1. ROKU IN LOVE
In the modern media landscape, the case history of Roku - from producer of devices & hardware to free ad supported streaming channel - is one of the most interesting (to know more how it started: https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/08/rokus-free-ad-supported-streaming-channel-is-now-live-on-the-web/).
Today The Roku Channel has become one of the most active and important AVOD operators, which are ready to compete with the SVODs in the streaming battle.
To reinforce its strategic role, in these last days 3 new datings were announced. The first one, To Paris for Love: A Reality ‘Rom Com’, is a 1 x 90-minute special that follows three single friends as they head to the French capital to find love. The show follows each singleton as they go on dates and look for partners.
The Marriage Pact is a social experiment/relationship series that follows longtime, single friends who must fulfill or break a promise from the past: a pact to marry if both are still single by a certain age.
And finally Match Me in Miami follows a matchmaking agency that challenges itself to get Miami’s “most eligible” coupled up in just a matter of weeks.
2. OTHER DATINGS (1): IN COLOMBIA
All over the world, the dating show is maybe the most exploited genre of this period anyway.
Last week in Colombia Caracol Television green-lighted Heartbeat: as the title says, the aim is to make the singletons’ heart literally beat as fast as possible. The participants wear a bracelet measuring their heartbeats and the suitors try to make it speed up most during different trials in various locations. Who will manage to make his/her heart beat faster?
3. OTHER DATINGS (2): … AND IN UK
Finally, in the UK Channel 4 has lined up The Nevermets, which explores what happens when people in long-distance relationships meet in person for the first time. The six-part series will follow Brits who have all fallen madly in love online as they each make the potentially life-changing decision to cross international waters to meet their long-distance lovers for the very first time.
This concept is definitively up-to-date, but has been used far too often, e.g. in the same UK with Love In The Flesh (BBC3: see Friday’sEspresso 8th October) and in France with Et Si On Se Rencontrait? and the German version, entitled Love IRL (M6 and VOX: see Friday’s Espresso of 17th December).
New, fresh ideas are desperately needed…