1. GENERATION T(alent)
It’s a brilliant time to be a digital creator. More and more often broadcasters and also some big prodcos select and sign the best ones to produce contents (especially unscripted) under their brands, for a range of platforms and devices.
For example, Talentworks, a department of BBC Studios, provides a bridge between the traditional media company which delivers thousands of hours of content to “classic” broadcasters, and a new generation of content creators. In their team there are “pure”, indie authors, but also “more advanced” ones, who founded their own production company, like -just to give an example- Joe Sugg with his Final Straw Productions, focusing on developing entertainment and factual entertainment formats.
ITV, on its part, launched an interesting initiative for young creatives to turn their ideas into real contents. Channel 4 last October launched an all new digital-first brand, Channel 4.0, and asked content creators to collaborate on the project. Among them Nella Rose, who hosts a fun “airport game show”, where two sets of friends battle it out to win themselves the ultimate party holiday (see pic): in due proportion, quite a classical structure, also as regards length (18-19’).
And that’s only talking about Great Britain…
The borders between “television” and “digital” are becoming more and more blurred, and maybe this distinction doesn’t make sense anymore. Anyway, if we want to make a synthesis, we are witnessing the “televisionisation” of streaming rather than the “streamingisation” of television.
2. CONTINUING STRICTLY COME DANCING
Last Friday 13th January the competition show Dare To Dance premiered on BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer, produced by Cardiff-based Wildflame and hosted by professional dancer and Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden (Strictly Come Dancing is the original title of the worldwide success format Dancing with the Stars).
In the series of 6 episodes we’ll see individuals and groups perform a big, specific routine to surprise their family or friends on a special occasion, all choreographed by Amy. For example she visited the 69-year-old Sian who was told as a child "she would never dance". The goal was to perform in front of her family and friends at her joint birthday party with her son Gareth - who was due to turn 30 when she turned 70.
Combining dance with an emotional surprise is certainly not an original concept (see for example Dance Stories), but -of course- it works. And besides, nothing is thrown away from the worldwide success of Dancing with the Stars ;)
3. FROM DEVICES TO CONTENTS: THE ROKU’S ADVENTURE
The growth of Roku (the US digital media player manufacturing company that in 2017 launched a free, ad-supported streaming channel for its devices) is continuing. 2022 ended with more than 70 million accounts globally, adding nearly 5 mio in the final quarter of the year. They also premiered their first original movie, the Daniel Radcliffe-led Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (see pic) and some original scripted series.
Regarding the unscripted, this year three new adventure shows have been greenlit.
The first one is Fight to Survive, that places 17 survivalists (contestants from past seasons of Survivor and other realities) on a secluded, tropical island. The series explores the true nature of survival of the fittest, where competitors must challenge one another by force – fighting for essential tools and resources. The survivalists must endure not only each other, but also brutal natural conditions, on their quest to win up to $250,000.
Reptile Royalty, the second one, features social media star Jay Brewer (see pic) and his team on their never-ending adventure of running the world-renowned Reptile Zoo in Fountain Valley, California. Working alongside his three daughters and a group of very young animal lovers, Brewer encounters one scale-covered tale after the next, as he cares for over 600 of the rarest and exotic reptiles on Earth.
The third one, UFO Cowboys, follows a group of ranchers, known as the “Cowboy Sky Watchers”, as they investigate paranormal happenings along the 37th Parallel. Known as “UFO Superhighway”, this area is legendary for many UFO sightings and disturbances, with lots of supernatural and extraterrestrial sightings. The team investigates these unexplained activities throughout the ranches and farms of the American West using antiquated tracking methods and contemporary technologies.