FRIDAY'S ESPRESSO - 18th August
The most followed newsletter about international formats & factuals
1. BELGIAN SCHOOL FOR INFLUENCERS
The “Tele-digitalization” (i.e. creating “hybrid” contents for streaming services of the linear broadcasters or directly for streaming platforms) is one of the strongest trends and will be even more so in the future. A common feature of these contents is that genres of “traditional” tv are mixed with styles, issues and other elements of the digital world.
A good example (in this case a “classic” talent mixed up with the influencers’ world) is the Belgian social experiment Ik Ga Viraal (I’m Going Viral), produced by the Dutch and Belgium based prodco Het Konijn, that premiered yesterday Thursday 17th August on Streamz (the biggest streaming service in Belgium).
4 talented personalities who dream of tens of thousands of followers get the chance to break through online as digital creators. Assisted by an expert team of coaches (social media experts, managers and creators), the 4 participants start a new account and break through within just 6 months with as many as 100.000 followers and create viral content with a minimum of 1 million views per post.
The cameras capture their journey as they try to conquer the world with their contents and as they are active on various platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Who has the right mix of authenticity, creativity, perseverance and knows how to put themselves in the spotlight with a large following?
2. JAPANESE AND KOREAN LOVE
Netflix has unveiled a raft of 15 unscripted titles in total commissions for its service in Japan. 3 of them are dating shows (2 brand-new and a recommission: Love Village), that continues to be -together with reality- the favourite genre of the streaming platforms (and not only)
Is She the Wolf? is produced by TV Man Union and will debut -outside Japan- on September 3 (but after 13 seasons on the Japanese platform Abema with the title Who Is the Wolf?). In this new adaptation 10 participants search for love. However, among the group are a number of female ‘lying wolves’ who aren’t allowed to fall in love and must make it to the end of the series without being found out.
The format mixes elements of ‘traditional’ dating with the ones of guessing game; a recipe also used, for example, in shows like Fboy Island (HBO Max), Love at First Lie (MTV) and others.
Love Like a K-Drama is also produced by TV Man Union in cooperation with Abema, and will be launched on Nov. 28. Eight male and female actors from Japan and Korea pair up in an attempt to play the lead roles in six Korean scripted shows. Four Japanese actresses and four Korean actors challenge auditions while living together. If you act a romantic kiss scene in a Korean drama, will love be born?!
The concept -an interesting hybrid between scripted and unscripted- reminds of another Japanese show -Future Diary- whose first series were launched in the early 2000s, followed by a number of spin offs.
3. K-POP & FORMAT (+ SOCIAL MEDIA)
After Tiny Desk Korea (see Friday’s Espresso 28th July), another format combines these 2 fundamental Korean media assets (format & K-pop music, with the addition of social media).
NCT Universe : LASTART takes its title from the hugely popular Korean boy band (pic), formed in 2016, that currently consists of 20 members (NCT is the acronym for Neo Culture Technology). The aim of the program is to find new members for a brand-new NCT unit (named NCT NEW TEAM), selected by the SM Entertainment agency, creators of the boy band.
After premiering on TVING/ENA at the end of July, according to The Social WIT List the series picked up 185,000 Instagram followers, aided by the following of its artistic directors, singers Key (9.7 million), BoA (4.2 million) and Eunhyuk.