in a 5 p.m. time slot, features a life-sized board game on which contestants answer questions as they progress toward a cash prize. “The simplicity of this game show, along with the thrill of the chase, is what makes Quiz Hunt so addictive,” says Ralf Rückauer, VP Unscripted. “The game concept is familiar to people everywhere, and visually it looks very appealing with its colorful spiral course that leads the contestants into different fields, all of it complemented by on-screen graphics.”

Factual entertainment and dating are in the mix in BBC Studios’ lineup in the TV Formats Screenings Festival, including the social experiment Art on the Brain, which “follows a group of strangers as they try their hands at painting, music, mixed media and photography to learn if the power of creativity can help heal their minds,” says Andre Renaud, senior VP of global format sales. Dating with My Mates takes the genre to a new level, Renaud says, “by bringing friendship and first dates together in a unique experience.” In Hungry For It, meanwhile, ten cooks eager to break into the food industry vie for a life-changing opportunity.

Dori Media Group arrives at MIPCOM with a new reality competition in which stand-up comedians go through a martial-arts boot camp. Stand Up Warrior is a “story about change and empowerment,” says Carolina Sabbag, VP of sales for Western Europe, the U.S. and Canada. Also new to the company’s lineup is Spy Date, a reality dating show that combines the worlds of romance and espionage. A long-running hit for the company is the game show Power Couple, which, Sabbag says, delivers an “exquisite mix of original challenges and emotional moments…[in] a flexible format that can be easily adapted in big and small markets.”

Armoza Formats is touting the prime-time game show Family Piggy Bank, which, per Avi Armoza, CEO, brings together “amazing CGI technology with fun-filled family game play. Both of these have led to the success of the format in Portugal, and we look forward to many more adaptations.” Armoza Formats is also showcasing a provocative social experiment, Sex Tape, which has already been adapted in 15 markets.

Global Agency is showcasing two talent competitions. Good Singers is a show where “talented and untalented singers are going to try to impress our celebrities without actually singing in the first place,” says Izzet Pinto, founder and CEO. Beat Me If You Can, meanwhile, combines elements of singing competitions and game shows, Pinto says.