In this last issue before a brief vacation, some general considerations regarding the three topics of the blog during this last season.
1- FORMATS
All things considered, we can say there was a good (or, at least, not too bad) balance between new formats - launched especially in spring and summer - and the old classical ones, present all year around. But, regarding originality, things are not so positive. Apart from formats that are kind of copycats (like dating shows with participants who meet in real life, after flirting on socials), there are too many shows that look all the same, without a real, noisy twist.
As format expert and columnist Siobhan Crawford pointed out: “We keep talking about low-risk commissioning, it is always on trend. Never before has audience retention been as important as now. Low risk commissioning means a high rate of recommissioning in schedules, it means only the big brands exist in primetime schedules – which in turn means the big groups that control the IP have a dominant position in the market. This leads to very little new IP getting the air time it deserves and the smaller distributors and content creators having limited scope for meaningful growth” (see the whole article: https://tbivision.com/2022/05/19/opinion-is-fomo-ruining-format-creativity/).
The point is that smaller distributors and content creators are the “worker bees” of creativity: if they don’t have enough space in the broadcasters’ schedules, the risk is the homologation of the unscripted landscape. Many formats - and, among them, many “new” ones - but too similar to one another.
2- MARKETS
Maybe the most positive news of the season is about the physical markets. The online formula has undoubted advantages: it is more practical (you don’t have to travel around the world) and far cheaper. If these considerations had prevailed, the media business model we have known so far would have ceased to exist.
But man is a social being, so a different reason seems to have prevailed: people want to talk to each other in person, looking into each other’s faces, shake hands, drink and eat something together. Also (or perhaps especially) when doing business.
So, all the markets of 2022 (from the MipTv of April till the recent NATPE Budapest) have been quite successful (given the circumstances) and have shown encouraging signals that the physical events will still have a long life. Yes, the total number of participants are still far from the pre-Covid era, but they are increasing market after market. Let’s see if the MipCom of October will confirm this trend.
3- TRENDS
The strongest format trend of this season (and also of the previous one) is for sure the dating show. That’s because it is the genre most present in the streaming platforms, with dozens of new and less new titles. Indeed, dating shows are fit for young targets, the most sought-after by OTTs, which also have the advantage - over the classic broadcaster - of being able to show more explicit situations & languages.
As for the rest, there are no other particular evidences. From quiz&game and guessing&competition to cooking, travel, talent and comedy shows, all genres and trends are present in the broadcaster slots, without any significant evidence.
There are of course the -still- small groups of programs using new technologies, the metaverse and the new virtual spaces, but it is to early to say how much they will grow and in what times. Also in this case, the new year will answer these questions.