1) LIMITLESS ANT & DEC
The new ITV game show, Ant and Dec's Limitless Win premiered last Saturday at 8.30pm. As the title clearly points out, the quiz is the world’s first to feature a never-ending prize jackpot, with contestants able to win an unlimited amount of money if they continue answering questions correctly.
Contestants take part in pairs as they try to climb the ‘endless money ladder’ by answering questions posed to them by Ant and Dec. If they manage to answer a question correctly, they can bank the cash. However, if they decide to continue up the ladder and then answer another question incorrectly, then they’ll lose their existing jackpot.
Despite the fact that some fans found the show a bit too complicated for a Saturday night, Limitless Win triumphed with 4.7m (30.4%), benefitting also from a healthy lead-in from The Masked Singer, which drew 4.8m (31.1%) for its third episode (thanks to Bart Gorissen for the data). Anyway, another great success for the brilliant host duo.
2) DATINGS ARE MOVING TOWARDS ROMANCE
The dating show confirms to be one of the most (or maybe the most) lively unscripted genre of this period.
On 6th January premiered on Discovery+ Italy As It Once: Fairy-Tale Romance (Come Una Volta: Un Amore da Favola): 6+6 singletons roll back time to 1800, following the rules of period to find a ‘fairy tale love’. In the beautiful set of an original historic castle and with the assistance of a ‘sentimental teacher’, a master of ceremonies, a dancing master and other tutors, the 12 young participants have to leave their smartphones and modern outfits and learn the etiquette and the process of courtship of this period. How will it end?
In UK, ITV has commissioned a music-themed primetime dating called Romeo & Duet, which will be broadcast later this year. The show sees single love seekers standing on a balcony, Juliet-style, as they are serenaded by potential love matches they can hear but not see. The singers have just one song to attract the singletons down from the balcony, only then will the pairs come face-to-face for the first time. The couples will head off on a date to learn a duet that they must later perform on the show in a singing competition against the other couples.
Also in this case a romantic twist for this genre: could it be a new trend for the young-targeted programs?
3) NATPE CANCELLATION AND THE FUTURE OF MARKETS
As you probably know, NATPE Miami has made the decision to cancel the in-person marketplace that was set to take place from January 18 to 20, “after serious consideration of the health and safety of all attendees,” the organization said. New dates and locations are under consideration.
After this news, the Realscreen Summit, which last year ran from 25 January to 4 February, rescheduled to June 6 to 9, hoping that in that period the general conditions will improve.
In between there is the MipTv, from 4 to 6 April (the registrations are officially open: the early bird rate is until 15th January) and of course they hope not to have to take the same decision as NATPE.
But - apart from the current health emergency - what will be the future of the global markets? In theory, they are all implementing ‘hybrid’ forms, but in practice no one has the slightest idea how it’s going to end. And so, while some markets are more inclined towards the online formula (being not only covid-free, but also more practical and economic), others are striving to relaunch particularly the physical ones, relying much on the ‘social’ aspects (after all, the human being is social).
Things are changing, that’s for sure; in which direction is still unpredictable.