EXPANDING THE IP
Multiple spin-offs, board games & music
In an era defined by major shifts, uncertainty, and strained resources, expanding established, high-profile IPs has become one of the most widespread strategies—and not just within unscripted formats. In this issue, we explore three distinct examples of IP expansion: ‘concentric circle’ spin-offs of hit content, the adaptation of a 90-year-old board game into a TV format, and a strategic move into the world of music and global live events.
TASKMASTER: YOUR TIME STARTED IN 2015
It all started with Taskmaster, which has been airing in the UK since 2015—a hilarious action-comedy show created by Alex Horne, and directed and produced by Andy Devonshire for Avalon. In each episode, a panel of comedians must complete absurd tasks that require lateral thinking, speed, and creativity inside the Taskmaster House. The closing line of every task envelope is “Your time starts now.”
Three years later came The Button, also created by the Horne/Devonshire duo and produced by Avalon for BBC One. The concept was quite similar, but the format left the studio to enter the homes of everyday people. The title comes from the fact that families received instructions from an interactive button placed in their living rooms. The new show was well-received, but only one season was produced.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, came Home Tasking. Horne (once again supported by Devonshire) launched this native spin-off series on YouTube, asking viewers from all over the world to film themselves performing absurd tasks using only what they had at home.
Fast forward to the summer of 2026. Channel 4 and Avalon have announced the pilot for Your Time Starts Now, with Horne once again as creator and Devonshire as director and producer. The new show officially merges these three previous experiences: it takes the devious tasks and cynical style of Taskmaster, the interactive and distribution structure of The Button (everyday families competing simultaneously from their living rooms), and the spirit of home-based resourcefulness tested on a massive scale with Home Tasking.
The concept is described as follows on the network’s official website:
“UK households compete against one another while tackling a host of his typically devious tasks without ever leaving their homes. Five teams of friends and families across the UK will need to display creativity, lateral thinking, speed, knowledge and teamwork if they want to win.”
This is essentially an IP extension, made up of successive ‘concentric spin-offs’ all within the “Taskmaster Universe.” It remains to be seen if the audience will embrace this latest “variation on a theme” as well.
THE MONOPOLY PARADOX
Nostalgia Shows are a rapidly growing trend in global television, offering viewers a sense of comfort and escapism in today’s complex and uncertain times. These formats transport us back to “the good old days” in multiple ways—whether through the music and TV series of our youth, or the classic board games we played as children.
From household names like Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble to classic Bataille Navale (Sea Battle), the screen is increasingly ruled by familiar IPs. Even playground staples are finding new life, highlighted by recent competitive formats built around hide-and-seek, such as The House of Hide & Seek and All Stars Hide & Seek.
Now, the venerable Monopoly—originally published nearly a century ago in 1935—is officially joining the premium unscripted television lineup. Netflix has greenlit a major competition series based on the iconic board game.
The project is being co-produced by Studio Lambert (the powerhouse production team behind massive non-scripted hits like The Traitors and Squid Game: The Challenge) alongside Hasbro Entertainment. This marks a massive expansion of Hasbro’s television portfolio since they acquired the rights to the board game in 1991 from its original publisher, Parker Brothers. The series is slated to premiere in Autumn 2027, with casting currently underway worldwide.
The ambitious format will feature 12 contestants competing on a “life-sized, fully realized Monopoly Town Square,” inspired by the classic US edition of the board game. To survive, players must negotiate, scheme, and battle to accumulate properties and assets—or risk losing everything. Contestants will go bankrupt one by one until only a single winner remains. True to the high stakes of modern premium streaming, the final victor will take home a massive prize of $2 million USD, making it one of the largest cash prizes in unscripted television history.
The fascinating paradox of Monopoly lies in its origin. Developed during the height of the Great Depression—and heavily inspired by Lizzie Magie’s 1903 patent for The Landlord’s Game—the game was originally conceived to expose the inherent dangers of monopolies, predatory land ownership, and unregulated wealth accumulation.
Yet, in a twist of historical irony, it evolved into a global phenomenon that celebrates the very capitalist excess it was designed to critique. Today, it takes on an entirely new layer of contradiction: serving as a warm, nostalgic escape to the “good old days” while pitting modern contestants against each other for millions. A rather curious twist, don’t you think?
K-POP EXPANSION
Mnet, the pay-TV music channel owned by Korean entertainment and retail giant CJ ENM, is partnering with Universal Music Group’s Republic Collective on a brand-new season of its hit singing competition format, Girls Planet.
This upcoming season represents the latest chapter of an ambitious project launched five years ago. The franchise began in mid-2021 with the debut of Girls Planet 999, a talent show featuring 99 female trainees. The spin-off global girl group, Kep1er, officially debuted on January 3, 2022. It proved to be a highly lucrative venture: upon release, the group achieved immediate commercial success, selling around 400,000 copies and peaking at number 1 on South Korea’s Gaon Album Chart. Today, Kep1er operates as a 6-piece group (originally a 9-member ensemble, before 3 members eventually departed).
Building on this momentum, Mnet launched the male counterpart, Boys Planet, in 2023, followed two years later by Boys II Planet in 2025. This subsequent iteration was specifically tailored for two different regions and languages (Korea and China), splitting early on into two distinct programs: Boys II Planet K (Korea) and Boys II Planet C (China).
Looking further back, both the Boys Planet and Girls Planet franchises are themselves structural successors to Mnet’s foundational music competition lineage: the ‘Produce’ series. This immensely popular block of K-pop talent shows ran between 2016 and 2019, spanning hits like Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48, and Produce X 101—all engineered with the specific strategic goal of assembling highly successful, short-term promotional bands.
However, this new joint venture is tracking an even grander trajectory than its predecessors. Under the newly minted partnership, Republic Collective will collaborate across the entire lifecycle of the upcoming Girls Planet 2027. Their strategic involvement will scale from initial production all the way to the final group’s U.S. promotional strategy and global rollout next year.
Ultimately, the franchise stands out as a textbook case study in IP expansion—evolving seamlessly from a chain of interconnected spin-offs into a worldwide music and live-event powerhouse on a truly planetary scale.
NEWS IN A NUTSHELL
Talpa Studios has secured two new international deals. The first international adaptation of the reality format Alliance premiered on June 26 on Prime Video India. Produced by Banijay Asia, the Hindi-language series features 16 celebrity “Allies” competing in a high-stakes game of strategy, trust, and betrayal.
Furthermore, following its successful debut on SBS6 in the Netherlands, France Télévisions has commissioned the first international adaptation of the talent show The Winner Takes It All, produced by the Satisfaction Group. In this format, 50 singers each stand on their own square on a LED floor, with every square representing a different hit song. Their mission is simple: to outsing, outsmart, and outshine their opponents until only one contestant remains to claim the €100,000 prize.
RTVE has unveiled the third season of The Floor, the hit game show distributed globally by Talpa Studios and produced in Spain in collaboration with Stratos Studios. The format is set to return to La 1 soon, featuring significant updates to the gameplay and a special charity edition starring celebrities. The most notable change this season is a new strategic option for contestants. Going forward, players who win three consecutive duels will have a choice: they can either take the traditional five-second time bonus or swap their category with any other player on the board, adding an exciting new tactical layer to the game.
Keshet International has secured a second Belgian adaptation for its children’s gameshow format The Search Kids, after RTBF commissioned a remake for its youth platform, Auvio Kids. The deal marks the seventh international adaptation of The Search format. Produced by Free Kings, RTBF’s Soupe de Mots (Wordsoup) becomes the second Belgian adaptation of The Search format, following the successful launch of the producer’s Flemish remake Lettersoep (Alphabet Soup) on VRT last autumn.
Japanese network Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) is adapting its competition format Kisuke in the American market alongside A Smith & Co Productions.
The project, titled Dumb Luck in the US market, is being spearheaded by TBS’s American subsidiary TBS International. The family-friendly format is based on chance and, per a description, requires “no smarts, zero skill and absolutely no strength or stamina” on the part of the contestants. Participants are pitted against one another in luck-based obstacles and hope to avoid the punishment of freezing water, electric shocks and explosive flour cannons.
Fremantle Italia has announced that it will co-produce a new Italian version of The Wall, the hit game show. The new season premiered on July 13 in the Canale 5 access prime-time slot, hosted by Max Giusti. The production was commissioned by Mediaset following the success of the first two Italian seasons. It will be produced by RTI in partnership with Fremantle, in collaboration with Glassman Media, The SpringHill Company, and Universal Television Alternative Studio.
Netflix has ordered a French version of its sports competition format Physical 100.
The French version, titled 100% Physique, is produced by Banijay France label Adventure Line Productions nd adapted from the original South Korean version created by MBC producer Jang Ho-gi. The format sees 100 athletes of all ages and from a wide range of sporting backgrounds, including martial arts, bodybuilding, CrossFit, rugby and athletics, compete in a sports competition with the goal of finding out which athlete is in the best physical shape.
After being cut by Network 10 in May I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! has a new home in Australia. The Seven Network has confirmed it will take over the reality competition show in 2027, and will be produced by ITV Studios Australia in partnership with Southern Cross Media Group.
The UK’s Channel 4 has expanded the slate for its digital-first channel, Channel 4.0, which operates on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. Dropping on Channel 4.0 this summer are a new Nella Rose-fronted series, Are They a Keeper?, and The Chosen One, which is an evolution of the popular Channel 4.0 show The Intern. After piloting the shows, Channel 4.0 has also ordered more episodes of Kids Table and Dating Dad from Welsh prodcos Nimble Productions and Crash Productions respectively, supported by Media Cymru via 4Skills. Channel 4.0 has also recommissioned another 20×20′ run of Savage Sundays from After Party Studios.
Brazilian pay television channel GNT has given the green light to the production of Dog House Brasil, a local adaptation of the international format The Dog House, distributed by Banijay following its merger with All3Media. Produced by Boxfish, the new local version will premiere this year on both the pay TV channel and Globoplay. The reality show follows rescue dogs in search of a forever home. Throughout the episodes, a team of specialists will work to match each animal with the most suitable family.
